CHAPTER EIGHT:
𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬
❝ ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟɪᴛʏ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴘᴀᴠᴇᴅ ʀᴏᴀᴅ: ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴄᴏᴍꜰᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴀʟᴋ,
ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏ ꜰʟᴏᴡᴇʀꜱ ɢʀᴏᴡ ᴏɴ ɪᴛ. ❞
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
"Merida." said the oh-so-familiar voice. Talk about Déjà vu.
"Yes, Mum...?" I gulped down eggs from the All-American breakfast Mum whipped up. She only does this on special days and, judging by tone of her voice when she called for my name, I'm certain it will be a day to remember, indeed.
"Yer birthday's coming up soon." Dodged a bullet there. It's a miracle. No big speech about how disappointed she is in me? This really is a special day.
"Aye, a week from now."
Twenty years old.
As soon as I turned around after washing the dishes, my eyes had grown weak with disgust from the sight of Mum and Dad canoodling with each other like teenagers.
"See you soon, dear." they whisper to each other after pulling away as if they haven't been working in the same school for years.
"Ack, ye love birds are gonna make me boke." they only laugh at me.
"Merida, your Aunt Maudie is working today." Mum and Dad finally let each other go, "So, why don't you take the boys to the park?"
As soon as those words escaped Mum's mouth, the triplets began to cheer maniacally to themselves, performing square dances on the bear rug as if it were their last day serving their time in prison. I couldn't tell if they were happy to take a trip to touch grass or because they had me as their babysitter for the day.
Oh, these three better behave themselves.
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
"Harris, watch out for that stone—! Ughk! Hubert, slow down, will ya— Hamish, stop that!"
I sound like my mother.
I could use the extra hand with watching over these three and with keeping my boredom at bay. The best option was Jack. He was the best with children, and he was absolutely adored by the three loose cannons.
Park. Help. Now.
H.H.H.
caaaaaaant ;(((
twerking!
*WORKING
I thought his shifts were in the afternoon? Lad probably wanted to buy Hiccup a gift, that's why he needed a few extra bucks.
Hiccup's turn. He was like a Hamburger Santa Claus to the triplets. He doesn't visit the house that much because, unlike Jack and I, he actually had hobbies and passions to indulge in when he has free time instead of loitering around like us. He reads, he writes, he draws. The boy was a multiple-trick pony.
So was Jack. He was just too lazy to care.
come lets away!!!!!!!!!!!¡!
Where?
park
w/ HHH
HALP NOW
Okay.
💕💞💚💘💜
💖😍💋💗💌
?
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
It's been about twenty minutes since my conversation with Howards. Still no sign of him. Did he get eaten by a dragon?
My brothers were having the time of their lives hanging on the monkey bars, balancing the see-saws, and hogging the slides sliding in the middle of the park.
The Aurora Creek Park was about as wide as the junkyard. The abundance of trees provided shade better than any umbrella ever could. Flowers bloomed in an unorganized fashion in every corner; under the benches, around the duck pond, between the cracks of the cement pavement, and crawling up the jungle gym like vines. A tiny plaza for a tiny metropolis.
The people taking a stroll that day could be counted with one hand. Two caught my eye. A couple. A very familiar couple.
It was Strawberry and Sideburns.
The last time I saw him, he was locking lips with a lass, a lass who definitely wasn't Strawberry Pigtails over here. Are they back together? Good on them.
Stopping me from further putting my nose into their business was the engine of a motorbike stopping from the distance. Hiccup. I'm seriously going to shoot him in the leg with an arrow for taking so long.
His bike had a basket in front of it, which was unusual. I soon realized the dreadful thing was there because he used it to carry with him a pure black cat with prosthetic wheels for his hind legs and giant green eyes that rivalled Elsa's.
"Hello, Toothless."
"Oh, yeah, no love for the brunette?"
Not long after, the two were playing about on the green of the grass, attempting to catch butterflies. Hiccup immediately opened his camera and took a snap of his cat playing with the winged creature, even making the effort of lying on his belly just to capture the scene.
He left the journal next to me so, as a best friend who had full respect for his privacy, I opened the thing.
"Damn, lad. I knew ye were good at drawing, but I didn't know you were that good." Wrong. Of course, I knew.
"Huh...? I uh- t-thanks." he was obviously not accustomed to compliments and praises.
"Night furry, eh?" I read out loud when I reached a page with a large dragon that resembled Toothless immensely with its pure blackness and characteristic green eyes.
"Night fury. Pretty great, huh? You gave me that idea back at Teana's— Wha? Get away from my journal!" he scolds me.
These illustrations were a sight to behold. The pencil shadings would stain your fingers. You could see the erasure marks on the papers and a few holes here and there from the repetitive erasing. Artistic license.
Art.
Elsa...
"Hey, you should draw Porcelain for me!"
"What kind of porcelain? A vase?"
"Then, I'll gift it to her! She'll love it! She'll love... me." I was Archimedes in the bathtub. Hiccup finally understand what I meant by Porcelain.
"You can't give her a drawing that was made by someone else, Merida." he talked to me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's just pretentious. Not to mention, ingenuine."
It sounded so good in my head.
"'Kay." I hung my head down, "Yer really cramping my style, lad."
"If your style is being 'pretentious and ingenuine' then a cramping was warranted." He laughs at my face.
"By the way, what are you doing here at park again? Did-didn't you say you needed my 'halp'?"
"I'm with the boys."
"The boys?"
"Aye. I told you 'HHH', remember?"
"And that means?"
"HAMISH, HUBERT, AND HARRIS. Keep up. Weren't you supposed to be the smart one?"
"We never do that."
"Whatever. I'm with my brothers."
He paused to scan around the park, "What brothers?"
I looked up and sure enough, Hiccup's disbelief was justified— the boys were gone.
Zero brothers detected.
Hamish-Hubert-Harris.exe has stopped working.
Presence Of Wee Devils has unfortunately stopped.
"MERIDA!" Hiccup screams like a lass, "Wegottafindyourbrothersnow."
And we did.
I first searched through the playground castle. The reds, blues, and yellows, with hints of brown from the rust were so bright that it could be their own source of light. Jump-skipping my way up the spiral stairs where I barely fit and bending down to walk through the tiny rooms that served as a hallway for the slides and ladders.
A kid with pigtails and a pink shirt a little too big for her body stood in front of me. She wouldn't leave me alone with her 'boo's until I pretended to get scared just to humor the lass. When I reached a balcony, my spleen was as good as gone. I scanned the park but to no avail.
Obviously, the castle was now useless to search so I now needed to get down, but the unfortunate thing is... there weren't any stairs on this side. I couldn't bring myself to go and crawl back into the rooms and come face-to-face with the Boo kid again, so I had no other choice than to... slide down.
Underestimating the friction between the steel equipment and the sole of my shoes, I was practically pushed off of the accursed thing, landing with a loud thud in front of another child who was riding a tricycle.
He looked at me in bewilderment and I reciprocated the reaction as I also could not believe what I had done. We shared eye contact for a good second until the pink bubblegum he was chewing finally popped and splattered all over his mouth.
The only place in this park I haven't looked through yet was the duck pond.
It wasn't so deep, I guess. Probably only two feet deep or so.
My brothers were two feet tall. It wasn't insane to assume they could be down there, right?
I stared at the pond like a boomer staring at a gay couple. It was a full-on staring contest. How long has it been since they left the jungle gym and jumped in there? They probably already drowned. The lads need me!
I have to dive in.
FOR MY BROTHERS.
CANONBA—
"Merida!" a feminine voice called, panting. It was Hiccup. "They're okay."
"What?"
"Yeah, they—" he paused, switching back and forth from the pond and to me. And when he finally glued the pieces together, "Wait... were you about to jump into the pond?"
"No!" Yes. "Where are the boys?"
"They're back at the playground, pro'ly just messing with us."
The hell they did.
I stomped angrily towards them. My blood boiled so hot that I swear the grass I stood on could catch fire. There the three were, hanging on to the monkey bars by their legs, appropriately cackling like the aforementioned animal. They planned this!
"T'is the last time I'll ever take your stinky bums here."
Hubert crossed his arms at me and raised his chin up which Hamish and Harris imitated.
"You three permanently altered the position of my spine from having to go inside that castle, made me go down a disease-ridden slide, and contemplate whether or not I should jump into a duck pond!" there was no stopping now.
"Mer?" Hiccup taps me on the shoulder.
"Look! I'm growing white hairs from ye!"
"Merida..."
"Can it, Howards."
"Merida!"
"Shut yer geggie!"
"Merida Blythe Van Gogh!"
"What's yer damage, Howards?!"
"If you would just look over that direction, please. You and I would very much appreciate it." He turned my head like a globe in a classroom. Thank gods, he did.
Elsa was here.
And I was just about to faint when she saw me and waved. She was with Strawberry and Sideburns, third wheeling. I thought that would be the end of our interaction but...
"T-they're coming." Hiccup whispers so close to me, I could almost distinguish the toothpaste brand he used.
Elsa rushed towards us as Strawberry and Sideburns trailed right behind with their hands intertwined like any run-of-the-mill couple would.
"Hey, you two!"
"Hey, Els— aH!" Harolds tried to return the wave to Porcelain but ended up dropping his journal to the ground and stubbing his toes. Kill me. Kill him too.
When the dreadful leather book fell, it exposed a few of his dragon drawings for the world to see. I didn't know why but Elsa made the effort of leaning down to grab it for my clumsy companion like Hiccup, causing both of them to bump each other's foreheads and exclaim in pain.
They laughed it off and Elsa handed him his journal back.
How much do hitmen cost?
"I didn't know you drew!" she says in disbelief and awe. "Were those dragons?" Oh no.
"Hmm? Ah, y-yeah. Dragons. A favorite pastime." Stop.
"Well, I only saw a glimpse and I already think they're beautiful." ELSA, NO.
Thank the stars for Strawberry who cleared her throat, interrupting the stir they were about to create.
"Whoops." Elsa raises a hand to them, "Hiccup, Merida, this is Anna, my..."
Sister. Sister. Sister.
"...sister."
Michty me, Elsa and I are already at the meet-my-family stage.
Anna flashed a smile warmer than the Sun, "So, you're Merida!"
She knows me?
Before Elsa could introduce Sideburns for us, Anna beat her to it in an excited voice, "And this is Hans. My..."
Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Boyfriend.
"...boyfriend!"
Hiccup shook hands with him, and I looked over at Elsa who I swore rolled her eyes for a moment upon Anna mentioning Hans. I didn't know she was capable of doing so. What was all that about?
"We were on our way to Teana's. You guys should come." offered Elsa.
YES!
Another throat being cleared rained on my parade. Hubert's. I almost forgot.
No...
"We'd love to but... I'm also babysitting." I hate this.
Anna blinked, "Also...?"
Do I need to introduce my brothers to them too? I mean, is there an age rule on when you should or should not introduce certain family members to certain acquaintances? Especially when those said family members are hanging upside-down on monkey bars right now.
Might as well..
"These are my brothers; Hamish, Hubert, and Harris."
Elsa wiggles her fingers at them as she waves to the boys and Anna squeals at their cuteness that I could never see. I wanted to pull them down from the monkey bars like lice on hair when they started showing the audacity to wink at the lasses, blow them kisses, and even pointed finger guns at them!
Where did they even learn to do that?
Jackson.
"Well, we'd hate to ruin your family bonding time," Please do, I'd pay you to do it. "See you." and with that, they left.
As soon as Elsa back was turned, the boys began making the same kissing noises they did that one time with Mum and Jack in the living room. To call them devils would of great inaccuracy.
"I'm not done with you yet." Thanks to you, babbies, I missed out on a date with Porcelain and possibly getting the blessing of her sister for our future wedding!
"Waitaminute." I forgot Hiccup was still here.
"What now?"
"WHERE'S TOOTHLESS?"
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
"I heard you and Elsa are going to the Pride Ball together next week." Rapunzel mentions after she slides a glass of water over to my direction. Elsa wasn't here yet. Blondie says she's probably running late, which was quite a rare event.
"Oh, she told ye?" Rapunzel hummed in agreement.
I don't hate formal events. They're just not my cup of tea. I'm not good at them. I barely survived Prom Night. But, with the way Elsa reacted when she saw the poster on the tree, I could tell we didn't share the same perspective.
But this was different. This wasn't just any promenade. Elsa will be there. No, she won't just be there. She'll be there with me. I still can't get it through my head that that sentence wasn't too good to be true.
For Elsa's sake, I will attend this ball and I will enjoy it. I don't care where we are, we could be walking to the gates of Helheim, I just want to be with her.
Speak of the angel...
"Sorry I'm late! I found Meg at the alleyway, and I had to escort her home." Lucky her. I think I should start seeing Ugly Gladiator Shoes as a rival.
"Dear cousin. You know, you work too much." she said in a voice that could calm down babies, lightly massaging Elsa's back in the process.
"What are you talking about, Raps?" asked Porcelain, laughing in mid-sentence. We stared at her like she was at her wit's end.
"You should take a rest. Take the night off, you know? Have fun. Cut loose."
"That's thoughtful of you, cousin. But I'm already in my uniform, so—"
"Merida won't mind. Won't you, Mer?" I choked on my saliva. What was this girl up to? Everything was happening so fast! My head was hurting. I thought water didn't have alcohol?
"Are you certain?"
"I promise." She holds Elsa on the shoulders to look straight into the deepest depths of her soul, "And when I promise something, I never ever break that promise. Ever."
Remind me never to get on her bad side.
Without another protest, Porcelain gave me a look that me hurriedly chug down my already empty glass of water and slam it on the counter.
"Okay."
"Okay."
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧