#ABloomInTime

[abloomntime]

Three Kiddos And A Ghost

Or Snatcher decides to adopt and add to his menagerie of a family after realizing a certain blonde haired caped crusader isn't too much different from himself.

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"You don't seem too happy to see me, Kiddo. What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

The blonde girl in front of him frowned before crossing her arms and giving the ghost a stern look from her place in front of the ghostly house as the ghost smiled down at her as if any moment he'd pull one of his pranks on her. Which to be fair he had done a few times since Mu's arrival to live with them full time-

It was a long story.

A long story that had been sprung on him by Poppy of all people! Imagine his surprise when he just randomly popped into the ship one day expecting to see his lovely rose and two pecking mischief makers, only to discover the blonde girl alongside them all making herself at home, which he didn't pay attention too at first. That cat sometimes brought along that chaos causing troublemaker to play with his own but then he came back the next week and she was still there. Again not something that he'd pay attention too. So the blonde brat was back to play again. Big deal. It's not a problem. But then something happened that DID catch his attention. He was just sitting there in his old armchair reading a book on 'One Hundred and Ten Ways to Banish Your Enemies Into The Sun' when the typical laughter of children, human children, reached his metaphorical ears. Oh boy. Those two were here to start causing trouble again weren't they? His theory was confirmed when a small subconite sized blur with brown hair ran past his spooky home in the tree.

"PFFFTTT!!"

He didn't look up from his book at the raspberry. "You're a very rude young lady. Y'know that?"

Another blur with curly hair. "Hi, Snatcher!"

He gave a small smile still reading. "Hello, Bow."

A third small blur with a male voice. "'Ello, Mr. Snatcher!"

A small sigh. Moonboy's kid. Timmy sometimes invaded his forest much to his annoyance. "Hey, Kiddo."

A..fourth small blonde blur? "Ya kooky spook!"

He made some kind of choke noise in surprise at the new voice and looked up blinking wildly. Imagine his complete surprise when he found that little blonde troublemaker laughing and playing about the mushrooms with the rest of those children and he could only stare! What- WHY WAS SHE HERE!? He hadn't ever given her permission to come into his forest! And he certainly never gave any of THEM permission to invite her inside as well! The last time she was here she insulted his forest and contractual techniques which resulted in him tossing her (literally) out of his forest. And the last time he saw her (besides the few times on the ship-) was when she nearly ended his existence (again-) along with everyone else on the planet. SHE COULD'VE ENDED THEM ALL!! And yet here she was laughing and rough housing with the other children like a normal everyday thing. WHAT THE PECK WAS GOING ON HERE!? That's the question he asked a certain red head as she walked past, garden hoe over her shoulder. Stopped by her ghastly lover suddenly popping in front of her face startling her into jumping back.

"POPPY!!"

"HOLY PECKIN' MACOB!!," Poppy yelled hand clutching at her chest at the sudden spook. "Cheese n' rice, Snatcher!" She scowled at him. "How many times do ah gotta tell ya t-''

"WHAT. IS. SHE. DOING HERE!?," he interrupted with a growl pointing a clawed hand directly towards the four children.

Poppy followed his gaze just in time to see Bow jumping from a mushroom onto Mu and making the two laughing children to the ground before just as quickly running as Mu gave chase. ..And shrugged. "Playing?," she said casually looking back to the ghost.

Purple claws raked down his face in frustration. "I can see that. I meant WHY is SHE inside MY forest!?''

A dawn of realization finally came over Poppy. "Oh. Right. I didn't tell ya yet." His claws here removed from his face as he frowned at her. Did she forget about giving him a heads up that they were bringing an extra guest? Poppy knew he hated unwanted intruders in his forest! Even if his family invited them in! She knew what that caped kid did! He told her about how she nearly wiped everyone back into dust with those dumb hourglasses!! He was expecting an apology. He was not expecting what came out of her mouth next. "I took her in. Mu's living with us now."

He stared at her blankly. "......W H A T!?"

The yell was loud enough to make the children and some minions stop and look at the two adults, but Poppy just placed her free hand on her hip used to his personality by now. "Would you keep it down? You'll wake the dead more than what ya already are!"

"That's not the point, Red!," he hissed through fangs claws balling into fists. If he was still human his face would've become red in anger. "May I ask you WHY you all of a sudden decided to become oh so generous to the one who nearly wiped me off the face of the earth!?"

Poppy's irritation also grew. "Fine. I guess you have a right to know. But if ya insist on wonderin' why, it's cuz Cookie can't look after 'er in the long run." She stated matter of factly scowling back.

"What?!,'' his angry looked turned into one of disbelief and he threw his arms out towards her. "What's wrong with the cat!?"

"If you haven't noticed Cookie's not exactly a spring chicken anymore, Snatcher," she pointed out noting the cat's older age compared to the lot of them. "An' it's somethin' she was worried about." She shrugged at the ghost's dumbstruck expression. "We jus' happened to discuss one day and one thing lead to another and well-" Her free hand motioned towards the children who had resumed playing. "Mu's staying with us now."

"...." He frowned again. "And you didn't think to tell me about this!?"

"I tried! But ya left before I could even try talking to you twice!"

"Why though!? Don't you know what she's DONE to us-"

"Because I ain't gonna abandon a little girl on the streets when she's already suffered!," Poppy practical yelled back at his face making Snatcher flinch back when a hand firmly poked him in his chest fluff. "She's just a lil girl!"

"Poppy..." He frowned. Ok. Clearly anger wasn't getting through to Poppy. Maybe a more calm approach. "A little brat who stole those time pieces and tried to destroy the entire planet. Not half. Not a quarter. The ENTIRE planet. Which included my forest. If she had succeeded in that little plan..." A small growl escaped his lips as his grip on her hand lightly tightened. "I would've never been able to bring you back since that was before we even met again. He would've destroyed you too! She's ruthless and unforgivable! WE don't need a wannabe hero!"

Poppy stared at him for a good moment before frowning again narrowing her eyes. "Are you even hearing yourself?" He blinked. "Do you know who she sounds like?"

"Who?"

"You."

"ME!?," he squawked staring at her, "How is she anything like me!? We aren't the same!?"

"Oh really? You're angry about her nearly wiping the planet into nothin'." She pulled her hand away and poked his 'nose' watching as he looked cross eyed at her hand. "May I remind you of a certain ghost who's entire job is STEALING souls!! And get this. You do it to anyone who just walks in here regardless if they do anythin' or not!" He felt a small bead of ectoplasm sweat form on his forehead when the red head hummed and tapped her chin. "How many souls did you say you collected again? A few hundred? Maybe a few thousand even? And what was it that you made Hattie do in her contracts? Climb a dangerously tall well through a cursed swamp. Sent her to check up on Vanessa, who by the way, could easily freeze her- " Her arms were thrown into the air her garden hoe dropping down with a thud. "HOW is that any different or better than almost wiping the world out once? And may I remind you that Mu almost wiped out the world, she never actually went through anything like that unlike someone who actually did!''

"S-So what if I stole a few hundred-thousand souls!?,'' he huffed but still felt the ectoplasm run down his face, "She's the one who stole the magic things responsible for giving her those powers."

"SO DID YOU! Or did you forget how I unfroze? It wasn't the microwave that heated me back up, ya purple pool noodle!"

"She stole more than me!"

"Well you both stole them for the same reason!"

"HA!!" He scowled again now looking at her with a brow. "Oh really?," he challenged crossing his arms, "I suppose she has an evil ex with ice powers too! If that's the case I gotta know how she still has her body! I'd love to have been able to keep mine!"

Poppy flinched for a moment wide eyed, before a deep scowl speared her featured. "You know sometimes you can be the biggest PECKING jerk on the entire peckin' planet! You should have some sympathy for her considerin' what she went through!!"

"That blonde caped crusader of chaos went through NOTHING even remotely close to me!! If you think-"

"SHUT UP, PHILIP!!"

Silence rang out. Silence that was followed by the Snatcher snapping his jaws shut and leaped back a few feet from the tyranitcal yell that brought forth by the angry red head. Poppy was..Poppy was heaving now. Breathing through her crunched up nose, fists balled like she wanted to hit something, and her face seething red that was enough to freeze even Vanessa if she had looked at her. Her angry burst sending crows chirping and spiders into hiding. Subconites and dwellers stopping what they were doing to stare at the two of them. She-...Po-Poppy had used his name. His DEAD name. The one she used only when she was emotional. Whether it be out of sadness, happiness,...or raw anger. Which was now. The ghost flinched hard when a hand whirled out to hit against his chest and the shove was enough to make him yelp and shoot backwards a few decent feet.

"How DARE you say that about a child!!," she raged like a bull temper flaring making him shrink back dumbstruck. If it was anyone else, they would've been added to his collection of souls now, but this was different. "You don't know her situation! Would ya'll like ta know!?" She shouted and he didn't answer. "Imagine THIS if ya will! A person just goin' 'bout their day ta day lives an' then all of a sudden someone comes along and takes EVERYTHING from ya and changes your home forever! And no matter how hard ya try there's nothin' ya can do about it cuz it's beyond your control! ARE YA TELLIN' ME YA WOULDN'T TRY TA MAKE EVERYTHIN' RIGHT IF YA HAD A CHANCE!?" She shouted at the shrinking spook, daring him, challenging him to say the opposite. "ARE YOU SAYIN' YA WOULDN'T PASS UP THE CHANCE TA USE SOMETHING TO FIX SOMETHING WRONG IN YA LIFE EVEN IF IT MEANT STEALING IF YA WAS DESPERATE ENOUGH!? OH WAIT- YA DID DIDN'T YA!?" Her hands came back to pat her body and look at herself as if making sure she was still there. "That's how I'm still here isn't it?! Or was it a magic toaster oven ya used ta wake me up, Philip!? She was stranded all alone without any family thanks to some evil person who destroyed her home! Now who does that sound like!?"

He floated there in shock, not saying anything and just staring at Poppy who panted from her earlier burst chest heaving. The both of them stared at each other for a long time before Poppy just huffed and turned her head away.

"She's....scared, Philip. And I don't blame the poor thing." She slowly turned and bent down retrieving the gardening tool from the ground and placing it back over her shoulder. "Just cuz ya don't know her that doesn't mean she hasn't been through somethin'...Maybe ya shouldn't forget that either."

And that's how she left him. Shrunk in on himself and dumbstruck for hours. He wasn't even sure how or when, but somehow he managed to get back into his armchair and slump into it staring into space and letting new thoughts rebound around his head at what Poppy said. ..Before shaking his head and facepalming himself with a tired sigh. Great. HOW did he keep getting himself into these things? He was getting too old for this- FINE! After much consideration and hard thought- And yelling in frustration and pulling at his chest fluff- He'd let Poppy take care of the child and allow her access to his forest but that doesn't mean he would like it! Or her! He was only doing this to get Poppy off his back and to appease her anger though, not because he felt sorry for the brat! It seemed to have worked for the most part, because when he showed up days later with a few packets of seeds (which he totally didn't steal-) and told her Mu could come into the forest WITH SUPERVISION, she seemed to let all the anger held for him disappear and accepted his form of apology.

"Alright. But ya gotta be nice to 'er."

He rolled his yellow eyes. "Ugh. Fine."

"And you gotta promise me you won't try to take her soul or make her do ridiculous contracts! Or try to trick her into doing something!"

"Yes, yes. No manipulations, soul stealing, or contracts. Got it."

"And you have to start talking to her more."

"WHAT!? But I already promised so much!"

"M' not saying ya got to talk to her all the time, but enough to where she'll be used ta seeing you around. You can at least do that much."

"But-...RRRR!! FINE! Whatever! I'll...talk."

"Good boy."

"*sigh* This'll be more annoying then the time I tossed her into mud.'

"....You did WHAT?!"

"....Oops."

He ...did try talking to her, after Poppy's yelling session about finding out he literally tossed her out of his forest at one time. To his surprise she wasn't scared of him. Like...at all. The blonde gal scowled at him with the same energy of Poppy's called him names like the 'Kooky spook', purple pool noodle, and the bad guy. ...Yeah, they definitely told her about him and everything else. He didn't have to ask. His questions were answered when she told him one day-

"I don't care if ya was wronged! It's still a bad guy things to do taking souls!"

Although he wasn't sure who told her. Most likely Poppy perhaps in order to hopefully get the two closer to an understanding. Ugh. Like that'd happen. He felt irritated every time she was near him with her attitude and scowls and the few arguments they had-....Why was this feeling so familiar to him? Oh well. He did get her back. He promised he wouldn't do anything to harm her, but that doesn't mean he couldn't get back at her in other ways! Hiding her cape. Keeping her things away. Moving around her things. Hiding a small beetle in her bedsheets. Oh it wasn't as satisfying as he would've liked, but seeing her get irritated and unable to do anything was good enough. Ah. It was good to be a ghost. Poppy was irritated with him as well but he could argue that he did this to the other kids too so it wasn't like she was the only one experiencing it, which he did, but his direction he had towards Mu was obvious his recent target. Although there was one thing that also irritated him. It was inevitable that Mu would eventually meet Hazelle and Moonjumper. She had already met Timmy a couple times and was fascinated by his powers, she was REALLY fascinated by Hazelle's magic when she showed off a couple of her tricks, which did irritate him. HEY!! He was cool as well! He could do plenty of things! He was a Undead King! How much more impressive could you get!? But he was REALLY on edge when Moonjumper showed up one night out of the blue. Luckily he had been there at the same time he showed up and was right there when he came to 'visit' his kids-...His contractors again! His surprise wasn't lost on Mu who stared wide eyed at this glitching, floating ghost with wide eyes. Meanwhile he was greeted with a growl and snarl by the other ghost upon letting his prescence known. He still hadn't forgotten anything this FOOL tried to pull on HIS people.

His growl made Moonjumper freeze. "What are you doing here?", Snatcher demanded.

"Calm down, Old Boy," Moonjumper waved him off with a frown, much to his other half's annoyance. "I'm simply here to visit the dear children whom I love dearly. Is that so wrong?"

"Yes. You never come here for anything simple."

"Well you would be right about that." Moonjumper's red eyes gazed past down him and at Mu who flinched wide eyed under his smile. "I heard from a little bird-" Either Hazelle or Timmy he means. "-that there was a new little one amongst the stars here." His head tilted at the small blonde gal as she stared back at him and flinched at the unnatural twitching of his next as it moved in his glitching fashion, the chains clanking with his floating a bit closer. "So...I took it upon myself if it happened to be true."

Mu flinched and on instinct dove behind the nearest person to hide away from this scary new comer, which just so happened to be the other ghost in this situation. Snatcher blinked and looked down at his tail where he found her hiding behind the dark purple ghost with a face he was all too familiar with. Fear. Her eyes wide with the gold pupils shrinking to the size of pins, her hands clinging onto his tail, half peeking out from behind him at the other ghost. That's the expression he saw time and time again from his victims and the one he wanted from her from the first times he was stuck with her, but seeing her give that expression to Moonboy while choosing to hide behind him was...different. And then he remembered a very important detail that he let fly over his head up until now. Mu didn't sign any contracts with him. Not the kind that Poppy or the other children had. The ones that prevented Moonjumper from trying to pull the same stunt he pulled on Poppy and succeeding. Which meant that if any of those red strings decided to loop themselves around the brat's body, there wouldn't be anything stopping Moonjumper from whisking her away to the Horizon. In an instant his fluff bristled and bunched up, his eyes narrowed, and an unholy growl came from the depths of his throat that made Moonjumper instantly freeze. Red eyes snapping from the child up to the other half of him as he leaned over Moonjumper and snarled.

"Get. OUT. Of. This. Ship. NOW!!" Moonjumper had froze staring up at Snatcher whether it be out of fear or defiance he didn't know or care. He felt angrier that he had to repeat himself hissing. "GET OUT!!" He bellowed voice reverberating off the walls and echoing around the room with the power of a thousand thunderstorms. It was enough to make him disappear. Vanish into thin air scattering blocks in his way. Letting silence resettle once again in the ship's face. After a tense moment Snatcher untensed, letting out a disgruntled snort at the nerve of Moonjumper coming here 'oh so innocently' like that. Like Peck he'd let that happen. After all this was HIS territory...He slowly rose a brow back down to his tail tip which was still being death gripped by the blonde tot and after a moment wriggled it a bit. "Hey. You can seriously let go now."

Instead of listening she just gripped onto him tighter pressing her forehead into his tail making him sigh and reluctantly reach a hand down to pat her head. Guess he'd humor the brat just this once. And maybe it was because of that that the two of them would slowly start talking more. A little good morning there or a question about his forest here. Ok. SO WHAT!? So what if he maybe brought extra food for her along with the others? So he didn't want her to starve. Poppy would've bothered him for it anyways. So what if he maybe sewed a few outfits together for her? It's an eyesore to see her walking around in old rags. So what if he stopped complaining as much about her in his forest along with the others and stopped playing so many pranks on her? He got bored of it anyways! And complaining strains his throat! ...Nevermind he doesn't have a throat. It's easier to live with her if he treated her like the others- NOT THAT HE LIKED HER!! And he totally did NOT cackle to high heavens when she told him about her exploits against the mafia-

A wild evil sounding cackle rang out through the forest from the Snatcher's treehouse. In front of him was a proud blonde child looking pleased with herself hands on her hips as he cackled away.

"W-Wait. Tell me the part where you put all of his smashed bits in the bottle again!," his evil smile spread across his face wider. His distaste for those men ran about as deep as hers, especially with a certain red suit wearing mafia who flirted with a certain redhead.

"Well that wasn't my plan at first really," Mu confessed rolling her wrist, "All assaults need a good plan after all! I wanted to strangle 'em at first. Watch them choke and beg for mercy!" She proclaimed holding a fist up...before rolling her eyes, and letting her shoulders drop with a shrug. "But strangling would've been too kind. So then I came up with the idea of mushing them up in a jar and giving them a taste of their own medicine!"

Poppy's face was one of slacked jawed shock at what this teeny child just said but Snatcher looked more intrigued a clawed hand coming to rub his chin with a hum of interest. "Placing your enemies somehow still conscious remains in a jar huh? That sounds....devious. But quite messy. Not sure if I would want to have all that gunk entangled on me."

Mu shrugged. "Eh. I didn't have to get my hands dirty. It was easy to do after Hattie made him explode during their big battle."

"She did what? Really? AHAHAHAHAHA!! I knew she must've had some unspoken side to her! So tell me! How did you two pull it off?! She used that umbrella's laser beam didn't she?"

"PHILIP!! Don't encourage her!"

"WWWhhhaaaaatttt? You're the one who said I should be more encouraging."

"NOT 'BOUT THAT STUFF!!"

Safe to say that the both of them got another long talking too from Poppy, but..Despite the kid becoming not (totally so-) closer to him, there was still one thought that made him uncomfortable. And that thought started with a capable M for Moonboy. Moonjumper saw her, Mu was obviously scared of him, and the trick he pulled to gain Poppy still hung fresh in his mind. The advantage of taking anyone of importance was a too sweet deal even for Moonjumper to ignore and that thought still didn't sit right with him. Always made him growl and curl his claws at the thought. There was an obvious way to keep her safe, but he was very reluctant to do it. But everyday he put it off, the more the thoughts swirled, and the more the chance of Moonjumper snatching her away from him-...THEM was present. Until the boiling point tipped and he couldn't hold it anymore, which was exactly the reason why he was here now. Staring at her, having gotten her away from the others with one of his little teleportation tricks. He smiled at her despite her frowning face and raised brow with her arms crossed.

"I was just about to win against that cheeky minion of yours!," she complained stomping her foot, "What was so important you had to pull me out of that tree?!"

"Despite the fact Poppy would've killed me for letting you climb that thing?,'' he deadpanned, "I have some important investments to take part in! I've been thinking about this for quite some time and I've decided to expand my business endeavors! And lucky you gets to be the first one to experience this once in a dead-line opportunity!"

Before Mu could ask what the peck he meant by that, his hand reached up and snapped his claws, a single contract and quill appeared from no where. She blinked watching the paper unfurl itself and the feathered quill extend itself out to her. A...contract?? Narrowing her eyes, the girl directed her golden orbs suspiciously upwards to the ghost who gave nothing but a smile.

"A contract? Really? So you're actually going through with that part? I thought you'd actually make this more stupendous."

He surprisingly didn't get angry about that part and shrugged. "I'm more interested in making your stay here actually permanent. You could be highly useful to me and it's not everyday I stumble across someone who I actually make an investment like this in. Just sign on the dotted line and you won't ever have to worry about a home again!"

She blinked again, then looked at Snatcher, before taking a good at the new contract. The paper looked old and slightly torn around the edges here and there. At the very top of the paper was a fancy drawing of the creature before her with the face and his arms outstretched, beneath that was some very fancy writing that read "CONTRACT" in fancy bold capital cursive letters. The Rest was also in fancy cursive but lucking she could read it pretty well reading. It read as followed:

CONTRACT

SERVE THE DEAD WITH WHAT THE AGREEMENT STATES

You have been chosen by the benevolent and merciful the Snatcher. The terms and services will include your life long servitude and loyalty to said ruler The Snatcher. You have been lost but you are lucky enough to have been selected as few mortals to help the eternal after life and anything the Snatcher requests within reason of the servants morals and abilities. The following territories of the forest shall be available for the signer to visit willingly as they please.

-The Subcon Forest

-The Employer's Home (with special permission)

-The Subcon Village

These parts shall NOT be available for any reason and will not be negotiated unless the employer says otherwise.

-The Hat Brat's Time Piece Vault (you know why)

-The Haunted Manor

-The Frozen Bridge

-The Subcon Swamp

-The Subcon Well

-The Frozen Territory

-Any place my employer has said is off limits

By signing this the signer shall be paid for their service and loyalty with immortality (non ageing), protection from the Snatcher and those under him, a home, and anything the signer requests within reason. Binding by contract means your soul shall remain bound to the contract which cannot be broken by any means except by will of the employer, a.k.a the Snatcher. And in return the signer shall do ask the Snatcher asks with they're full cooperation and be given full custody of the signer. If the Snatcher at any point terminates the contract the signer's soul shall be released from his care and they shall live a normal rest of their life. By agreeing you shall also be safe from other supernatural entities and their influences whatever they may be, including influences from the employer and other minions. Also by signing this the signer agrees to willing do this and become a certified minion of The Snatcher. If you have complaints, suggestions, or other, the signer must report them to their employer immediately. As a down payment for all provided by the Snatcher, he shall be given the contract with your soul will be bound to for eternity unless decided otherwise, but the servant will be allowed free of will, full freedom, favors the employee asks of The Snatcher, with full control of their mind, body, and their soul in their body. Room and board, immortality, food, and any other living necessities shall also be provided by the Snatcher as stated.

SIGNED

And then there was a small line where her name would go.

Again she looked between him and the contract before narrowing her eyes at him again. "Alright. What's the catch here?"

Ugh. Did she seriously still think he was trying to trick her? He sighed. "It's not an enslavement deal and it isn't a work contract either. Don't get that mixed up with what it actually is." He placed a hand to his chest. "I'm simply offering you a deal that greatly benefits you and keeps that Moonshined idiot from taking what I consider to be mine. You even get to keep your free soul and will! Ain't you lucky?"

She deadpanned looked at him. "....This is a lowkey adoption thing ain't it?"

The noise he made sounded like something between a deflating balloon's wheeze and turkey choking underwater. "WHAT!? N-NO!! This isn't any kind of adoption!" Her brow rose further. "I'm just offering you a job for one of the best employers in the world!" He insisted. "I'd be a pecking fool to pass up on having someone who's determined enough to almost bring the world to it's knees working for me! HA! I could use someone like that to help me take down Vanessa-"

"Ok, ok. Yeesh! I'll sign it if it gets you to shut up."

He paused for a moment blinking. "....Wait. Really? That easy huh?"

She rolled her eyes grabbing the piece of paper from the air with the pen. "Yeah. They told me you'd pull this sooner or later. Why don't you just say you want to adopt people? Makes it less complicated!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME IT'S NOT L-LIKE THAT!!"

Uh huh. Sure. She really believed him and may have found amusement in that pout- Scowl of his! Once she did sign the pen disappeared in a small puff of smoke and she jumped, her grip on the contract loosening enough for the giant ghost to snatch it from her. At the same time a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of her body. Temporarily knocking the wind outta her. She gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within her. Her body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of her chest before as soon it came it left and Mu stayed laying down gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation that came and left. Leaving goosebumps across the her flesh and shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and eventually snapping up to him. He smiled reading over the contract before it disappeared in a puff of flames too.

"Oi! What the peck was THAT about ya kooky purple onion!?", she demanded sitting up and pointed her hand accusingly at him. Ah...Someone's picked up some nicknames from Poppy.

He waved a hand away. "Relax. You're unharmed. It was just the bond ceiling between us and the magic forming a strong protective shield around your soul so no one, not even Moonboy, can harm you. Don't worry. You're perfectly fine. Although you might feel winded for a bit."

"It would've been nice to know that beforehand!"

She huffed before standing up and dusting herself off from the black dirt. Her annoyance was worth it though, he was satisfied and relieved. Moonjumper being a threat was taken cared off and this way Poppy wouldn't have to worry about her anymore than the other two-....Yeah. He could make this work with the four of them around. Of course he'll have to make a few adjustments as soon as possible, but nothing he couldn't manage-

"So do I get to call ya the 'dead-beat' dad now?"

"Absolutely pecking NOT!"

#mustache girl #Hat kid #Bow Kid #Snatcher #Florist #moonjumper #Timmy #ABloomInTime

[crescentblossom66]

I really enjoy your writing! Have a Happy Halloween! -ABloomInTime

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it! I have a story planned for Halloween, hope I can finish it in time.

#answered messages #thank you

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch7 A Hero’s Home

(Hey everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone who read this far and liked my story enough to read it to it's end. I had a lot of fun writing it and it makes me happy knowing some people loved it enough to read it fully. If you liked this consider checking out my other works. Thanks to everyone for reading this, faving it, or leaving a nice comment. And thank you to GearsForBreakfast for creating such wonder characters and giving me the opportunity to make this wonderful story. I headcannon Mustache Girl's actual name to be Muriel.))

A drip. A drop. A sprinkle. The water gently pouring down from the dark sky had started a little more than an hour ago, thunder and lightning waking him up every while due to his anxiety acting up to loud booming noises reminding her of some of the cannons and explosions that these mafia guys did on a daily basis. Unfortunately she DIDN'T like the rain too much. Especially being a cat and all that. Water was just not her thing. She still forced herself to take baths and use water for lots of her recipes, and she drank it of course. Gotta keep your self hydrated and healthy after all. But it didn't mean she had to enjoy it of course. Speaking of Mafia. Mafia Town was pretty much a deserted ghost town at the moment, only a few Mafia guys working this time of day as it got dark and the storm still wore on. Her feet patting against the wet pavement while her umbrella and raincoat kept the rain off her. Note to self. Get a pair of rainboots when she finally got out of here. Which would be soon. Three days in fact. After getting fired from her job for 'conspiracy with the kid in the hat alien girl' and missing her opportunity for working on that cruise ship, a miracle happened in the form of a famous director Penguin showing up on her doorstep with the proposition of working for his studios and having her own Cooking Show!! It was a DREAM COME TRUE!! And it was all thanks to that lil alien gal who just happened to mention her to him. ...Maybe it was fate anyways. She didn't feel like a cruise ship on water would've been a good place for her considering her aversion to water, and it ended up sinking anyways. So this was a great chance! A dream she had ever since she was a kitten! She had practically all her belongings all ready to go for the moving team in two days on that weekend to take the train out of town and to Express City where the famous Dead Bird Studios were. Where many a movies and shows were filmed. Soon she'd be out of this terrible place and soon start her own life away from this awful awful town. But for now she just wanted to get back to the comfort of her still soon-not-to-be home and cook up this delicious food she bought from the Mafia Town marketplace. The plastic bag in her hand was starting to get heavy the more she carried it walking along as the sound of raindrops hitting the earth and thunder shook the sky along with the occasional lightning. ...Gosh this just made her glad she didn't have to live here or have her job here anymore further. The Mafia headquarters where she USED to work was all the way on the other side of town and it was always such a long distance away from her home which was on the edge of town and near the train station. Made things easier to do when she moved at least.

She was almost home too. Just had to cross this bridge and walk along this road towards the back of Mafia Town and her home would be the first one you'd come across. She was hungry and could already taste the mouth watering cheesy fish steaks she could whip up. However it was when she was coming to the end of the bridge did she hear something. Being a cat meant she had extraordinary hearing so being able to hear things before she saw them wasn't usually a big deal, but what WAS was the kind of noise it actually was. Sniffles. crying. Small chokes, sobs, and hiccups. And in a young girl's sounding voice too. That's what made her pause. What was...that? Standing there in the rain the cat blinked for a moment shocked at what she was hearing before turning her head about and looking around. No one was on the bridge with her, and surely a grown Mafia Man wouldn't have sounded as young or as high pitched as these sobs were. ..And this was the first time she ever heard such a thing like this when crossing this bridge multiple times. So where as it coming from?...She paused. An ear flicking towards the end of the bridge where she was heading and she slowly turned to it. The sounds were coming from there amongst the rain and thunder and lightning. She stood there silently for the longest time before she slowly started her way forward. Her feet making small PLAP sounds with each step as she approached. The noises getting louder and louder before she reached the end of the bridge and looked over. And blinked again when noticing a small orange-yellow light coming from under the bridge. Was it some kind of troll? She wouldn't doubt it since meeting an alien and a ghost a couple times on her ship. Eventually the curiosity of the sounds got the better of her and she carefully descended down the small hill to look beneath the bridge. And what she saw made her yellow eyes widen. It was a little girl! But not just any little girl. OH NO!! One she definitely recognized all too well in fact.

It was that trouble making no good Mustache Girl as she liked to call herself and sprayed graffiti everywhere. Mostly art of making fun of the Mafia which she didn't mind too much as she wasn't the fondest person either, but what she had DONE to the world in that weird pocket dimension of lava and chaos still sent shivers through her fur. In fact she shivered just from the memory of it. Having been so angry enough she actually joined the crowd in wanting her to "Get Lost!" and return to her normal life of cooking. And she thought she had. In fact...She hasn't seen hide or tail of Mustache Girl since the whole time and space incident nearly a year ago now. In fact she hadn't even given it much of a second though too focused on her own string of bad luck in losing her job, missing her opportunity of her second job, and afraid she might've had to move back to Nyakuza City and settle for just being a plain chef in one of those cheap food vending vans. At least with that plan she would've still got to cook for a living. And focusing on her good luck with the new job and stresses of moving. Her life had been so busy she barely even remembered the girl before her...Well to be far she hadn't known much of her since moving to Mafia Town either and getting a job working at Mafia Headquarters. She'd sometimes she Mustache Girl causing trouble for the Mafia or running past her escaping or sometimes overhearing the Mafia grumble and complain about her a LOT while she was working. But the time incident might've been the first time she ever spoke to her despite chanting "Get lost!" in a crowd and only two times had she really come face to face with her. Then in the crowd and no just standing one or two yards away from the girl. She was huddled knees up to her chest and arms hugging her legs as she buried her face into her legs making those crying sounds she had heard earlier, her blonde hair tied in two ponytails on each side of her head. She learnt what was making that light at least. A small pathetic fire built just a couple feet away from the girl, why you couldn't have even roasted a marshmallow on it if you tried....She blinked and shook her head. About to turn now. Didn't matter. Best not get involved with someone who nearly destroyed the whole world for some hero complex. If she wasn't careful she might've come after her next for used to work for the Mafia. ...And yet. She couldn't get herself to turn around fully. Staring at the crying girl still as she sniffled....And yet. She WAS still just a child after all. What was she doing here all by herself without anyone to look after her? Well, she guessed Mustache Girl must've felt eyes on her because after a moment the sniffling stopped. And in an instant her head was snapped up and towards the direction of the cat. Yellow eyes met other yellow eyes as the two stared at one another for a long moment. Her eyes widening seeing her face. Pink and puffy from crying so much as a few tears still fell down her face. They continued to stare at one another before with a tilt of her head she decided to speak.

"Oh, uh. Sorry if Ah disturbed you any," the cat apologized shrugging her shoulders. "I was curious 'bout the noise is all."

the girl then gained a scowl before wiping at her face. Ok. Guess she wasn't the talkative kind. "W-Who are you?"

"Mah name's Cookie! What's yours?"

"Why should I tell you that? *sniff* You could be a bad guy!"

"Hm. That's a fair enough answer."..Taking a pause Cookie rose a brow and took another look around the cold and rainy place. Under a bridge was no place for a child. "But what's a lil girl like you doing under this drafty old bridge? It's all chilly." And that was putting it lightly.

She frowned more and turned her face away. "It's n-none of YOUR business! Why don't you mind your own business?"

Both were interrupted by a growling noise. Cookie blinked at the noise of a grumbling stomach and the girl shifted embarrassed more away from her. Slowly she held out her paw towards her. "Good gracious. Was that you're stomach a grumblin' away like that? It sounds like you haven't had a good meal in a while." Looked like it too by the looks of her. Mustache Girl's attention was gained back towards Cookie when the cat held up the bag and shook it making the contents rattle inside. "Say. I've got a great idea! I was just headin' home myself and cook up a delicious meal. Why don'tcha come along and I'll make ya something great ta eat?"

The girl stared at the bag for a big smacking her lips...before frowning again and giving her a suspicious look. "Ha! I wasn't born yesterday y'know. How do I know this isn't some kind of trick? Huh? Why would I go with you?" Her stomach growling a second time answered her making Cookie chuckled a bit.

True. Maybe it was a dangerous or even stupid idea, but...She couldn't just leave a little girl like this all cold and hungry and she'd obviously been crying. And despite what had happened...Giving her a hot meal to cheer her up wouldn't hurt a bit would it? "Come on. I'll whip you up a nice hot meal and you can get out of the rain for a bit. Alright?"

She continued to stare at the cat for a long moment before sighing and standing up. "Fine. But don't try anything! I can spot a bad guy a mile away!"

For better or for worst, Cookie lead her the rest of the way back to her home. But not before making sure to safely put out that fire under the bridge and Giving the little girl her umbrella to help keep the rain off her. Sure she hated the rain hitting her raincoat, but she wasn't about to let this poor hungry girl get all soaked and wet. Well...maybe not poor as she did try to destroy the world once, but right now...Cookie had a feeling she was back to being nothing more than another little girl just as much as that little alien and her friend was. And she couldn't just let a little girl be left all by her lonesome here of all places hungry and in the rain. Mustache Girl side eyeing her suspiciously all the way but she couldn't blame her. This was a sudden choice after all. She blamed it on the motherly cat instinct in her for this 'kitten'. It wasn't long before they arrived back at her home soon to be not home and she followed Cookie inside. Blinking and looking around at all the boxes and packed up things around her.

"I do apologize for the mess," Cookie explained closing the door and going to take her raincoat off, "But Ah'm in the middle of moving you see. So things are gonna be a bit unorganized. Why don't you go sit down and warm up while I get to cooking." Cookie paused as she walked past her, and now noticed how dirty and scraped up the child was now that she had a chance to look her over. "....But first I think you'd better do what everyone does before dinner and go wash up."

"Wash up?"

"Yes. Fully. As in a bath."

"You can't tell me what to do!," she pouted crossing her arms, "And you can't make me take a bath!"

"Hmm. Maybe not but I can control whether or not I give you food if you don't."

She continued pouting for a moment before her stomach grumbled again and she groaned. "UGH! FINE!! But this better not be some trick to fool me into lowering my guard! I should warn you I'm highly strong!"

"Dear the only 'highly strong' thing about you is your oder."

"Hey!"

Not paying attention to her protest, Cookie turned around and started walking away. "Follow me. I'll show you where the bathroom is, and I think I have an outfit that'll fit ya. No way you're wearing those dirty clothes."

Cookie had showed her where the bathroom was and had gifted her an old set of pjs for her to use. They were about the same height so even if they don't fit exactly, they should work in a pinch. As the girl went to bath she went back to the kitchen and set to work. Washing her paws, descaling and deboning the fish, chopping it into pieces, throwing a pan on the stove and turning it on, and starting to throw the fish fillets onto the pan. The fish sizzling inside with the oil and spices and herbs she threw in along the way. Her hard work shown in the delicious smells wafting through the air. Having so much experience cooking meant she could do it pretty fast and get dishes done in record time. Infact during that time, Mustache Girl came walking back in hair down all wet from the bath she took following the smell of food. Cookie caught her out of the corner of her eye and smiled her way.

"Ah! You got here just in time! The fillets are almost done, so you can just sit at the table while you wait. Ok Sugah?" She did as she was told slowly walking over to the chairs and table and climbing into one as the cat continued to cook away at the stove made specifically to her hieght. Sizzling sounds coming from the pan. About twenty minutes later Cookie had put two things on plates and decorated with some veggies on the side before grabbing them and with a smile turned and walked on over to the table. "Here we go. Hope you don't mind fish." She placed the plate right in front of her and noticed the blonde mustache he had previously was gone. Must've been a fake one to make her look tougher she guessed.

She looked to it hungrily and smacked her lips seeing it but still weary. "....What is it?"

"Cheesy fish fillet and some mixed veggies. A recipe I picked up in Nyakuza. Might not be everyone's taste but it's one of my favorite dishes." She stared at it for a little while before reaching out to prod it with the fork provided for her. Before finally taking a piece of it and sticking it into her mouth.....Her golden eyes widened to the size of plates. And she greedily began to dig in. Cookie blinked for a moment watching her scarf it down like her last meal before chuckling. Guess living on the streets meant she hadn't eaten a proper meal in a while. "Guess you were hungry. Slow down. You'll choke on your food. If you're really that hungry I'll give you seconds." And she did. After finishing her own plate she offered her own to the girl who eagerly took that one as well but ate it at a slower place. "You certainly do have a healthy appetite. Your mother must have a handful feeding you."

The girl paused for a moment mid bite....before slowly lowering her fork and giving her plate a frown. ".........I don't ...have parents."

Cookie blinked. Smile completely wiped from her face as she did. No ...parents? "Ya don't have any folks?" She shook her head no again to her question. That...would explain a LOT actually. "Then where's your other family? Surely there must've been somebody."

"Yeah.....Used to be. My grandpa before the Mafia came." She glared at her plate and ended her sentence by stabbing her fork down into the fish.

"Well where is he now?" She again paused.....before shaking her head. And Cookie had a good idea of what that could mean. Before the Mafia came huh? If that's the case she must've been on her own since a very young age, and she was still pretty young. GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! How long has this been going on!? "Goodness gracious." She looked to Cookie when the older cat put a paw on her shoulder with a look of pity...And guilt from even thinking bad about her. Doesn't excuse her misdeeds, but she didn't have anyone to guide her in life so no wonder she went a bit wild. "Sugar, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

...After a moment she frowned again. "It's fine. I'm used to it by now. I thought I could get my town back from the Mafia if I tried hard enough, but it didn't work and now everyone hates me."

"Oh sweetie that's not true. I don't hate you. You're just a little girl." She patted her head much to the girl's surprise. Maybe she DID not like her too much before. But she couldn't say that now. "People make mistakes growing up. That's how we learn."

"......Hey. Why are you being so nice to me anyways? Don't you hate me too for the whole...eh...World domination thing happening?"

Well yes maybe she was still salty about that but this was hardly the time to argue. So instead Cookie smiled. "Because you're just a little girl in a bad town. I don't expect you to be perfect, no one is. In fact this town's the reason I'm moving away."

This seemed to catch her attention as she blinked. "You can do that?"

She chuckled. "Of course. If I'm unhappy where I am I can move somewhere that makes me feel better. I did it before." She looked around at some more boxes. "In two days I'll be out of here on a train."

"Oh wow. I....Hadn't thought of that...Maybe somewhere else can use a hero too?"

She chuckled. "Maybe."......She slowly looked back to her. "Hey, Sweetie. If it's not too personal can I ask you something?" She blinked at Cookie but nodded. "Do you have anyone special here or a home?" .....She shook her head no again. "Then why stay here? You can come with me on the train."

"What?," the little girl asked wide eyed.

"Why not? I don't have anyone to ride it with, and I don't think staying here would be good for either of us. You don't have to say yes, and I'll respect you if you say no of course. Just thought I'd extend a friendly offer to a little girl who needs a hand."

They...continued to stare at one another in the silence other than the rain beating down on the roof...before eventually the girl looked down to her plate with a hum. "Eh. I'll think about it. No promises though."

Cookie chuckled before patting her head again and turning to the doorway. "Well you think about it then while I wash those old clothes of yours. You're free to spend the night on the couch, wouldn't want you caught up in the rain. I can't guarantee it's as comfy as a bed but it's probably a lot better than a rock." She stopped in the doorway all of a sudden before turning. "Oh. By the way. I don't think I caught your name. I don't really think it's 'Mustache Girl', so can you tell me what it really is?"

The girl stared at her STUNNED. As if no one had even given her the time of day to even think to ask that of her. After another silent moment she turned her face back to the food. And mumbled out one word no human could hear under her breath but thanks to her good hearing she heard her speak it. "Muriel."

...Cookie smiled. "Well, Muriel. I believe it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

#BloomingFriendships #ABloomInTime #cooking cat #mustache girl

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch6 The Man In The Moon

It was a quiet night. Except for the chirping of crickets. A gentle breeze swept through the cool air, and stars shone. Even though it was a peaceful night, not everyone was sleeping peacefully. Two eyes were wide awake enjoying the beautiful wonders of nature and all it had to provide to the silent melody of it's mistress the night and all her dark beauty as the world slumbered in her wake. On a normal day it would look so much different. Sunny. Birds singing. The world was filled with the happy screaming of children as they played and couples walked too and from down the paths or having picnics in the sunshine......Or it would have been if this forest wasn't haunted by vengeful ghosts and cursed on top of it. Not that she minded. She loved this forest how it was. If she wasn't living in her own magical hot spot this might've been a good place to live without unwanted attention. Her footsteps only adding to the magical melody taking place from her as they walked along the trees glimmer with dew from that morning fog.. The reflections shining like the stars themselves mirroring walking in some forbidden heaven of the night for them both. The wind blown around her and she shivered rubbing her body against a tree to keep up body heat to not catch a cold. Hopefully it'll work. The light reflected off of her eyes making it seem like they shined brighter than the world around them as she walked about looking past things. The glowing mushrooms and moon above being her only source of light in the darkness as she carried about her. Over her shoulder a bag of magical things like stones, herbs, plants, and other natural magical specialties one could only find right here in this forest. Luckily for her there was plenty to go around.

Subcon Forest was not a place for just anyone to enter and exit as they please. There was a reason these woods had such a feared reputation and was rumored to be haunted. Because it was. By the King Snatcher of Subcon(as he liked to refer to himself) and his ghastly assortment of minions and dwellers behind him as his undead army, anyone who went in NEVER came out which added to the entire terror of it all!!...Well no one except a woman who were currently carrying baskets full of all kinds of cursed plants from within the borders of the ghastly forest that no mere mortal ever dared to come in. ..Besides a select few who had the Ghost King's blessing or who just didn't fear him of course.

"Thank you so much for helping me collect all these ingredients. I swear some times they can be so hard to find. Good thing you know you're way around here huh?," the witch expressed with gratitude as copper eyes smiled over towards the ghost next to her.

Shackles clanked as ever as the crescent headed ghost smiled and placed a hand on his chest. "But of course. I couldn't just let a young lady wonder all by her lonesome here in the dark forest. Snatcher may not see the reason but I refuse to let the one lady who actually keeps me company to be at risk of any danger!"

That earned him a stream of chuckles and a smirk from the witch as she reached out to poke his side. "Oh? What a gentleman.~ Not a lot of woman can say that a ghostly prince walked with them on a moonlit night walk to protect her. If I didn't know better I'd say this was romantic, Moony.~"

The ghost paused letting the words of hers sink in before coughing and looking the other way. "A-Absolutely not! It's o-only right a gentleman escort a lady where she n-needs to go-"

"Relax you old man. I was only teasing you. I really appreciate you helping me find all these herbs. I get lost here so many times it's not funny. Always have to teleport my way out."

"....*ahem* W-Well of course. I'm always happy to lend a helping hand where I can. It's also good to have company for once who I can speak to so easily unlike Snatcher and some other people I know who shall not be named."

She nodded as they continued to walk through the woods. Coming across a small space of abandoned buildings old, worn, and looking like they'd collapse any moment if they even to dare touch them.

"Isn't it getting near morning though? We've been at this for a long time. You might disappear on me into the atmosphere." They passed by a couple of the buildings now. Their voices echoing around the dark buildings and disturbing someone awake in one building.

"Yes. It is. But I would rather stay until I'm forced to leave. I like accompanying you around, and we're nearly to the forest's edge as it is. I'd feel better knowing I can leave you at a safe point-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

As a scream pierced the air both jumped at the sound that sliced through the night's fog like a knife. The scream echoing around, sounding young. Vulnerable. Small. And like a-....The sound still ringing loud and clear as they both stood frozen in their places as it continued. Until they eventually looked at one another as the noise continued.

"I say. D-Do you hear that?"

Hazelle nodded. "I most certainly do." With a turn of her head, she looked towards one building in particular and pointed. "It sounds like it's coming from there." And she started walking towards it.

"H-Hazelle!," Moonjumper warned holding out an arm towards her disappearing form. "Wait! It's not safe in these old ruins! That house collapse on you!"

"Then be my protector and follow me!," she called back not stopping and still walking away from him towards the crying noise. "Sounds like someone's lost. We should help them don't you think?"

Moonjumper said nothing as he watched her before sighing and floated off after her. His shackles clanking as he did. Hazelle was able to disappear from sight before him. Walking into one of the abandoned buildings through a whole in the wall's side most likely from decay from all the years it stood abandoned. And slowly he followed her into it. Inside ..had seen better days to put it lightly. The wooden floors and walls were a dark grey or black from years of decay and being exposed to Subcon's cursed magic. The whole place creaking from the wind blowing, speaking of the wind. It definitely flowed through the entire home making an eerily howling noise as it did. Old furniture broken beyond repair and also decaying by how they looked. He slowly floated out of the big room he went through which he must've guessed must've been a living room judging from the decayed shelves and crumbling fireplace. The fireplace a mere pile of crumbling stones by now. The noise that was present when Hazelle entered no longer having stopped soon when he floated in.

"Hazelle?," he called out looking around the place shackles clanking. "Where did you go, My lady?"

"In here!,'' her voiced called out a few rooms away, "You might wanna come here and see this. You're not going to believe it."

She does know she was speaking to a ghost right? He followed her voice past the room to a hallway of sorts where he passed a decaying and absolutely destroyed flight of stairs. Well she can't be up there unless she teleported her way there. Instead he moved past that towards the nearest doorway where he heard the faint sound of-...Sniffling?? Raising a brow, Moonjumper floated right over to the doorway and looked inside. Hazelle was there alright. The witch's back was to him, and the bag of plants and other things she had been carrying left on the floor. With the way her arms were positioned it looked like she might've been holding something in her arms. Hearing the sounds of clanking shackles the witch turned her head to him and smiled seeing him standing there in the doorway. Before turning around completely with that looked like a blanket bundle cradled in her arms.

"Oh there you are. ...Uh. What is that you're holding?"

"You're not going to believe this."

She beckoned him to come closer with a free hand and as he slowly came in the same sniffling sounds came from inside the blanket. And did that thing just move!? He froze as Hazelle grabbed the edge of the small blanket and pulled it back. And what was inside SHOOK the ghost. A-A-...A baby....THERE WAS A PECKING LIVING BREATHING BABY IN THAT BLANKET!! But strangely that wasn't the weirdest part. The pale skinned boy sniffled and blinked up at the both of them with big purple eyes and dark black hair. At seeing the witch and ghost looking down at him, his head tilted curiously back at them. But that wasn't what was strange. What WAS strange was the fact that his face..Was COVERED in glowing blue markings that lit up his body in the dark. There was a couple of them. Glowing blue lines. One over his nose, two lines under each of his eyes, two jutting up from his chin, and a peculiar swirl like symbol on his forehead. And all were glowing. Even now he could feel the magical aura filing out from this child in the same way Hazelle's magical essence did. Which meant that whoever this child was...He was certainly special. Moonjumper stared long and hard at the child who now seemed calm being in the arms of Hazelle. Before he pointed to him.

"What....is that?"

"A baby. What ELSE would it be?"

"Y-Yes. I know. But WHY is there a baby here?" He looked around the dark and grim looking room. "And in such a sorry state of a house of all places?''

Hazelle shrugged. "I haven't the foggiest idea. You think someone lives here?"

In response to her question Moonjumper gave a careful look around the room. There was ...well nothing here except one or two pieces of old broken furniture. "...Where did you find the baby?" She stepped aside and pointed her free hand down to the absolutely empty corner behind her. THAT empty cold corner in just a blanket? That couldn't be healthy for it. In fact..it doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time."This house is pretty worn out. Seems like people were living here before Snatcher came in. Or maybe they were still alive when Snatcher arrived and ...you know. He's crazy like that. But no one could possibly be living here. There's no signs of food. No water. Not even a small shelter set up." He looked back down to the baby who nommed on a chubby hand. "And he certainly isn't as old as the rest of the house! Who would leave a defenseless child here!? Unless......" A look of realization struck him as he frowned. "Unless someone left him here on purpose."

....Hazelle shook her head. "I don't know. But maybe he's not abandoned." She waved a finger in front of the baby's face and he latched onto it. "Maybe whoever he belongs to just left him here to get food or something."

"Hm. Possibly. But why not just bring him with them especially in Subcon forest? In fact WHY Subcon Forest? This place is renowned far and wide as extremely dangerous. Unless whoever they were was in big trouble or extremely foolish, I doubt anyone would risk coming in here. More so with an infant!"

"....Well then guess I'll have to wait and find out." Hazelle with that carefully sat down still holding the baby in her arms and sighed leaning her back against the wall to get comfortable.

Moonjumper rose a brow. "You CAN'T be serious."

"Why not? If whoever it was comes back they might need help. Besides, I can't just leave a baby here. Would you?"

"I-...Well no! But what if whoever it is is dangerous? You could be in big trouble."

"Hey. No big deal. I've dealt with both you and Snatcher before. I can take care of myself. Besides you'll just be forced back into the Horizon any minute now. I'll give them twenty four hours. If they don't come back then, I'll ask Snatcher. Maybe he'll know something we don't."

...Moonjumper sighed. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Hazelle."

Soon the first rays of light hurt the world and as expected Moojumper dissipated into glitchy cubs disappearing back into the green paranormal world of the Horizon. And Hazelle made herself comfortable just sitting back there leaning against the wall, legs crossed, one hand behind her head, and pushing her hat over her eyes to give them a rest from the sunlight. All the while the baby laid snug against her body. At one point she fell asleep for a few hours having been up the night before but being a light sleeper meant she would've heard someone come in and be up in an instant. ...And no one came. Not when the sun came up. Not when the sun hit noon. Not when the sun set came. And definitely not when night fell. And there Hazelle laid patiently in the same position except now that the baby was asleep in her arm safely without a care in the world. Until that is when the familiar sound of shackles came, and Hazelle pushed her hat up to meet the eyes of Moonjumper who had once again appeared before her being night again. The ghost had stood there staring at them, not really surprised to see the baby still with Hazelle. But he had hoped that whoever was responsible for the little tyke would return to claim the baby and even leave the forest. In had been on his mind all day making his metaphorical stomach sink and his worst thoughts were confirmed as soon as he appeared. His crestfallen face mirroring his thoughts.

"Anything?," he asked even though he already knew the answer.

Frowning Hazelle shook her head no. "No one. Not even a ghost. And I've been sitting here on my butt all day."

"Well judging by how he's been found here, he was probably here for longer than you were. Face it Hazelle. No one's coming back for him."

"Timmy."

Moonjumper blinked. "Pardon?"

"Timmy. His name's Timmy."

"And how do you know that?"

Hazelle answered him by pulling a corner of the blanket up for him to look at and embroidered with dark blue thread into the blanket was letters. T. I. M. M. Y. Timmy. "I found this little clue right here."

"You know that might not even be his real name."

She shrugged before carefully pushing herself off the wall and standing up. "It's the only thing we got going for us right now and it's better than calling him 'it'." Well..she had a point. She reached back over and carefully lifted her bag back up and threw it over her shoulder. "Well I gave them a whole day to show up. Now there's just one person to see if they know anything about this here."

"You don't mean-"

"Snatcher yes. You're free to wait back while I go ask him." She said before beginning to walk out of the abandoned house.

Moonjumper watched as she left just floating there before sighing and floating after her. Might as well see how this played out. Too say it was less than ideal was putting it lightly. It took them a little while to get to said purple ghost's tree house and Snatcher was...Well. Irritated and angry as usual, especially seeing Moonjumper there of all people but luckily it seemed that him being thrown off completely seeing Hazelle holding an infant was enough to spare Moonjumper from his wrath. But it was followed by Snatcher demanding what was going on, them explaining the details to him, and then when they asked-....Snatcher. Knew. Nothing. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Turns out there's no traps or minions of his in that area of the forest being so close to the edge of the forest so even if someone snuck in, Snatcher wouldn't have been alerted to any intruders. So someone could've easily slipped in and out without Snatcher noticing they were even there. He didn't even know the child was even there until he was brought to his attention. Which left them nothing, and Snatcher wasn't any help when he huffed and left them with it.

"Whatever. Just get it out of my forest!"

Tch. Typical reaction of Snatcher's, but what was he expecting from him? Which left now him and Hazelle in the presence of the child without any idea where he came from and most likely abandoned, and no idea what to do with little Timmy apparently.

"What now?," he has asked after a while. "We can't just put him back, and Snatcher's no help as usual."

Hazelle hummed letting the now awake baby nom on the edge of his blanket curiously. "I know. It'd be crueler than leaving him alone in the first place. ...*sigh* It's not uncommon for people who're afraid of magic or who just don't want to deal with it to abandon those children I'm afraid. I guess Timmy's just another one of those people with that sad fate."

Abandoned for something he didn't even know or had done. He knew that feeling all too well. This baby and him were practically parallels having been betrayed by people who were supposed to love you and protect you...Now they were all alone...Or- He looked at the small giggling child. Or WERE they? Hazelle blinked as he reached right over shackles clanking and picked up the baby from her arms and turning to cradle him in his own arms...He couldn't change his own fate, but he could certainly change Timmy.

"Well then it's decided. I shall care for him."

"What?," Hazelle asked raising a brow and placed her free hand on her hip. "You can't be serious."

"And why not? I wouldn't mind the company. And as ghosts don't need sleep I can give him around the clock care. Besides, I...I-I've always wanted a child when I was alive."

Hazelle's expression turned to one of pity before she sighed. "I get that. But DO you know how to take care of a baby? Especially one with magic obviously?"

He stammered. "I- Well...N-No. But Timmy's worth the effort and besides...Maybe you could help?"

"Moony. I didn't sign up to become a replacement mother."

"Oh come now Hazelle. I would be doing most of the work anyways. All I need is some help and someone to teach me please?" He held up the giggling baby to him more with a smile melting on his face. "Besides...This might just be what he needs. A loving home with people who know about magic and won't abandon him. Please?"

The witch stared at the ghost for a long moment as some kind of thoughts whirled about her head before sighing. "Fine! But I hope you know what you're getting into."

A bright and fanged smile speared across the old ghost's face before he looked down to the giggling baby in his arms. "Well little one." He offered a hand towards the baby who cooed and looked at it as a string appeared from his finger tip only to gently wrap itself around his small hand. "I promise as long as your under my protection nothing shall ever happen to you again." The baby giggled at the display before looking back up to the smiling ghost. "I promise."

#Moonjumper #Timmy #ABloomInTime #BloomingFriendships

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch2 Dadtcher P2

"Nice place you got here, Kiddo."  

To say that it was a surprise to the children to have found the noodly spook sitting on top of the giant pile of pillows reading a book and surrounded by lit candles with his own face on them. He however was absolutely BEAMING. Everything was ready. Everything he had learnt from those diaries of the Kiddo's and from what Bow told him during their talks about her life were now finally going to be put to the test. His contracts were ready. The small little rewards to entice them into ensuring they'd do it. And the best sure fire way to get a reaction out of them both. All he had to do was to get them to actually agree to get them to do it. Although it did take him quite a few days to complete both the contracts and rewards. Sewing wasn't really something he did a lot of since making his minions bodies and it took a lot of magic to make the 'Death Wish' concept he constructed. He's lucky they decided to stick around instead of leaving in time for him to show up. Both had different reactions to seeing his smirking jack-o-lantern face down upon him. The Hat brat perked up immediately and Bow blinked in confusion but neither seemed afraid as he approuched him.

"What's up? Still alive and well I see. What a shame," he greeted in his usual cheery but menacing tone. It was easier now that the stupid empty feeling had went away now wanting to spend time seeing them....Uh. Seeing them FAIL!!!

The Hat Brat giggled but smiled seeing him. "Where were you?" That was her first question as he smiled down at her, bounding over to him and stepping on her tiptoes and craning her neck to try and peer at what he was reading. "I thought you wanted to see me."

"That's right!," he sing songed as he closed the book for a moment. "It's been a long time since we've seen one another and I decided what we needed was some quality bonding time." His smiled stretched even wider across his face. "How would you two like to earn some really nice rewards?"

That certainly caught both of their attentions as they perked up. BINGO!! Just like he wanted. "What KIND of rewards are we talking about?" Of course she'd inquire about that.

he chuckled. "It's a little game I came up with called 'Death Wish'! Oh don't worry it's completely safer than it sounds." One dark purple hand reached up and with a snap of his talons two rolled up scrolls appeared within his claws. "I've got this little map for you. You'll notice I've only marked just one contract for now. You'll have to complete it before you unlock the rest. Each contract you'll both have to sign agreeing to complete not only the base terms but the bonuses as well! And abide by any limitations or rules I've included with each task to make it harder for you all. You can both take as long as you need with as many tries as you'd like." Both gave him a look. "Oh don't worry. There's no soul payments or danger with these ones. I've included a fail safe that'll keep the both of you alive and immune to that. Once my symbol turns gold from you completing the base task and bonuses you can move on to the next contract. For every gold stamp or candle you two complete you'll receive one reward each. Checks and balances you know. So what do you two say? Complete my new contracts and I'll reward you handsomely."

Both children looked at each other regarding one another for a moment before Bow nodded and they looked back up to him. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

"GREAT!" Taking a map in each hand he unfurled them and from each magically floated out a contract each and two quills. "Just sign across the dotted line and do as the contract instructs within the magical pocket dimension. Don't worry." He smiled much much wider. "I'll be watching from the sidelines to view your progress." He watched gleefully with a chuckle as the two without hesitation signed away on the papers feeling a laugh nearly bubbling up from himself. The contracts disappearing in a puff of purple smoke as soon as they finished signing their names on them. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!! Alright! Back to work! And be careful, Kid! These aren't your average everyday contracts. These are ADVANCED contracts."

And just like that the two were whizzed off into the magical mapped world he had constructed his laughs following after them both as both maps floated up for him to observe their progress like two live tv specials. THIS WAS GONNA BE GOOD!! He found amusement in seeing how many times they failed only to dust themselves back off and try again. And he was there to taunt them while doing it. Ahh. Is this what it was like to have a favorite show? He could get used to this then. Of course they didn't appreciate his taunts and teases which only seemed to make them more determined to complete the bonuses and base mission the contract stated. By the time they finally finished and he marked the first stamp as GOLD COMPLETED they were all tired and covered head to toe in dirt, and in the hat brat's case giving him the stick eye but he just laughed at them. It wasn't until the hat brat held out her hand expectantly did he finally come down from his laughing. Oh right. Their reward. Well he supposed that they DID earn it turning the stamp to a gold one, and they wouldn't likely want to do any others if they weren't rewarded as promised. So he gave in and gave them one of the rewards. Which was really just some basic clothes he designed for them. It was the one thing he could think of that the two could use around here since their closet was just an empty tomb for now. To his credit they seemed pleased with his handy work. GOOD. As they should be! After all he WAS very talented so anything he made them should be praised. But he just didn't give these out for free. If they wanted anymore then they were going to HAVE TO EARN it!! He gets entertainment, and they get fun little trinkets he conjured up. It's a great trade deal!! With the two satisfied two more contracts appeared before the two of them detailing the next task they had to do. And again they were whisked away to the next task to complete. Maybe he didn't exactly realize what he doing at first or why but he'd soon find out. Right now he was having too much fun watching these two to care, taunting and teasing them both. One contract after another was completed. One stamp after another was turned gold. One reward after another was handed over to tired but excited faces. And slowly both maps were being filled. Of course he let the two have breaks when they got too tired. Or were hungry. And he'd leave if they fell asleep. .....NOT because he cared about them pushing themselves when he 'reluctantly plopped them both on the bed! But because he wouldn't get to watch them fail more if they exhausted themselves too much. Because of this their little 'Death Wish' adventure started to extend into a few days. Each day the same thing would happen over and over and he was content to watch them both. Ah. It was almost like a proud parent watching their child learn to strengthen their skills.....ALMOST. And by the fourth day of them doing this he noticed that they had completed a fair amount of them. Even if they had to do some multiple times in order to turn them all gold.

"Looks like you've completed quite a few of my contracts," he commented one time after they returned from completing yet more contracts. The Hat Brat was farther ahead in completing them than Bow was, but both seemed to be progressing steadily. "Regretting the whole best friends forever thing yet, Kid? I can do this a whole lot longer than you can." He smiled at both their dirt covered faces but they both seemed irritated by his teasing towards them.

"Hey! Your contracts were always easy to beat,  Purple Ramen Noodle!," the hat brat insulted him pointing her umbrella towards him.

He rolled his yellow eyes. "Oh yes. Burn some paintings. Unclog a toilet. Deliver some mail. You thought my contracts were so easy back then." He listed off a few of his past contracts before smiling menacingly and reaching a long arm over to flick the kid on the nose. She shouted a 'Hey!' and scowled at him while grabbing where he flicked her. "But don't be too proud of yourself. I'm only half finished with you two."

"BRING IT ON!! GIVE ME ANOTHER STUPID CONTRACT!!," She challenged him back, "I can best it with my eyes closed!"

"That's the spirit! You'll like this next one. Just don't harm any birds while doing it."

More days passed like this. And his minions were starting to grow curious about their King's sudden good mood. He'd often return when night fell on the world and then(after gaining a quick progress report. Wouldn't want anything bad happening to his forest while he was gone.) he'd just simply read until the next morning and disappear somewhere. Before the process repeated itself. Don't get them wrong, the minions were glad he wasn't in that grouchy almost sad funk he had been for a long time now, but they were curious about what was making him so happy. But none dared ask him about it in fear of ruining that good mood he had going on. He was feeling pretty good about himself but it couldn't last forever. The Hat Brat was almost done with the entire map and Bow was gaining on her fast. Both tearing through these contracts like flimsy wet paper

"You're...really tearing through these contracts aren't you?," he commented after handed the two another little reward each. Once he did notice almost the entire map filled with gold that feeling came back. He hadn't had time to even think of anymore contract ideas or make any rewards to entice them into doing things!! It already took him a long time to even think and make everything he DID provide!! But he....He couldn't figure out why he was feeling almost..panicked? He shouldn't be feeling like this! So what if they were almost done!? It's not like they were going to...to.....To leave. The very thought made him literally drop his book. All focus off the maps. Thank goodness he was the only one around to really witness himself do that as he stared blankly at nothing in particular. They...They wouldn't actually LEAVE would they? ...Not that he cared or i-it was any of his business of course. NAH! Of course they wouldn't! They had no where else to go according to the hat brat's diaries. And when speaking to Bow it sounded like she had no other home than on the ship either. But then what's stopping them from leaving here either if they had nothing holding them back from exploring the vast reaches of space far, far away from him-...Away from the planet? He tried not to think about that and only focused back onto the progress the two made. Doesn't matter. After all it WAS none of his business and he only wanted to make them suffer after they trespassed in his forest, ruined his vacation, and beat him. ....Right? It wasn't long before the two of them came back both looking exhausted, dirted, and the Hat Brat had to pat her tophat where smoke was coming off of it. Most likely from the last contract. He pulled himself together enough to smile menacingly at them. "Hey there! You smell worse than the burning parts of my forest!"

"CHECK THE MAP!!," she demanded before tossing the hat back onto her head and pouting. Arms crossed and foot tapping. Which did make him raise a brow. Not demanded a reward this time and instead jumping right into the next contract?...Fine by him!

"You ready to die some more? Great! Now let me see here." Only when he checked both maps, he paused. Almost froze like a statue really. Because on every open stamp and candle area, was a shiny golden marker. On. BOTH. Maps. He sat there speechless. ".......WHAT!?" He screeched. A glare coming over his face before snatching both maps from the air and holding them both to his face. Carefully scanning over them and checking each corner for anything he might've missed...but both maps and all contracts were completed. Otherwise they wouldn't have turned gold. He NEVER made a mistake with his contacts. "Neither of you could take your time in enjoying what I went through to set up for you??" He looked up and over at them and noticed their confused looks. "I mean.....You're not dead!?" Making both maps disappear with a snap of his fingers he frowned and picked up his book as an excuse to not look at them. "This book was useless!! I should..SUE!!"...he sighed. Placing his head in his hands and giving them an almost pout. "Ugh. You completed all my contracts, but somehow you're still alive to pester me. Thanks. I guess. No. Really. That's just great. Congratulations!" Bow giggled at his reaction and he huffed. Kids.

"We're not done yet." He hummed and raised a brow at Bow who pointed at him. "You still need to give us that last reward for finishing your last contract!"

"...Huh? You want a reward?," he asked and both nodded yes confirming his question, "Look, Kid. We've done this before. You really need to learn to negotiate up front."

"Hey! That's not fair! You promised us!" Bow insisted pointing one finger into her hands other palm as her friend kept frowning at him. "One reward for every contract we defeated! You still need to give us one!"

"I get the feeling you're not going to leave me along unless I hand over something. It's always about you, huh?" He huffed and looked away. Truth be told he DID have one last gift for the two of them but...he was for some reason reluctant to give it. "You know you weren't even supposed to make it this far! They should be picking out flowers for you right now! So I guess we can't always get what we want- HEY!!" He very quickly had to snap his head back up to avoid his head getting swatted by a bright blue umbrella as the hat brat stood on her tip toes with a scowl waving it at him. "Now there there!" he tried holding up his arms to her. "At least you have the feeling you achieved something. You earned it."

"SNATCHER!! C'mon you Pecking pool noodle!," she said threatening with her umbrella, "Cough it up!"

he gave her a dead panned look before pushing her umbrella away from ease. "If it wasn't clear, our business is concluded. Go Bother someone else, Kiddo."

He nearly jumped when Bow placed her hand on his side and he blinked at her. "Please Mr. Snatcher?" She asked a smile on her innocent face. "We did everything you asked and you already gave us all the others."

He stared at her for a long moment before sighing. "Fine. If it'll get the both of you two off my back." Both watched in anticipation as Snatcher reached a hand up and with a snap two things happened. The book and candles he had brought with him disappeared and what looked like two slightly torn capes appeared before them. The perfect size for children their sizes. They grabbed them and he grumbled. "There the last thing I have to offer the both of you. ...When you put it on you might be in for a big surprise. You won't get any ghostly powers of course." They looked at him. "And you won't get any magic or anything and it won't stop you from dying if you do anything foolish. But it's a nice little look a like. Now if you excuse me, I have some unfinished business elsewhere to take care of." Before the two could respond they were blasted with purple smoke and a moment later Snatcher had disappeared.

Snatcher had gone back to his forest. A mixture of emotions running through his mind as he just...paced and sat around staring at nothing for the next days and now his minions were worried again. It's obvious by the large frown on Snatcher's face that something was bothering him and bothered he was. But he just. Couldn't. Understand. WHY!? Just...WHY!? He felt angry. He felt upset, worried, anxious, and panicked!! He felt..empty. Just like when they were gone again. They hadn't attempted to visit his forest either during this time, as if they were done with him- Snatcher ended up growling and minions ran for cover when he let out a raging screech claws digging into the fluff around his neck and threatening to rip out the fluffy purple hairs of his fluff. WHY COULDN'T HE FIGURE THIS OUT!? HE HATED FEELING THINGS!! WHY WERE THINGS SO COMPLICATED!? WEREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO REST IN PEACE ONCE YOU WERE A GHOST!?

"My, my. What a tantrum." His anger form into a snarl on his face snapping like a mouse trap towards the voice and found none other than a pink wearing witch standing there. But instead of her usual cocky and infuriating smirky self she just stared at him blanking arms crossed across her chest watching him. "I could hear you all the way in the Horizon if you tried hard enough."

...He hissed again turning way from Hazelle. "If you're here to make fun of me, Witch, I suggest leaving! I DONT want to be bothered right now."

"Mmm hmm." Instead of leaving she came right on in and made herself at home, daring to sit on his chair's footrest. One leg crossed over the other as she stared at him blankly. "I'm sure you don't but I'm going to be a bother anyways and say that I think you're avoiding this whole liking kids thing for too long."

"What the peck are you spouting out, Hag!?," he demanded crossing his own arms still bristled up like a procupine. "As if I'd like ANYONE let alone two snot nosed brats who make it a point of barging into MY forest and daring to embarrass me in front of all my minions!!"

"So you say." Her brows rose and her eyes narrowed, "But yet you haven't made any point to actually harm them? Or trick them into lifelong servitude? Or giving you their souls? And you created a fail safe within those contracts so that they wouldn't die?"

He bristled more a sudden fury coming to his bright yellow eyes. "HOW THE PECK DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

"The darlings visited Timmy yesterday. Nice get ups you made them by the way. The ones you made to make them look exactly like you when they put them on? If that doesn't scream attachment I don't know what does, Snatchy."

"YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING!!!"

"There's no reason to yell you know."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE!?"

To her credit Hazelle didn't flinch or get angry back. "Because as your friend I became concerned for you. Last time I heard you were happy and I thought you had solved your situation but clearly there's something deeper bubbling under your ectoplasm." he opened his mouth- "Snatcher. This is completely out of character, even for someone as eccentric and dead as you are."

".....What are you getting at?''

She sighed. "Snatcher, you're essentially treating them as if you care about them. Albeit to a strange extent but it's pretty obvious you're going about this in your own ghostly way." He gave her a look. "Before you say anything let me ask you a question. It's a simple yes or no. Do you care about your little helpers running around here?"

He huffed. Floating over and plopping himself down into the giant armchair across from her. Digits digging into the arms of the chair. Both exchanging a look for a silent moment. ".....They're what's left of my people."

"That's a yes then." She moved her head into one of her hands. "You went through all the trouble of making most of them bodies that you hand sewn together and made a whole bunch of them sign your little contract of work and protection. And I remember how heated up you got when Mr. Moonjumper snatched a couple of them away from you-"

He growled again. His grip on the armchair threatening to leave cuts in the chair's fabric. "That no good star gazing peckneck would benefit from not sticking his nose where it doesn't belong!! Which includes my contractors."

He blinked when she suddenly pointed a hand at him. "See! That's what I'm talking about. Right there. You usually don't care about anyone other than yourself but when you do actually care for someone you deny it of course. But then you do things like get mad if someone threatens them."

"HEY!! THEY. ARE. MINE!!" Her brow rose. "......T-To torment!! And I always need contractual workers. Moonboy can go find his own forest of the dead to take over and he has that magic brat of his own!! So those two brats are mine to take revenge on!"

"You're also very territorial and protective over them as well and get angry at anything you perceive as a threat towards said people you care about. You care about those two girls. There's no doubt about that." He jumped...and scowled opening his mouth to argue- "Argue and rant all you want. We both know I've known you long enough to know it's the truth!...But what I can't understand is why you're acting so uncharacteristic about all of this? You usually don't get so uptight and practically on a verge on a mental breakdown. You're usually like 'If I care about them, I care about them. So what? I have traps to set and contracts to make people sign.' Not 'I'm going to spend days on end hung over them and roar into the sky'. It's concerning to say the least."

Snatcher said nothing as he stared at Hazelle for a long, long moment....before he groaned and a hand reached up to rub at his face. "....It's nothing personal." She blinked as he slumped down into the chair. "But this is between whatever those brats did to me and just me. It's no concern of yours. I'd rather not have you messing about with my matters. I don't need another person to deal with so stay out of it."

Hazelle made to stare at him longer before sighing to herself, and making to stand up as he watched her from behind the hand rubbing his face. "Alright. I get when I won't be able to do anything else. But Snatcher for your sake please just...think about what I said. Ok?''

Snatcher said nothing when the witch left. And he still didn't say or do anything but stay there slumped in his chair, one hand holding his lower face as he stayed there for a long, long moment. The words Hazelle had spoken staying in his mind replaying over and over silently but instead of getting angry as was his usual reaction to something like this...he let it come together like a puzzle from the attic. All dusty and then all of a sudden brought out into the light and put together at long last, until he realized there was still some pieces needing to be placed. And so he got up from the chair to go find them. Minions and dwellers alike only watched on in confusion as a dark shadow shot out from the tree house and start snaking it's way through the trees in the woods. Faster than a bullet it shot from the hot and humid areas of the swamp to the cold and desolate area of the forbidden frozen bridge. Easily flying over the long broken bridge that separated the two areas and into the forever winter areas. The cold wind blew at his face as he made his way past houses. Some perfectly preserved frozen in ice while others were completely dismantled slowly rotting away in the winter forever. Well he went past all that, and being a ghost he easily phased through the ice barrier that was all around the manor which loomed in the distance. He slowed the closer he came to it, eventually stopping in the giant looming shadow it casted upon the snow. Snatcher's yellow eyes narrowed at it as another snarl appeared on his face. He LOATHED this place. After all it was the place he died. He hadn't been back here in a long time. In fact the last time he was even here was when he messed with the kiddo on the third floor, keeping the key away from her in a sort twisted game of tag. Since then the place had been completely empty except for ....HER of course. With the snarl still on his face, the shadow continued forward. Like with the ice barrier it was easy for him to just completely phase through the walls and right into the manor. The inside was just as dark and eerie as ever but he came here just to see one specific place in particular. It wasn't too much for him to go through the ceiling and arrive on the second floor, and it took him even less to go through one wall and arrive at the one spot that always seemed out of place among the entire manor. The child's bedroom.

"You know...out of every room in this place..I never once gave this one a second thought," he mumbled to himself in the dark.

The room itself was dark. Happy royal blue made up the carpet comically made to look like a patchwork quilt. The only company the room really had was two frozen statues of two foolish souls who dared to come in here. And of course the eerie toys. The giant teddy bear in one corner was barely still sewn together having the seams coming undone after so many years of sitting there with his only company being the just as creepy rocking horse in another corner with it's happy pink paint chipping and peeling off. Who knows. Maybe they would've lived in the fantasy scenery set up in the very middle of the nursery. But none of those were important to him. It was the crib that caught his attention as he stared at it....Snatcher neared the cradle.  Settling his claws on the side, and stared down at the neatly made and undisturbed quilt blanket and pillow that was still sitting there the exact same day the bed had been first made. Still waiting for the little baby to be swaddled in it's grasp for him to look at and have to call his own. Seeing it now...staring up at him back empty made him feel...Strange. Empty almost. Snatcher was right in what he had said before. Out of every room in the manor he never once gave this room much of a second thought. Why? He wasn't too sure. He guessed it must've been because he was too caught up in the events that happened his death and anything that had happened afterwards but those two kids stirred up some old feelings of his...And he finally had gotten the answer to it. It took a while for sure not realizing what he was feeling, but Hazelle's blunt but obvious points had helped him piece it together. (Not that he'd ever admit it to her tho-) This part of him was buried deep down but it had resurfaced and he knew what it was now...Kids. A long time ago, back when he was alive, he had wanted kids. With...With Vanessa before the whole falling out thing. That made him shiver. Thank PECK they didn't actually have any children together when alive! He dared not think about even the possibility of having any ties with her than he already did! But....They were planning on having them after they were married. After all when one was the rulers of two kingdoms you'd need an heir to pass on your legacy too...Or in his case he guessed he didn't actually need them considering he didn't have to pass his legacy onto anyone being able to continue ruling after death. But thinking back on it now..Hazelle might've had a point. Ever since the Great Subcon Freeze he had taken the village's children and any adult spirits into his care so why would he have this empty feeling about children if he already took care of many that were both children and adult before they died??....Simple answer. They weren't the children he remembered. No longer running around with that happy cheerful giggling, singing songs, asking him to play whenever he had Visited Vanessa's kingdom. PECK!! Most of them couldn't even remember who they were in life and just acted like-....Like minions. Sure most had different personalities and they all acted differently, but they just-....It just wasn't there anymore. Not that it was his fault at all. After all it was Vanessa's pecking actions that did this all under a blooming misunderstanding!! ...Sigh. That didn't matter anymore anyways.

Y'know...The two of them were both very different in personality. The hat brat was adventurous, had spunk, courage, not afraid to really face danger head on, spontaneous, and a lot more crafty than given credit for. A lot like him actually. If he had a daughter he didn't have a doubt that she'd be a lot like the Hat Brat. But Bow....Heh. Bow was the complete opposite minus one or two things. She was a harder worker than her friend, often having to work harder to catch up to her progress but she had determination which he admired. From all the times he had spent with her back when he was waiting for the Hat Brat to show up, he had gotten a feel for how she really was. Bow was...sweet. Kind. Very, Very creative often telling him her many stories and adventures from her pictures. But she was also very, very smart on the ways of survival. For one she knew how to sneakily pick pocket someone and hide really well which he was surprised at, but lost the surprise when she casually explained where she had grown up. Nyakuza Metro. A place full of cat crime and in an orphans home. How or why she had grown up amongst cats neither had any idea, but he was a bit concerned. A child her age grew up among criminals in a thieving city, picked up a few bad habits, left, and then wondered around homeless without adult care until she had somehow ended up in Mafia Town and there she met the Hat Brat who invited her along and took her to live on her ship. Well...at least it explained why Bow loved cats. Both wondering about in space without anyone else except each other and a cleaning robot. Just like all the lost souls he had to take in. Just like his people it wasn't any of their fault others put them into this mess. He couldn't just leave his people alone to struggle on their own. He was their ruler. Their Prince. Their KING. With Vanessa's mother dead from her illness, his parents most likely dead from the frost, and Vanessa betraying them he was their only option. Maybe he wasn't the best but he was certainly better than the Ice Hag. And he was very guilty back then resorting himself into taking responsibility for the lost souls. If he couldn't save them in life, then he'd guide them in death. And so, after many years of harvesting souls and keeping trespassers out, the first lively children in a thousand years came trotting back into his life. Stirring up all these hidden wants and desires within him and reminding him of the has-beens and almost-hads in life. And any day now they might leave soon. Peck. They might leave today or right this second as he was blissfully staring off into the cold and barren crib.

......With a long and drawn out sigh his hands squeezed the old wood of the crib making it creak under his grip before he let go. Well. That settled it. His mind was made up. After all he had gotten everything he wanted in life in death. His own kingdom? YEP! The whole forest and frozen area. And all his loyal minions. Wanted to do what he wanted? He had all eternity and the freedom for that now!! Revenge? HA!! He had taken everything Vanessa once had and she was trapped forever inside the manor by her own curse! If he wanted he could mess with her anytime he wanted! Friends? Hm. He guessed Hazelle and his subjects counted. Not that he'd admit it. Children? Well...Again he guessed some of his subjects counted as some were young during the freeze, but again none were as..Alive as he envisioned them once as....But there was a good solution to fix that problem right up. After all. What better revenge could he have on those two kids than to make them eternally obligated to stay with him and do as he says?!

"Whooooo's theeeeeere?"  With a snap of his neck towards the door he scowled. Oh great. The witch sensed a presence in her home. The cold aura of the manor intensified to great levels as the red eyed woman made her way towards the destroyed nursery by her own claws. "My Prince, is that you?"  The door to the nursery was opened with a flurry of snowflakes as the shadow woman burst her way into the nursery only to find no one .

Back on the ship two small children were happily watching TV. Some kind of cartoon with a cat chasing a cartoon mouse and getting into all kinds of hijinks making the two small children giggle at what they were doing on the screen. Neither was really expecting the dark poof of purple behind them, or to be startled by the entity that showed up before them, or really expected to see SNATCHER of all people appearing in the middle of their spaceship. They had jumped spooked, but upon seeing who the specter was calmed down quite quickly.

"Snatcher?," The Hat Brat asked raising a brow.

He regarded them both for a very long moment. The silence becoming eventually so awkward that they both looked at one another before shrugging. Oh boy....here we go. They watched as he gave off a sigh. Reaching a clawed hand up to slowly drag down his face silently, eyes closed....before he opened them again and regarded the both of them for a long, long moment. Well...this was it. He came here because he wanted something. However he wasn't too sure how to approach this at all...except professionally. Not sure if that'd work on two children but it's worth a shot.

"I'm here because I want you both to sign a contract," he finally settled on saying crossing his arms over his chest. Both seemed to perk up at the idea. "It's not like those fun little 'Death Wishes' and it isn't a work contract either. Don't get that mixed up." He clarified pausing for a moment regarding them for a bit. "......I couldn't help but notice you two haven't really taken off in this fancy spaceship of yours for quite a while now. It either means you decided to stick around, at least for a while, or you don't have anywhere else to go." As expected both had reactions to what he had just said. Hat Kid flinched and Bow paused as they both stared at him wide eyed. Guess he must've caught him off guard with that. "That doesn't matter to me though." he continued before either could say anything. "I'm more interested in making your stay here actually permanent. You both could he highly useful to me and it's not everyday I stumble across someone who I actually make an investment like this in." He smiled. "So I might as well expand our business endeavors!" With a snap of his fingers a single contract and quill appeared from no where and both kids watched as it floated down to them. "Just sign on the dotted line and you won't ever have to worry about a home again!"

Both exchanged a look again, then looked at Snatcher, before taking a good at the new contract. The paper looked old and slightly torn around the edges here and there. At the very top of the paper was a fancy drawing of the creature before her with the face and his arms outstretched, beneath that was some very fancy writing that read "CONTRACT" in fancy bold capital cursive letters. The Rest was also in fancy cursive but lucking she could read it pretty well reading someone's fancy cursive order of flowers all the time. It read as followed:

CONTRACT

SERVE THE DEAD WITH WHAT THE AGREEMENT STATES

You have been chosen by the benevolent and merciful the Snatcher. The terms and services will include your life long servitude and loyalty to said ruler The Snatcher. You have been lost but you are lucky enough to have been selected as few mortals to help the eternal after life and anything the Snatcher requests within reason of the servants morals and abilities. The following territories of the forest shall be available for the signer to visit willingly as they please.

-The Subcon Forest

-The Employer's Home (with special permission)

-The Subcon Village

These parts shall NOT be available for any reason and will not be negotiated unless the employer says otherwise.

-The Haunted Manor

-The Frozen Bridge

-The Subcon Swamp

-The Subcon Well

-The Frozen Territory

-Any place my employer has said is off limits

By signing this the signer shall be paid for their service and loyalty with immortality (non ageing), protection from the Snatcher and those under him, a home, and anything the signer requests within reason. Binding by contract means your soul shall remain bound to the contract which cannot be broken by any means except by will of the employer, a.k.a the Snatcher. And in return the signer shall do ask the Snatcher asks with they're full cooperation and be given full custody of the signer. If the Snatcher at any point terminates the contract the signer's soul shall be released from his care and they shall live a normal rest of their life. By agreeing you shall also be safe from other supernatural entities and their influences whatever they may be, including influences from the employer and other minions. Also by signing this the signer agrees to willing do this and become a certified minion of The Snatcher. If you have complaints, suggestions, or other, the signer must report them to their employer immediately. As a down payment for all provided by the Snatcher, he shall be given the contract with your soul will be bound to for eternity unless decided otherwise, but the servant will be allowed free of will, full freedom, favors the employee asks of The Snatcher, with full control of their mind, body, and their soul in their body. Room and board, immortality, food, and any other living necessities shall also be provided by the Snatcher as stated.

SIGNED

And then there was two small lines for both their names.

He watched as they both stared at it. Anxious and worry feeling bubbling up beneath. What if they say no? "Are you trying to take our souls again?"

WHAT!? NO!! "Hey! You get to keep literally EVERYTHING. You're soul won't even belong to me. Only the contract it'll be connected too." So he could keep you both safe from MOONBOY!! The very thought of that puppeteering glitching rat trying to control either of them with those pecking red strings of his made his talons did into his arms in annoyance. He was lucky Moonjumper hadn't thought of that blasted idea earlier and he'd gotten to them first. Who knows what he'd do then? "UGH!! Look...this is...complicated. But there's no tricks. Not this time. I honestly wouldn't mind having you brats around to work for me."

"So...you're adopting us!?," Bow's eyes suddenly sparkled as a hopeful smile spread across her face. Hattie's eyes widening.

He paused........ Adopting? Well, he guessed in a way he was although he had a different idea about going about this. "I-....I suppose one could call it that. BUT D-DON'T YOU BOTH BE GETTING ANY IDEAS!! IT'S NOT LIKE I CARE ABOUT YOU IN THAT SENSE OR ANYTHING!! N-Now are you going to si-" he paused at the sound of scribbling pencil, and looked down. Eyes blinking wide in shock.

Bow was smiling and signing away on the small paper with the quill. It didn't take her too long to write her name down before she handed it to Hattie who smiled just as wildly and excitedly to also scribble her name down on the paper.....And Snatcher's smile widened as relief and JOY flooded his ectoplasm! Once she did sign the pen disappeared in a small puff of smoke and she jumped, her grip on the contract loosening enough for the giant ghost to snatch it from her. At the same time a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of their bodies. Temporarily knocking the wind outta them. They gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within them. Their body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of their chest before as soon it came it left and they stayed laying down gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation that came and left. Leaving goosebumps across the their flesh and shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and eventually snapping up to him. He smiled reading over the contract before it disappeared in a puff of flames too.

"AHAHAHAHA!! That seals the deal, Kids! We're in business!"

"W-W-What the PECK was THAT?!," Bow stuttered out, sitting up and pressing a hand against her chest where the purple light had appeared. Hattie getting up beside her slightly dazed.

"Relax. You're unharmed. It was just the bond ceiling between us and the magic forming a strong protective shield around your soul so no one, not even Vanessa, can harm you. Don't worry. You're perfectly fine. Although you might feel winded for a bi- OOF!!."

In a blur of purple and yellow, he was tackled hard to the floor by the Hat Brat. Landing straight to the ground by her launching herself straight into his chest like some strong tackle hug to him. .....He groaned and soon long after Bow also threw herself onto him in a fit of giggles. His scowl was met with that smug face the kiddo did all too well.

"I'm going to call you Dad so much!"

....He sighed flopping his head back. Well...he guessed he was asking for that when he even had them sign that contract. Fulfilling one of his greatest wants and desires after nearly a thousand years of never being given the chance to have any sort of family. Perhaps this was fate dealing him a good hand finally all these years. But now he had another problem...He had to remember to get a How To Care For Kids book.

#ABloomInTime #BloomingFriendships #Hat Kid #Bow Kid #Snatcher

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch4 Meeting Timmy, Moonjumper, And Hazelle

(It's still my personal headcannon that the Twilight Bell takes you to the Horizon. The song Timmy sings is the Subcon Masked unused song describing Moonjumper.)

"Alpine Alps?"

The small Hatted girl nodded as they stood inside the boiler room on the small space near the window. Behind them the room was filled with the ship's water supply and the boiler that shot out flames. The two little girls had been hunting down time pieces together ever since Hattie had helped Bow out of the sticky situation but she didn't mind! It was nice to have someone as a friend tagging along that wasn't Mustache Girl. Plus she was glad to finally have a friend.

She reached over and adjusted the telescope before looking through it and towards the next part of the world that they had to go to. "There's more time pieces there we need to go get. Before someone else gets their hands on 'em. So let's go!"

Beside her Bow nodded and held up her own traveling umbrella. So pointing their umbrellas at the telescope they focused their energy, and soon they were traveling. The endless space and stars greeted them as they plummeted towards the planet. It almost felt like forever just floating in air drifting like a peaceful kite, before suddenly she was whiplashed back and she gasped as she was suddenly suspended by nothing but her arms in the sky. Hattie's blue eyes snapped open and she suddenly blinked at the sight she was taking part in...and frankly almost lost her pecking mind. The first thing to hit them was the spine chilling limb numbing COLD!! It was like they suddenly got dumped in winter as the air blew wildly around them like a cold winter storm minus the snowflakes. The second thing she noticed was that they were IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE. PECKING. SKY!!! In all directions was nothing but blue sky, greyish white clouds, and cold wind. something finally peeked through the clouds. Whatever it was, was BIG and grey but still blocked by the giant clouds surrounding them as they got closer and closer to their destination being blown by the wind. Her hair whipped around and she could barely see until they suddenly went down. Hattie gasped and a spike of fear went through her as they did thinking they would fall to their death slamming her eyelids shut, but instead of falling through air Hattie soon found herself being put down on her feet on something she could only describe as cold bricks. Confused, those blue eyes popped open and they went wide at the sight in front of her. The wind was still blowing, making her shiver and sent a shudder down her spine from the brief flashback to the old clutches of the Vanessa incident before she quickly pushed it from her mind and wished she had a coat as her arms instinctively rubbed her arms. What stood before her was something else. What stood before her looked to be a mini mountain like structure jutting out somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the cold sky, the mountains was decorated with old forgotten torn flags with strange symbols unknown to her waving in the cold wind and a few small snowflakes made themselves present drifting into small piles here and there. It also looked like oddly big shaped ledges formed into a naturally form of stairs leading somewhere but her eyes weren't focused on the path right now. She was looking at the strange egg shaped like statues with goat horns surrounding them before stopping and staring at the MASSIVE two statues of Alpine Goats on either side of the path ahead on two separate cliffs, almost like guardians from long ago. There was also some plants despite it being so cold, mostly small trees and bushes jutting out from random spots in the cliff but there was also some wild vines growing up the cliff sides here and there. A cough directed Hattie's attention to her left where Bow had landed and was looking at her also looking around. THANK PECK they didn't get blown away from them. Both looked at each other and with one hand on her hat, Hattie pointed her umbrella towards the oddly shaped looking stairs. Bow nodded and off the two went despite the wind whipping around them both. When she finally reached the top, they wer exhausted and her hands and arms were cold and sore like she had been shoveling pounds of snow with her bare hands, but she stopped when she saw what was before her. Two torches with fire (in the middle of daylight no less) stood on either side of an archway that lead the way to a boarded bridge, said archway was decorated with colorful paper and a rope of holed stone was tied across it. In front of her was some kind of wooden doors and a metal fence leading off to the left, next to the doors was a bell and as soon as the children got near it Hattie pointed her umbrella, the hook shot out and latched onto said bell and she pulled. The bell rang out a few times and the doors automatically opened and they all ran through across the bridge and to the other mountain. A spiraling stone staircase spiraled upwards up another cliff which was bigger than the one she briefly climbed and the ones the two goat statues were on. Along the way upwards she noticed there was more of those weird horned, hallowed out, egg shaped statues, a few torches, and LOTS of moss covering the old steps. She tried looking around but saw nothing but more sky and clouds, and as she got to the top she noticed there was even more giant goat statues. When she got to the very top of the stairs however was when things got stranger. At the very top there was four what looked to be graves with SKULLS on top of them, more strange stone statues, a TALL stone pillar between the four supposed graves, two GIANT stone cut structures that were purposefully carved to look like horns, and some wooden beams with red flags which waved in the wind which speaking of the wind it seemed to have picked up since they got there. How odd.

They looked kinda like graves. She didn't wanna know if those skulls were carved stone or the real thing. Hattie walked up to one of the giant pillars with the x like shape at the very top. ...Wonder what would happen if she hit it? Pulling her arm with the umbrella back, she hit it as hard as she could sending it spinning. A giant clap of thunder rung out as the ground beneath them all shook for a few seconds causing Hattie to fall to the cold stone ground as it did. The giant stone pillar in front of them sinking into the ground a little bit. Hey! They were getting somewhere! Standing back up. She did it again. And again. And again. With the same results as Bow tried to hang on to something. Hattie ran past her over to the second then third lever sticking out of the ground and with her trusty umbrella started whacking it as it spun around like a screw into the ground and another clap of thunder and another shaking of the cliff knocking her over once the last level was buried into the ground. Something slithered forth from the white clouds before them and it took Hattie a moment through her moment of shock seeing the thing to realize it was a rope decorated with more of that colorful paper!! She watched in shock as it wrapped itself TIGHTLY around the stone pillar and stayed there, leading back off to the unknown through the clouds. Was that the way they needed to go? The rope lead off into the clouds too crowded together for them to see where it lead too. With Bow joining her both girls looked at one another for a moment before Hattie looked at the hook on her umbrella. Pointing it at the rope she shot it out to hook onto it and were also shot forward. It was really similar to the sensations of when she was traveling to and from space, only this time she could see what was happening to her surroundings as she was once again pulled along like a kite in the wind. Her hair whipped in every direction and she had a queasy feeling in her stomach from all the pulling she was receiving now. Clouds. All she saw was clouds from her eyes squinting from the wind whipping her face, and the rope that never seemed to have an end as they flew. All she could hear was the whistling winds, claps of thunder from the clouds, and the distant sounds of bells-......Bells?! Wha- Another clap of thunder sounded out as they passed through the biggest cloud of all of them when FINALLY daylight broke through the other side and she could see something besides the clouds. And. Her. Jaw. DROPPED!! More cliffs. LOTS more cliffs. But all of them were MUCH MUCH more bigger than the few they had already climbed, making the ones they passed look like babies in comparison. As they zoomed by, they passed a pair of twin peaks standing side by side with more Alpine Goat Statues THAT WERE GINORMOUS!! Even bigger than the statues they had already seen! These were easily the sizes of a small castle EACH!! As they continued to zoom past those with the cold wind still seeping into her bones, There was yet ANOTHER set of twin peaks with more ginormous goat statues, and with each pair of goats statues there was a massive...rope?? And on said ropes was the BIGGEST golden bells she'd even seen. The giant things rang out from the winds pushing them and shined brightly from the sunlight. She gazed up at them all in awe as they flew past. Well, that explains the distant sound of bells she heard. She was so in awe, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before! It was in a mystical way, beautiful! They were fast approaching the end of the rope's journey and Hattie looked around admiring the views. Was....Was that cliff spewing out LAVA!? It looked more like a volcano than a cliff!! And that one had some kind of giant structure on it. She wasn't sure what it was to be honest, but it was still so massive! With a rough landing, Hattie shook her head and one hand on her hat looked around. The place looked like an old mountain trek with everything being from nature. After a moment or two Bow came shooting out behind her and landed rather roughly. Shaking her head she looked around too before at Hattie.

"Now which way do we go?"

As Hattie looked around all the peaks, one seemed to catch her interest immediately. And she pointed towards it. Bow looked over to where she was pointing, and in the distance on top of some silvery looking hills was a giant bell. "Let's go there first. It's giving me a funny feeling about it."

Bow nodded and followed after Hattie. They scrambled up fast houses and giant goats, and Nomads and other things on their way towards the bell in sight. Up, up, up until they finally stopped at this huge fancy carved house. She guessed it must've belonged to one of the goats since it looked too big to be a nomad's. Infront of the house was a giant wooden beam and from it a rope with green fancy paper decorating it lead from it towards the giant bell.

"This looks like the way to it," Bow said pointing at it.

Hattie nodded before again shooting her umbrella out and shot off down the green rope again. The bell getting closer and closer with each passing moment they took. The last trip over felt like an eternity as she just fawned and awed over the large bell structure before her as they got closer and closer. Until finally she was there landing hard on her knees but she didn't care, she was too busy looking at the INSIDE of the thing! THIS BELL WAS HUGE!! PROBABLY BIGGER THAN THE GOLDEN ONES SHE SAW WHEN THEY FIRST CAME IN!! AND THE INSIDE LOOKED LIKE AN ENTIRE GALAXY ON IT'S OWN!! Black void painted the inside of it as beautiful diamonds sparkled brightly like stars. It was absolutely breath takingly pecking beautiful!! She still couldn't take her eyes off of it as she followed the path until they were both standing under it, giving her the best view of the inside. ....But what now? She had an itching feeling there was a time piece around here but looking around she couldn't see any. Slowly Hattie looked back up to the bell...Maybe if she rang it something would happen? She aimed her hook shot up at the bells lever. It grabbed onto it with a thump and away she went swinging back and forth on it like it was a playground swing. OH PECK!! The loud booming rings it made rang out and jabbed Bow's ears and head with pain. Causing the girl to clamp her hands over her ears as Hattie continued to ring it and slam her eyes shut. Green flooded around the two, twisting the turning in every direction until they saw nothing and the surroundings COMPLETELY changed. IT WAS DARK!!....But somehow she was still able to see everything. She was surrounded by more strange statues but these instead of looking like regular statues, were a dark green-black that sparkled with some kind of otherworldly magic. Floating buildings of white marble statues with lots of pillars were EVERYWHERE she looked and someone of all things, some were leaking water. Water that went over the edge and down, down, down disappearing without a trace. There wasn't any visible source of sky, sun, moon, or stars. Just black void all around them besides the strange structures. In a strange way...it was all very beautiful and a sense of eerie calm came from it all. Hattie let go of the bell and tapped back down to the ground next to Bow. They both looked around for a moment.

"Where is this place?"

"I don't know, but I sense another time piece is close!" She pointed down a white marble path before taking off. "C'mon. It's really close! I can feel it!"

As they walked she turned and suddenly gasped and stumbled back a few steps, pointing at something a little way from them. Big. Glowing. And MOVING!! A GHOST!!...A goat?? A GOAT GHOST!! They were just walking around and there was more of Snatcher's minions floating around. How odd. The noodly mask wearing ghost peeked at them before darting away from the little girls as they walked past and looked around curiously. Neither saw the eyes watching them from above as they went along the strange place. Until they heard it. A sound that made them freeze in their tracks as a song blew through the air overhead. Softly, and eerily.

"Tale of a place!~ A deep forest dark with grace!~ There he lives blooming inside a wild field of big eyes!~ And there he lives!~ Skin so blue!~ His eyes shot red!~ The Moon!~ The Sky!~ Tell him only lies!~ He doesn't know she waits inside!~ She lost her mind!~ Many years gone by!~"

The two of the stood in shock for a moment as the echoing of the voice faded out before stopping entirely. Before startled the two swiveled their heads around and up brandishing their umbrellas in case any danger presented themselves before they stopped when noticing two figures standing on top of a floating white marble block floating past. And there the two were. One was a small boy around their age. He had dark brownish or black hair, gray cap, orange coat, jeans, red shoes, and what looked like a skeleton charm around his neck. His purple eyes stared down at them amused but what really strange was that this boy had strange glowing blue markings that shown with magic in the darkened landscape. But next to him was what really caught their attention. The sounds of chains clanking in air sounded as the creature moved. Another ghost? The specter had a crescent moon shaped head, blue skin, red eyes with matching red markings, and a monocle over his right eye. An orange jacket over his shoulders and green-blue hair that was near his shoulders. Both looked at one another before looking back as the two came from high above. The ghost floating down and the boy jumping and grabbing onto one of the ghost's floating chains to be carried down by him dangling from them like a rope. The two watched as they approached and Hattie brandished her umbrella at them. The boy let go and landed in front of them while the ghost stopped just above the two a smile.

"Hello there little girl! Come wide, come far!," he spoke to them with a strange echo-y voice making the two blink at him," I am the Moonjumper. Oh, yes. Indeed. I live and breath for this horizon, it's my home. Up here I can see everyone and everything. I am a silent.....observer. Ask me my child. What does my eye gaze upon? A girl in red? A village of the dead? A prize in a shed?" He paused seeing the looks of confusion on both of their faces and he stopped with a cough. ".......N-Nevermind. Excuse the dramatics. We just don't see very many guests coming into our home, and so young by the looks of it." His brow rose examining each of the little girls carefully. "Are you children lost perhaps?"

"...Where is this place?"

"You're in The Horizon, mate," the boy answered making them both look at him as he hummed.

"Horizon?? What's that?"

"This place! It's my home. But ya don't look like either of you girls are from 'round here now are you? How'd ya even get here?"

Without hesitation Hattie pointed behind her. "That big bell took us here when we rang it."

"Ah. So you two got here from the path of the Twilight Bell," the ghost said before humming and seeming to fix them both with a curious look. "Strange but not unheard of. But where are my manners?" With a sweeping motion and clank of his chains, the ghost bowed to the both of them. ''I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I am known as the Moonjumper. How do you do?"

"'N I'm Timmy. Who are you?"

Bow shuffled more behind Hattie. "I don't think we should tell strangers our names."

"You know that is fair enough." The specter rose a brow leaning farther down to look at them more closely making Hattie frown back. "But it is odd how you got here. I've seen people come here through magic, banishment, and even death but rarely do I ever see someone get through here through the bell. If I may ask, what are the both of you doing here?"

"We're looking for something."

That answer seemed to confuse the ghost more as he blinked and raised his brows. "Lost something? Dear child, what could you have possibly lost to think it would've ended up HERE of all places? Unless you're looking for a spirit, I'm afraid there's not much of anything here."

Hattie was about to answer but before she could she paused. That familiar feeling she got whenever she was near a time piece suddenly spiked up again. Only STRONGER and much CLOSER than before now and approaching rapidly-

"Now what might you two be getting up to this time?" All four of them turned to look behind the ghost and Timmy as the boy had called him. "Don't tell me you snatched some more poor innocent souls up here for your collection, Moony. That's not very nice."

The ghost blinked. "Ah. Hazelle. There you are." And stood straight back up. "I was expecting you but apparently you're not my only guest today."

Who was standing there was none other than a woman. She stood there smiling with long brown hair, copper colored eyes, and decked out in white and pink. She looked to the two girls in front of her with a raised brow and hands on her hips. "Hmm. It would seem so." She walked forward. "And who might these two be?"

The ghost again shrugged. "No clue really. Apparently they traveled here through the Twilight Bell."

The woman's brows rose in interest looking at him. "Really now?" He nodded and she looked back down to the children. "That's pretty interesting."

"Who are YOU??"

"The name's Hazelle, pronounced 'Hazel' but with an extra L E at the end," the woman replied reaching up to tip her hat to the two girls. "Witch Hazelle actually if we're getting formal."

"A witch?"

Hazelle nodded again. "That's right. But I don't see any pointed hats on you, so you couldn't have just teleported your way in here like I did. What are you doing here?"

"Apparently they're looking for something they've lost," Moonjumper answered her calmly, "Although I haven't the foggiest idea what they could want here."

"My time piece!," Hattie piped up making the three look at her, she motioned with her hands as she described it. "It's a magic glowing hourglass thing this big with sparkly sand inside it."

.......Moonjumper. Blinked. "A...magic sparkly..hourglass?" Hattie nodded at his confused face. "I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's absolutely nothing even remotely looking like that here, Children. You must be mistaken-"

"I'm not!," Hattie insisted frowning more, "I felt it here somewhere and I'm not going to leave without it! I need it back!"

Moonjumper frowned and looked like he was about to argue back but Hazelle beat him to the punch. "Hourglass? You mean those thing's that's supposed to count time whenever the sand pours from one side to the other?" Hattie nodded to her and it seemed to jog her memory. "Oh yeah. I've seen one of those."

"YOU HAVE!?"

The witch nodded. "Sure did. Landed right outside my house this morning. Had no idea what to do with the thing so I've been sorta stuck carrying it all day."

"Where is it!?"

In response the witch took off her pointy hat before reaching inside it with her other arm. A moment later everyone watched in awe as she pulled out a sparkling magical time piece. "I'm betting this is the thing you were looking for huh? Go on. Here you go. Take it." She gave a little toss and flung it over to Hattie who immediately grabbed it Flumbling with it but thankfully not dropping it. "If that's all you wanted then I suggest the two of you leave now." Her eyes side glanced to Moonjumper. "I wanna talk to Mr. Moon about something."

"Hm? Oh! Uh..*ahem* Yes of course. Timmy. Be a gentleman and escort this lovely ladies back towards the bell. If they took the bell to get here then they should be able to take it back again as well."

With a nod the boy started walking and gestured for the two girls to follow him as he walked past. The girls looked at each other then at the two adults before turning and following after Timmy who walked back down the path they had just came. Back down the white marble path and back up to a bell that looked similar to the one that they used to get here. Timmy stopped in front of it before pointing.

"There ya go, Mate. If it's true you both came from here then it should be the able to take you back where you came from."

"Thanks!''

Hattie wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. After all this was only one time piece she had felt around this Alpine place. There was at least three or four others. One hand on her time piece she used the other to point at the bell's lever and the shook shot out to pull her up. Like before she swung herself back and forth like a swing eventually hitting the sides to make it ring making Bow cringe at the loud sounds. With Timmy standing there watching him go, the Horizon road fell away as they both left. And melted back into the regular peaks as the bell's echoes rang throughout the Horizon.

#BloomingFriendships #ABloomInTime #hat kid #bow kid #Moonjumper #Timmy

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch3 The Witch And The Ghosts

Subcon Forest was not a place for just anyone to enter and exit as they please. There was a reason these woods had such a feared reputation and was rumored to be haunted. Because it was. By the King Snatcher of Subcon(as he liked to refer to himself) and his ghastly assortment of minions and dwellers behind him as his undead army, anyone who went in NEVER came out which added to the entire terror of it all!!...Well no one except two women who were currently carrying flowers, plants, and baskets full of all kinds of cursed plants from within the borders of the ghastly forest that no mere mortal ever dared to come in. ..Besides a select few who had the Ghost King's blessing or who just didn't fear him of course.

"Thank you so much for helping me collect all these ingredients. I swear some times they can be so hard to find. Good thing you're a plant expert huh?," the witch expressed with gratitude as copper eyes smiled over towards the woman next to her.

The red head smiled back batting her own hand. "Nah. Ah'm just glad to get out of that spaceship for a while. Those tiny hallways aren't too good on the back havin' ta crawl through them all the time."

The witch nodded. "Yes. It can be difficult if you can't go through walls or know any teleport spells." She chuckled. "I wonder how Snatchy's doing watching the children by himself for the first time in a while?~"

Poppy shrugged but chuckled too. "I'm sure they'll be fine. The purple onion's not that incompetent. 'Sides he was watchin' 'em way before I came along."

"Hmm. True, true. In all my years of knowing him he's always been the kind to bounce back no matter the situation." Hazelle smirked. "Even if he does get incredibly stubborn and selfish about things."

"That's true like a big ol baby that one."

"Yep. Been that way for the five hundred and counting years I've known him."

....Poppy rose a brow and shifted the basket of plants in her arms. "About that. You know how Phi-..I mean Snatcher met me, but I don't you've ever told me how you ended up meeting the kooky noodle."

Hazelle chuckled before raising a brow and smirk back to Poppy. "Oh? Would you like to know? It's a simple tale really." Poppy nodded. "Alright then. It all started five hundred years ago when I was just a young witchling. I heard that the Subcon Forest was cursed and haunted and all the other rumors they still spread, but the promise of all those magical properties untouched was too much of a good thing to pass up.~"

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Whelp! She was lost. Not that she was concerned mind you. She could still very well teleport her way out of here and to the safety of her own dimension or where ever she wanted to on this planet, but she wasn't giving up yet. Besides, it's been a while since she trolled around in such a delightful dark and dreary place like this. Chalk full with natural magical and spiritual energy that she felt course right through her very veins. She had seen a couple of these so called 'evil' spirits but they were nothing but small and meek. Looking like small scarecrow dolls or colorful worms attached to masks who fled when she walked past or stared. Not very threatening persey. but who was she to judge? The bag of dead plants and other things she found along the forest floor weighed down on her shoulder but she still smiled walking calmly through the fog and dead trees that slowly passed her. Yep. Completely utterly lost but she still wasn't worried yet-...Until something worrying DID happen. She was still looking around and not paying attention to where she was going so she shouldn't have been surprised when the ground suddenly swallowed her up making her fall backwards and yell out. What swallowed her up was a large flash of white and she felt herself get stuck up feet in the air. The white sheet felt like some kind of rucksack similar to the one she was using to carry her plants. But it was a dingy white from being hidden under a layer of dirt for who knows how long. Seemingly in some kind of trap. Well peck! How was she supposed to get out of this?

"Oh dear. This certainly is a pickle. Now who would do such a thing as set up a trap in the middle of a haunted forest?"

She was shut up when she felt the whole world shake. Knocking the poor trapped woman back onto her behind within the trap, what sounded like a humungous tree cracking and falling over with the shaking made her pause as the tarp swayed also caused by the shaking. The panicked cawing of crows as they flew to safety amplified whatever she was feeling, copper eyes looking around the tarp until they locked onto movement. SOMETHING. BIG. Was just outside the tarp. A shadow silently moved along side the outside of the tarp and her brow rose. Well that didn't look too promising. Now did it? SNAP!! The woman tumbled out from the bottom of the trap and her yelp was interrupted as she face planted the dirt. Dirt and small twigs sticking to her hair as she did. Purple. EVERYWHERE. Suddenly dark purple. Her head raised as reality itself disappeared and purple warped her view everywhere. The same giant shadow suddenly falling over her and the booming raspy voice behind.

"AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! FFFFFOOOOOOOLLLLL!!! YOU BLEW IT PUNY MORTAL!! NO ONE ENTERS MY DOMAIN AND WALKS OUT THE SAME!!"

She calmly got herself up and started dusting the purple soil from her pink and white outfit.

"TREMBLE IN MY WAKE AS YOU'RE COMPLETELY UTTERLY HELPLESS!!"

She reached up to straighten her hat before turning around. ...And sighing seeing half her bag was split out onto the ground. Oh dear. Now she'd had to pick that up all over again. With another sigh she leaned over, grabbed the bag, and began picking back the plants up she collected.

"NOW YOUR MORTAL SOUL IS MI-..," The weird shadow paused. Blinking his giant yellow eyes at the fact that this mortal before him...Was NOT trembling in fear. Or cowering. Or begging for her life....Or even reacting to him. Instead she ignored his entire existence as she picked up something....Making him instantly scowl. "HEY!! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!"

"I'm aware," she answered back standing back up once she had picked up all of her herbs and then turned her raised brow look to him finally. She took a moment to take in his entire long sixteen foot purple self and the scowl on his face. "...You are kinda hard to miss with how loud you are."

"Insolent little Peckneck!!," he roared leaning down to stare her face to face with a snarl. "Do you have any idea who you're speaking too! I am the all might Snatcher! You're in my forest and you WILL fear me!"

"Wow. You like to really to boast yourself up I see. Very egotistical I assume too."

"W H A T!?" Oh holy PECK. This spirit was mad now. Well...She assumed he was a spirit by how he looked and the magical aura he gave off. Pure and RAW spiritual energy. In fact...The most powerful soul she had ever come across. Fascinating..But still, who was he to boss her around like that? He hissed and held out a claw threateningly close to her face to point at her. Not that she flinched. Instead she looked almost amused really. "You have NO idea who you're dealing with! I CAN TAKE YOUR SOUL IF I WANTED TOO!!"

"I think you'd actually have to catch me first.~"

"YOU THE PECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"

"A witch."

The ghost paused....blinking at such a blunt response from the smiling woman. It actually took him a moment to respond to her. "A....witch?"

She nodded. "Yep! Cauldron stirring, potion making, pointy hat wearing witch.~"

After a moment further his brow rose as he frowned. "Well witch or not you trespassed in MY FOREST and you're going to pay the price!"

"As much as I'd love too, I really can't stay. Shapeshifter is at home waiting for me and if I don't show he'll try to eat the bats again."

"HA! You can't escape! No mere mortal can escape my traps."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a 'mere mortal'." With a smiled she held up her hand. "Chow.~" And snapped her fingers. Disappearing into literal thin air.

The ghost sat there stunned into silence. Stuck in his purple world with nothing but the trap for company.

"........WHAT THE P E C K!?"

***********************************************************************************************

"I wished I could've seen his face." Hazelle giggled as they passed the small old building that Snatcher usually used whenever he wasn't in his own tree house home. A sign labeled "Snatcher's Shack'' right in the ground right by it as they passed. "But I couldn't leave Shapey unintended."

"Uh huh." Poppy walked along right with her still carrying her basket and giving her a raised brow before shrugging it off and looking forward again. "Well that certainly sounds like something you would do. But what 'm missin' is how you two became friends."

Hazelle waved her hand. "Well the plants here turn to out to have many magical properties. So I had to keep coming back for more. He didn't give up trying to catch me for a long time but it turns out my magical abilities allow me to slip by his and over the course of five hundred years I guess he realized that it was useless to keep trying to grab me. So we made a little deal."

"Deal?"

She smirked. "At the time he was having some very nasty rivalry with Moonjumper, or so he says. Found out about my little blue ghost repellent potions from getting too close to me sometimes. Took some interest in them. So we made a deal. He'd let me come and get as many potion ingredients as I want and in return." She held up her basket with a little shake. "All I had to do was make him a small handful of blue potions every moon or so. I kind of feel bad for causing Moony some trouble with them but it's all fine now."

".....Speaking of which. How did ya end up meetin' that other kooky ghost anyways?"

"Moonjumper? Haha! Well that certainly was a much more pleasant experience than meeting Snatcher I must say. He was much more polite too....Hmm. But if I actually think about it...I actually met him a little while after Snatchy and I made our little deal."

***********************************************************************************************

It was a quiet night. Except for the chirping of crickets. A gentle breeze swept through the cool air, and stars shone. Even though it was a peaceful night, not everyone was sleeping peacefully. Two eyes were wide awake enjoying the beautiful wonders of nature and all it had to provide to the silent melody of it's mistress the night and all her dark beauty as the world slumbered in her wake. On a normal day it would look so much different. Sunny. Birds singing. The world was filled with the happy screaming of children as they played and couples walked too and from down the paths or having picnics in the sunshine......Or it would have been if this forest wasn't haunted by vengeful ghosts and cursed on top of it. Not that she minded. She loved this forest how it was. If she wasn't living in her own magical hot spot this might've been a good place to live without unwanted attention. Her footsteps only adding to the magical melody taking place from her as they walked along the trees glimmer with dew from that morning fog.. The reflections shining like the stars themselves mirroring walking in some forbidden heaven of the night for them both. The wind blown around her and she shivered rubbing her body against a tree to keep up body heat to not catch a cold. Hopefully it'll work. The light reflected off of her eyes making it seem like they shined brighter than the world around them as she walked about looking past things. The glowing mushrooms and moon above being her only source of light in the darkness as she carried about her. Over her shoulder a bag of magical things like stones, herbs, plants, and other natural magical specialties one could only find right here in this forest. Luckily for her there was plenty to go around.

But that did beg the question. Where was the exit again? There was barely anymore abandoned houses and by now she was just wondering around smiling enjoying the peaceful night. Her instincts began tugging her in a direction off the beaten path. It took those eyes a moment to realize that she were still going down a path, but it looked overgrown with dark grass and Dark trees all round them. Clearly no one had come down here in a long, long while. But that didn't seem to change the mood of the girl who never stopped tugging herself forward. Trees passed and the path was slowly starting to open up ahead of her. The trees parted ways to make a small clearing in the middle of the forest, but not too big of a clearing. It looked about the size of one of the houses she's seen. And smack dab in the middle of this random clearing was a small tree. Compared to the other trees in the surrounding forests this one was considerably smaller and had a smaller trunk than the others. This one must've been younger than the others before the Subcon Curse set in. Couldn't be older than a few years at most before then. She was easily pulled through the black as night grass and up to the small tree that stood proudly in the middle of the night grass. The air smelt heavily of grass and faint swamp gas making her head swim slightly. Her eyes memorized by the calmness of the area but blinked with curiosity back to her surroundings. Curious spot like this to be smack dab in the middle of a haunted forest, but oh well. This place looked as good as any to stop and take a brake. Her shoulder was starting to get sore from carrying the sack for so long and while he can teleport out anytime she wanted, but how else was she supposed to make a mental map of this place and the best patches for magical ingredients if she didn't walk around and look? The sack was plopped onto the dark purple ground and Hazelle soon fell after. Plopping herself onto the ground with a sigh. It would soon be daylight anyways, so she could take a break and walk around a little more in a few hours. Leaning against the tree and looking up at the stars above, she settled her tired body from her trip. She supposed she should keep going but right now it didn't seem any of that or anything else mattered. Not the moon. Not the stars. Not the past. Not even the wind that threatened to chill her to the bone. The wind blew some more rustling the dead leaves and driving the intoxicating swamp scent around her more. She was too tired and needed rest. With the moon looking down over her she laid her head down to rest and fell asleep...but not really. She wasn't really feeling sleepy-tired, more like if you ran a whole bunch and just needed a break like tired. So she crossed her legs, put her arms behind her head, and pulled her pointy hat over her eyes to block out the moonlight as she sighed. This was the life. No rules. Going at her own pace. Just relaxing whenever she wanted and doing what she loved. Just her. The wind blowing through the dead trees. And the sudden looming of a figure over her-

....Wait-

She paused. Uh OH. Here we go again. Her first instincts was to expect a giant looming shadow noodle with those grumpy yellow eyes staring at her...but that was dashed out the window when the magical aura hit her like a ton of bricks. This presence was...Powerful for sure. MUCH more powerful than the average Dweller or Subconite for sure..But not as powerful and almost intoxicating power fueled aura as Snatcher. So..There was no way it could've been him. The auras felt too different. So then that begged the question. WHO was right above her? At first Hazelle didn't move, only sat there unmoving to not alert the presence above her figuring out her next move. Not that she was nervous. Just...cautious. Never knew what spirits you would find in this forest after all. If she needed too, Hazelle could just teleport back to her home by snapping her fingers. But something did indeed catch her attention. The faint sound of...metal? Hmm. That was strange certainly. It-...It almost sounded like the sound of chains if someone moved them around. Calmly, Hazelle reached a hand up and grabbed her hat, pushing it up and out of her eyes. And what she saw right above her made her pause for sure. Because right above her floating around was a GHOST. But not one she had ever seen before. Mitch matched red eyes bore into her soul as deathly blue skin and a head of blue hair stared back at her. Whelp. She found the source of the metal noise considering that this ..thing wore chains around his wrist that dragged across the air whenever his arms moved. Strangely this spector sported some kind of orange-red suit and monocle over his right eye. His body seemed to shake and jerk around as if he was constantly being shaken. A strange sight to be sure. The two of them stared at one another for a moment. Before the she spoke.

"You know it is very rude to stare."

The thing seemed to be taken aback as he blinked before finally speaking. "O-Oh. *ahem* Y-Yes. How rude of me." Ah. So it COULD talk. Hazelle's brow rose now and a smile tugged on her lips. His (At least she assumed it was a he. It sounded like a man.) voice was different from Snatcher's. While the purple noodle's voice was raspy this ghost's voice sounded more smooth and echo-y. Almost sounded human..Almost. The thing brought his hands up fumbling for a moment as if not sure how to handle someone talking to him for a moment before clearing his throat and placed a single hand on his chest composing himself. In one fluid motion the ghost leaned down and extended his other arm in a graceful bow to her. "Greetings, Fair Maiden. Forgive me if my sudden presence startled you. But it is rare to see another person this far in the forest, especially a living one at that. Usually the ones I do see aren't so....'lively' persay or quickly fall victim to a much bigger threat amongst the trees."

"Oh. You must mean Snatcher right?"

Again the thing suddenly stared at her pausing and blinking. Before sputtering again not believing what she had just boldly stated in front of him. "I-....H-How do you-"

"You can say we have a little exchange going on." In response her hand reached over and grabbed the bag next to her. Lifting it up as he looked to it. "I make him a few knick knacks he likes and in return I can pick up a few magical goodies here and there.~"

The dapper dressed ghost continued to stare at the bag for a moment then back at her. Seeming to think something over in his head. "...I-....must admit..That was not what I was expecting to hear so ..forward of you just a few sentences into a conversation with a stranger."

She shrugged. "Well I wasn't expecting to meet another full body apparition in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night either."

.....He hummed. "Touche my dear." His face contorted to one of slight suspicion now as his brow rose. Leaning down to make eye to eye contact with the smiling witch. "But you mentioned collecting magical items." He eyed the bag again. "...Am I to take it you are some kind of wizardess or a sorceress? Perhaps a healer of sorts?"

"You were close with the first two guesses. I just so happen to be a witch."

Those red eyes popped open in surprise. "A witch?" She nodded. Hazelle could see the gears turning behind his ectoplasm turning as he continued to stare at her...before a frown appeared on his face as he hummed again. "A witch who is dealing with the Snatcher. Then, forgive my forwardness, am I being too blunt to say I assume YOU are the one supplying him those oh so lovely blue potions he took the hobby of lobbing at my head? I highly doubt he's been able to make them himself and the way they just suddenly popped into his possession is..highly suspicious."

"You are not wrong on that assumption," she said happily not even trying to hide it. Which made him blink in surprise. "But to be fair, I didn't have any idea what he was doing with them before now at least. I figured he was somehow using them against that vile ice woman who lives somewhere in the frozen territory there." She motion her hand off towards the woods and his head followed for a moment before looking back at her. "But a deal IS a deal. Any feud between you two or the ice woman has nothing to do with myself. Now does it? I only keep my word and end of the bargain and he does the same. I don't bother anyone here. That makes me a mere bystander if you will. Doesn't it?"

The ghost looked her over thoughtfully going over the words she spoke to him in his metaphorical mind. Before nodding. "Yes. An innocent bystander just doing business. I can understand that completely...But if I may give a word of advice." He pointed at her. "I would watch my back around that Snatcher character if I were you. He's the unruly type who wouldn't hesitate to sink his claws into an unsuspecting soul to backstab them."

"Oh trust me. I know that first handedly." She smiled. "But I do believe you haven't introduced yourself."

"Hm?...OH! You're absolutely right, Dear Lady. Where are my manners?" He once again placed a hand on his chest. "You may call me what everyone has called me for centuries now. I am known as The Moonjumper." She watched as he then extended his blue hand to her chains clanking. "And you are, My Dear?"

She smiled and placed her hand in his. "My name is Hazelle. Pronounced 'Hazel' but spelt with an extra L E at the end."

"Hazelle? Well then my dear. Allow me to extend my most formal greetings to you." Leaning her hand up to his face, he lightly kissed the lively fair skin with his colder lips.

***********************************************************************************************

"He was always so formal and old fashioned since the day I met him." Hazelle chuckled as the two stopped in front of Snatcher's usual home at last from their trip. "But I wouldn't change him for the world."

Poppy nodded in agreement. "Can't say I'm as fond o' 'em as you are. But I suppose that it's best that he didn't change. Ah know I wouldn't wish any change on the screaming purple noodle."

Hazelle nodded back. "Ah. But look at the time. I'm afraid this is where the two of us must part until next time. I'll be taking that bag from you now. Thanks again for lending me the hand."

"No problem." Poppy happily handed over the other bag and Hazelle wobbly juggled it into the same hand as the other bag, leaving one hand open. "Are you sure ya'll be able ta make it home ok like that?"

"Of course I will. After all." She smiled. "I am a witch.~"

With that Hazelle raised her hand and with a snap she disappeared into thin air.

#ABloomInTime #BloomingFriendships #Snatcher #Moonjumper #The Florist

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch22 Cooking Cat Returns With Mustache Girl

(I headcannon Mustache Girl's actual name to be Muriel. )

You know. It feels a lot better sleeping on a bed than it was sleeping on a hard cold wooden floor. Also much better to wake up with having sore muscles for a second time. Slowly waking up, blue eyes peered out awake to the world, blinking away the blurry vision that came with it. Where was she again? The first thing she saw was the blue canopy of Hattie bed......And slowly she started to remember what happened last night. Groaning, the grown woman slowly sat up on the bed and reached a hand up to push the long messy hair out of her face. Vision slowly focusing and seeing the large pillow pile and diving board attached to the top of it, and the bookshelf with all those children books on it. Yawning, Poppy stretched out her back the Starella story book tumbling off her lap and onto the bed beside her, not that she noticed. She was a little busy smacking her lips and rubbing her face before standing up and sluggishly walking her way towards the tiny door. She was hungry and you know what, some apples in the morning didn't sound too bad anyways. As her ma would say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Right? Well not quite. As she tired crawled(dragged) herself into the control room, the sweet smell of fried eggs and cheese filled the air and when she sniffed, Poppy found herself turning in the direction of the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the food and she stood to her feet again. Mind blank as she tiredly trudged her way towards the ramp up to the kitchen area. Passing Rumbi who was happy to be back in the control room and not carried around room to room anymore cleaning. Up the ramp and past the big vault door, she could smell the food getting closer and closer until she pushed open the doors without a second thought.

"....Well, good morning to ya," a cheering slightly southern accent called out, "I was wondering when I would see you again."

The voice seemed to finally wake up Poppy as she blinked and turned her head in the direction of Cookie who smiled and was standing on a chair to reach the hot stove. Something was sizzling on the stove in front of her and that's what was making the delicious smell. The girls were there too, all dressed in the same outfits as yesterday but these ones were different colors. Same design and style, different color. Hattie was wearing a dark blue and white out fit and hat( dark blue being her shirt and pants, and white being anything else from her cape to hat), and Bow was wearing a similar dark blue and white attire(with her dress being dark blue and everything from her Bow to shoes were a white). The girls happily waved at her in between eating what looked like friend eggs into their mouths. A third short person was standing off in the corner of the room behind Cookie looking bored.

"Oh. Uh.....*YYYYAAAAWWNN* H-Hello again, Cookie." She proceeded to rub her face again. "W-What are you doing here?"

Cookie smiled turning back to the stove to flip the yellow almost cresent shaped egg. "Well, since the last episode of my cooking show for this season was finished, it means I get a few months to take a load off and prepare for the next season after the Annual Bird Movie Award Ceremony is over."

"Bird ....movie awards?"

Cookie nodded. "It happens once a year, but unfortunately since one of the three judges not awefully sick from bad bird seed they had to push it back a few months this year. Now the deadline is the week before Cupid's Day, that's why the theme for this year's contest was romance. Poor Mr. Grooves is having an awful time trying to find suitable actors for this fairytale romance theme he has going on. I would've volunteered myself, but I was really looking forward to some rest." She smiled shyly and pointed to herself. "And I wasn't exactly what he was looking for in the fair maiden role."

"I think you're beautiful Cookie!," Bow piped up, "The prettiest cat in the world!"

"And the best cook, too!," Hattie added.

Both making Cookie giggled and waving her paw, "Oh stop! Ya'll are making me blush worse than a kitten with a puppycrush."

"What are you cooking?," Poppy asked shuffling closer to them.

"Cheese omlets," Cookie replied happily. Reaching over and grabbing a plate laid next to her, she expertly flipped the omlet up and onto the plate in her paws with ease before turning to Poppy smiling and offering it out to her. "I hope ya'll don't mind me stoppin' by. I had nothing else today to really do, and I thought that I'd drop by and spend some more time visiting like I promised. And I wanted to see for myself if you were settling in today."

Poppy gladly took the plate from her stomach rumbling and mouth watering at the sight of it. "Uh. N-No. It's perfectly fine. In fact it's very kind of you to do so." Smiling she took the fork handed along with her and dug in......OH MY PECK!! Whatever a cheese omlet was it was SO delicious! Once again her cooking amazed her again. " SO GOOD!!"

Cookie ended up chuckling again turning off the stove. "I'm glad you think so, honestly it was only a few eggs and slicing a few pieces off that cheese wheel, the fridge is practically empty. Why didn't you go restock yet?"

Poppy stopped mid bite and looked at her for a moment staring. "Restocking?"

"Y'know. Shoppin'? All ladies like to shop, don't you?"

"Uh...Actually I don't think I could. I haven't exactly been paid by anyone yet so I don't really have much to buy any fancy things." She continued eating and eventually a movement to her right caught her attention, blue eyes looked down to meet gold ones as the two made eye contact and her brain quickly registered it to be another little girl in a red hood with her hair in two ponytails. Swallowing down some food, Poppy smiled at her. "Well hello there. I don't think I've met you yet. What's your name?"

"Mustache Girl!," the tiny girl proclaimed pointing a hand up, "Defeater of bad guys and savior of the world!"

"More like almost destroying it," Hattie shot back shooting her a dirty look witch this ...uh...'Mustache Girl' shot back with equal annoyance.

"Says the one who messed up by making it rain dangerous hourglasses everywhere!," the blonde yelled back pointing a finger, Hattie just stuck her tongue out at her.

The little girl continued to look slightly annoyed and Cookie reached behind her to pat the child's head. "This is Muriel. But we call her Mu for short." She gave a scary mom smile down to the children. "And we're not going to fight today are we?"

"No, Cookie!," all three girls agreed under the cat's gaze.

Poppy wasn't gonna lie, she was slightly scared and kinda impressed and this cat woman's skills to mother these three with ease within just a few seconds. And Mu huh? She giggled. It was pronounced the same way as 'Mew', like what a cat would say. And honestly it was kinda cute of her. Mu noticed the way Poppy was giggling and looking at her and frowned. Before shooting an accusing hand and face at her.

"And what are you laughing at?," she asked and Poppy noticed she also had some kind of accent. "Are you a bad guy too?!"

"MU!," Cookie scolded giving her a stern look and Mu instantly froze, eyes shooting sideways to the cat, "What did we talk about with minding your manners? Now you apologise to Ms. Bloomington this instant!" Her gaze turned apologetic to Poppy. "I am so sorry. It's hard for her to break old habits from Mafia Town, but I promise you she's a good girl."

"There's no need to apologize." Poppy smiled wider before kneeling down slowly to Mu's height. The little girl pulled her hand back to her and watched as Poppy stopped eye level smiling at her like Cookie would. "It sounds to me like you're a very brave little girl."

Mu paused for a moment. Looking Poppy up and down suspiciously as if trying to decide if she was serious or not about it, but took it as a compliment. Smiling proudly and puffing out her chest, pointing at herself. "Absolutely not wrong! I'm the bravest crime fighter in the world!"

Poppy chuckled again and sweetly nodded. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if ya was. Such pretty eyes too. They look just like gold and honey."

"YEAH! That's exactly what I am!" She puffed up prouder at the strokes to her ego. "Gold and honey! The best gold and honey in the universe! Finally someone who gets it." Behind her Hattie rolled her eyes stuffing the last of her breakfast in her mouth, and Cookie seemed to be happy with the way the two stopped arguing finally.

Poppy chuckled again. "Well, it's really nice to meet you, Mu."

"Likewise, Bloom-in-Tons!"

"Call me,Poppy!" She smiled as she stood up to finish eating her food as she smiled. "Why don't you all go play?"

"Yes," Cookie agreed nudging Mu forward a little bit, "Why don't you all go and play with that pretty gold castle they showed us and be nice while the adults talk for a little bit?" The children were a little apprehensive at first but agreed to do so with Bow quickly stuffing the rest of her breakfast into her mouth and both her and Hattie tossing the dishes into the sink as one after another they ran to the doors with a few shouts of- 'I call being the Gold hero!' 'No you don't! I'm the best crime fighter!' "No you're not! I beat you remember!' 'Yes way!' 'No way!' 'Yes, Way!' and Bow following after the first two as they left. Cookie sighed shaking her head and grabbed the frying pan and spatula she had been cooking with hopping off the chair before looking up at Poppy. "I'm sorry for that. Those three may fight sometimes, but Hattie was quick to forgive everyone including her. They are friends I swear, but they argue worse than Conductor and Mr. Grooves at times....Mind being a dear and dragging over that chair there?"

"Hm. Oh! Sure." Plate in one hand, Poppy used the other to drag the chair across the room right behind Cookie to the sink following. "And it's quite alright. Kids will be kids after all, I don't blame them at all. Hmhm." She scooted the chair over where Cookie silently pointed and watched as the plump cat impressively jump onto it and faced the sink with the already dirty dishes in it. Going back to eat the other half of her breakfast as she watched Cookie roll up her sleeves more and turning on the sink. "Thank you for the..omlet by the way. I really appreciate it. "

She nodded not looking at her and instead turning on the hot water to the said sink. "Well it wasn't trouble at all. I was a little surprised you hadn't gotten up yet. Aren't you supposed to be the little dumplins' new babysitter or somethin'?"

Poppy sighed through her nose swallowing again. "Uh, well. Yeah that's my new job I guess. Being a maid and nanny to 'em. But to be honest with ya, I don't know the first thing about where ta go or even start with whole thing."

Cookie paused for a moment in her movements to look over at her...Yellow eyes roaming up and down eyeing the tacky dress on her and the messy bed head she had. "Well, by the way you look now ya'll are having some trouble settling in."

Poppy groaned allowing the cat to take away her now empty plate. "Tell me about it. With all the darn crazy things that's happened in the past few days I'm about ready to burst. And even if I knew where ta shop, I couldn't exactly pay for anything being broke."

Cookie looked at her confused. "Broke? But I thought all those gold do-dads were supposed to be your payment? The children seemed awefully proud to have them and Hattie said something about buying a whole bunch of things with some of it."

........OH!! THE GOLD!! OF COURSE!! She had completely forgotten about all of that in favor of being hungry and getting herself some food, but now that she remembered that didn't sound like a half bad idea to use it for food and some clothes that weren't so tacky.

"That doesn't sound like a half bad idea ya got there!...But. I'm not really sure where to use it. Haven't visited many places around here."

"Hm...I got an idea!" Cookie's smile widened at her. "Mu and I were just going around to do some errends after visitin'. Why don't ya'll come along and we'll make a girls trip outta it? It'll be fun to show someone around my favorite places! And I know just the place in Express City where you can trade gold for pons."

Poppy blinked. "W-Wha- N-No! I-It's fine. You're too kind really. We'll be just fine just how we are right now-"

"Nonsense," Cookie cut her off giving her a look. "Staying here all the time isn't going to magically put food in your fridge or nice clothes on your back. I insist. Besides, some time stretching your legs will be good for you."

Well. That didn't sound too bad to be honest. She could definately get a change of scenery besides haunted woods or an alien space ship, plus some actual soil under her feet sounded nice instead of floating in outer space. But Cookie wasn't exactly about to let her just waltz out with a bed head like hers. Luckily there was three little girls who gladly got very excited when they were asked by the cat to play 'make over' with Poppy, and by that she meant tidy up her hair. To say it hurt quite a bit with all the tangled built up ever since she crash landed in the swamp was an understatement. IT PECKING HURT!! Didn't help her hair was very long so it would take quite a while, in the meantime Cookie was nice enough to gather some of the gold objects they definately could put to better use. Of course both Bow and Hattie were very reluctant to let any of the buried treasure they found go, and once seeing all the gold Mu certainly was not willing to let 'any potential evil doers get their hands on it'. But they all came to a understanding with the stern gaze of the cat thrown at them. They would the girls each keep one, leave one or two pieces of gold for back up just in case of any emergency where they needed money, and the rest was coming along with them. They agreed reluctantly. No surprise Hattie chose the golden Roach King. Bow chose the castle as she enjoyed having it while playing her games. And Mu chose the cookie. Why?....She pouted and said because it reminded her of someone before shoving it into her cape's pocket with a huff. It was decided the golden skull would be the thing to be left behind and was hidden under Hattie's bed for safe keeping. Which left the golden gear, trophy, potion, pencil, Mafia Man, Cheese pieces, and candle would be all the things to go. But they all wouldn't be easy to carry as solid gold was a sure heavy thing. Luckily Poppy was just what they needed, who else to carry them but the strongest gal here? So into the pockets of her trusty leather apron they went. The weight was a bit much but she'd manage, like the light pain in her head right after the girls got done with her hair finally, leaving it in that signiture long braid and pretty blue bow tied at the end by Bow. She was ready! But the trip all the way down to the planet was another thing in of itself.

She was NOT about to risk free falling from space again, and these two weren't exactly known for their iron grip the last time. Cookie, being the genius cat she was suggested she just come along with them to Moon City to catch the next chip taxi down to the planet with them. Poppy hesitated at first, but she agreed afraid of falling from the sky again. Bow and Hattie coming out with umbrella's in their hands presumably going on their own to follow them all. Making sure they were all comfortable the cat lifted her sleeve again to reveal the same watch like device she had used the last time she was there and instructed Poppy to hold onto her paw now, as it would be a really quick trip there. She wasn't sure what to expect when she nervously grabbed Cookie's paw, but she did slam her eyelids shut when Cookie pressed the button on there. Before quickly grabbing Mu's hand with her other paw.

.....

........

"Uh..Ya'll can open your eyes now," came Cookie's voice.

Were they there already? Poppy's hand was released by Cookie and the human slowly opened her eyes. ....And what she saw both surprised and calmed her. Looking up the starry sky of outer space shown down at her live the time she free falled, but without the falling to the ground this time. The pretty stars shown brightly before those blue eyes blinked around at everything else. It was a CITY alright. A BIG ONE!....Well, she guessed any city would be big to her, as she's never really been IN a city before, the only one she's known to be in the city was her distant cousin who had a Fruit Stand somewhere in the Subonette City Marketplace. He'd sometimes tell them all the tall buildings that were so close together and the giant skyscrapers the rich fatcats lived in and their fancy carriages being pulled by giant beautiful black stallions. He always said the place was always too big and crowded for his liking but he didn't leave because the market always brought the best customers to his food. But she'd didn't think any city would be this.....Flashy. The tall buildings were decorated in massive lights and music blasted from everywhere and all kinds too. Rock, jazz, blues, techno remixes. You name it. It was almost enough to hurt her ears and her eyes. And all around them were...There was....PENGUINS!! Moon Penguins. They all didn't seem to mind or care that they just showed up in the middle of the town square and didn't care. Beeping was heard as a car zipped by them all and Poppy jumped staring at the weird mechanical beast that just went by. Gigantic signs were everywhere decorated with lights. One said 'Hats', another had a picture of a fedora and said 'Nuthin' Cooler', one Said 'Hats and Buy'. She giggled at one that read 'Penguin Suits Clothes Store'. There was even a giant glowing sign of piano keys with the words "Feelin' Lucky? Casino Hall'. It was...AMAZING!! Even if her senses were being attacked right now. But then she stopped to stare at the fountain they were standing right next to. It was in a giant shape of a music note and like most everything else, was bedazzled in lights as water poured from it.

"Are you alright?" Mu was giving her a strange look as the grown woman gawked at everything. "You look like you've never seen a fountain before."

"I've never been in any city before! Let alone on the moon!" Poppy smiled excitedly at the two of them. "This is amazing!"

Cookie chuckled and grabbed Mu by the hand gesturing for them to cross the street to the right.....Then proceeded to grab Poppy's hand to drag her along behind them as she still stood and gawked at everything but jumped at the tiny cat pulling her along across the street to the sidewalk. Another red car driving by them. As they walked Poppy noticed there was tiny bush plants in pots everywhere also covered in lights as they passed. These pengiuns really loved lights huh? Speaking of them she saw a lot of them. Moon penguins wearing suits, fedoras, and black sunglasses, they were all listening to music or talking to one another, or driving those big machines they were riding in. At one point she saw a lady penguin dressed in a pink outfit similar to the others, waddling around with a baby stroller with an egg carefully placed inside of it. She giggled at the sight of a tiny fedora on the egg as they passed, how peculiar- BAM!! Bright yellow light! Suddenly hitting her straight in the face. Poppy had to slam her eyes shut again at the sudden bright yellow flashing on them, only being guided by Cookie still holding her hand but Poppy did blink her eyes open and look up to where the light was radiating from when she felt cookie tug her in a different direction before stopping. While she got her hand back, Poppy held it up above her as her eyes adjusted and she was finally able to make out the blinding light up above. There was three gigantic blinding signs on top of the biggest building she's ever seen. Two were saxophones and one in between them were bright yellow letters saying GROOVES.

"That's Mr. Grooves moon studio," Cookie explained noticing her staring up at the signs. "He built it right by the entrance to the metro so he can just waltz on in and start workin' if he decides to shoot on the moon for what ever reason." Her yellow eyes also squinted up at the sky above and pointed up to two little stars floating down from the sky. "And here come the little darlins' now. I told them to meet us as soon as possible at the metro here before we go down to Express Town."

"Express ....Town?"

"It's the first town before you get to Express Owl City. Millions of birds ...mostly owls, live there. But Express town is big enough to have everything we need, and to be honest I'm not a fan of cities. I've gotten used to a small town life as it was."

Poppy continued to gawk at the bright lights, slightly impressed by it all...but then slowly shifted over to two little things floating down from the sky towards them, it was hard at first to see them thanks to the blinding yellow light from the sign but eventually she was  able to see the forms of Hattie and Bow floating down towards them. Hattie was holding onto her hat with one hand and smiled down at the three girls below when she noticed they were staring at the three of them.

"I'M MARY PENGUINS YA'LL!!," she called down from the floating umbrella waving her hat.

Mu huffed crossing her arms. "Show offs."

Poppy chuckled at it all and watched with a smile as the two girls gently floated down closer and closer, until they were right in front of them.  Standing on the ground smiling and putting away those magic umbrellas into...Well magic thin air she guessed and smiled up at them all.

"Are we late?"

Cookie shook her head, and gestured to the stairs leading down into the ground, turning as she did and starting to walk down said stairs. "Not at all, Sugarplum. Come along now everyone. The evening train's 'bout ta leave any minute now. And we don't want to miss that now do we?"

Shaking her head no, Hattie followed right behind her with Bow and After rolling her eyes, so did Mu. Poppy slowly followed after them down the stairs, but surprisingly she wasn't greeted in darkness. Instead she was met with a secret underground tunnel of concrete under the city and ....HOLY COW!! A train! There was a train smack dab right in the middle of the room, a few penguins climbing onto it or off it as the many doors on the long thing was open. Thank goodness it wasn't as flashy as the city outside as she looked around in wonder. The place was still pretty big even for small penguins, about five or six houses wide and height if you asked her. There was one penguin who wore the same thing as the other penguins only had on a conductor's hat and a small mic in his flipper, Poppy watched from the bottom of the stairs as this penguin looked at a watch on his other flipper before bringing the mic back up to his mou- ...Uh...Beak.

"Attention passengers." His voice boomed through a speaker above them all. "The Evening Train to the planet below will leave in exactly thirty two seconds. Those boarding please have your luggage in hand and board immediately. Last call for the evening train. That is all."

"Oh, that's our ride. C'mon ya'll. Don't want to be late now."

Cookie hurried the three little girls in front of her towards the nearest open doors on the trains, Poppy trailing behind. Passing penguins going in or out of the tram Poppy gazed up at it as she stepped in. She had to lean other a bit to not hit her head on the ceiling. The weight of the gold in her heavy duty leather apron making her lean more from the weight of it. It had white painted walls with poles and handles on the ceiling to hang onto along with benches the perfect size for Poppy and the girls to sit in. Poppy being obviously taller ended up taking up a seat and a half next to them, but there wasn't many penguins on board so she had plenty of room to herself without having to worry about taking up space for anyone else.

"Last chance of boarding. I repeat last chance,'' the Conductor Penguin's voice sounded out. Poppy glanced over at the doors as they all closed with a loud click ceiling them as the girls and Cookie all sat on either side of her. But gave a small yelp when the train lurched wobbling everyone in it and slowly started to pull forward, Poppy glancing out the window behind them and seeing the station move as the train started taking off. "We are now leaving Moon City Metro. Please remain your seats and enjoy the ride. Thank you for choosing PenCo Express Services for your space travels."

As they picked up speed, Poppy kept staring out the window and her eyes widen seeing the out side of outer space and suddenly the sight of the moon after a few seconds, it was silver and round like a moon would look like but a good CHUNK (like half of it) was alive with lights bright enough to be seen from her spot on the running train. The lights making the buildings look shadowy, it was kinda pretty in a monochrome way. As she turned her head in the opposite direction to look forward, the planet from what she could see from it was getting closer and closer. Well.....Here she goes.

#ABloomInTime #a bloom in time #A Hat In Time #a hat in time snatcher #a hat in time florist #flowercrown #florist x snatcher #The Florist #A hat in time the florist #snatcher x florist #Snatcher x the florist #the florist x snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #A hat in time florist x snatcher #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #a hat in time snatcher x the florist

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch24 Accidential New Star

(I had to look up the prices and what the bill document said to get this right.)

Dead Bird Studios.

The place where for YEARS had been the birthplace of creativity and actors on the big screen. And now she was standing right in front of it. The others didn't look so fazed at the big building considering they had been there multiple times before but that didn't stop her from staring up in fascination at it all. It. WAS. HUGE!! WAY bigger than those tall buildings back on the moon. A giant logo sign of a black bird skull and film real decorated the outside on the big front there with the giant words under it reading DEAD BIRD STUDIOS. A parking lot stood between them and the entrance and they were already walking across it towards the entrance. To the far left of them, they could all see a bunch more of those cars parked into the rectangular spaced, not that Poppy was paying attention as they marched across in the hot sun beating down on them all. Poppy would be lying if she wasn't impressed, as she subconciously walked after the small group still walking, the shadow of the building fell over her and she involuntarily sighed feeling the harsh rays of the sun gone for a moment. Still following along after them up to the double doors of the building. The grown lady flinched when they opened on their own as soon as Cookie got near it and mumbled grumpily to herself about forgetting her purse and having to walk all the way back here on her day off of all things helping out and how it was so rude of her to make them all take this detour. Not that anyone minded as the children excitedly ran in past them inside. Poppy glanced wearily at the doors for a moment while passing, jumping a foot forward when it closed by themselves, blue eyes glanced between it and Cookie for a moment before following after the mumbling cat. The long hallway was pretty dark with a black carpet with bird skull patterns with lots of white squares lights barely lighting up the place. With a whoosh noise the doors up ahead opened on their own accord and the three children ran on through and into what looked like a well lit room. As they continued to persue the children down the rest of the hall she thought she heard some squeals of delight but she wasn't too sure yet. When she finally approuched the double pair of doors, they opened again with a whoosh for Cookie and Poppy flinched again...Before blinking and sticking her head into the lit room. A giant white Television set(computor) was sat on the counter which was the first thing she saw, and shiny marble floors reflected the bright lights above. There was a tired looking bird manning the counter as he calmly watched everything around him. Next to him was some kind of giant piece of heavy looking machinery, and as Poppy finally stepped in, she gawked at the sight of GIANT glass cases on either side of the room with shiny copies of trouphies safely sat inside with names of old movie directors of years past. But those only held her attention for a moment, above the trophies on either side were giant framed posters. On the right with a few penguins gathered was a strange looking instrument in disco lights, a ...slime monster??, and some penguin in an astronaut suit. To the right was a more western style of two seperate birds holding guns and a random cactus. Two doors were on either side and two signs by them each saying FILMING IN PROGRESS.

"DARLING!! You're back so soon?," A loud voice boomed out and Poppy yelped dropping her bags of clothing on the floor.

Who the voice belongs to was another moon penguin...But this one looked TOTALLY different from any other penguin she's seen before. He wore a ridiculous outfit with weirder shoes on his feet making him taller than the other penguins by a few inches, and he actually had hair and yellow eye brows styled up into some kind of weirder haircut, and last but certainly not least a giant pair of all black shaped sunglasses over his eyes. His beak was curled up in a smile as he approuched from the small crowd of three girls tailing after him as Cookie walked over to him.

"I wasn't expecting my best best network star to return so soon," he happily addressed her earning him a few embarrassed chuckles.

"Not exactly planned. I uh...Forgot my purse on set again and needed to run in and grab it. Can't exactly feed a bunch of hungry children without it now can I? H-How's the movie auditions so far?"

The penguin sighed and reached a flipper up to his forehead. "Easier said than done. There's the part of the wicked family who still need spaces filled in place, and the handsome prince, not to mention that I still have no one to play the concerned father and we only have a few months to put this together! I can't describe how much pressure I'm feeling..But I have a good feeling that this year will be in our favor for sure!"

Cookie smiled brightly. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find the perfect people to fill those roles soon. You always manage to pull off a wonderful display."

"*sigh* I sure hope so, Dear. I'd hate to have nothing to present for my efforts." His gaze turned up once he noticed movement by the doors as Poppy reached back down to pick her bags back up. "And I see you brought a new friend!" Poppy paused as she was approuched by the eccentric looking fella. "Why HELLO there, Darling! I don't believe we've met!"

"Uh..." Poppy had to blink to actually make sure she was seeing who she was actually seeing before shaking her head and standing up, giving a politely smile. "Howdy! I don't think we've met actually."

The penguin chuckled and shook his head. "We didn't and I never forget a pretty face, Darling. And who might you be?"

"I'm those two's temporarily babysitter," she answered pointed at two of the three children huddled by his side. "Until I can get back on mah feet that is. Kinda starting from scratch after a crazy wake up call."

"Well, it's an honor to meet you Darling." His whole being radiated positivity and his voice despite being loud was very welcoming, making Poppy smile brightly, "I take it this is your first time at a studio?"

She smiled a bit shyly. "I-Is it that obvious? hehe" She reached up to rub the back of her neck. "Uh...Y-Yeah. Do you work here?"

At this the penguin and Cookie shared a chuckle before he spoke. "Well, I should hope so. Or else my name isn't DJ Grooves."

Grooves?....DJ Grooves? As in THE Mr. Grooves Cookie had spoken about before? OH! He must've been the director she spot about earlier, that would've explained the way he dressed. This guy was a walking fat cat with deep pockets, but he looked rather friendly and cheerful to her. And not to brag, but she did have a good judge of character usually.

"OH! So YOU'RE this Mr. Grooves I've heard so much about."

He chuckled. "So you heard a lot about me? I'm flattered, Darling. Really I am-" He was interrupted when a rumble sounded out and Poppy grabbed at her stomach embarrased. "...Oh my, my, my. Hungry are we?"

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and we've been running around all day."

"Well, then I better get back there and find that darned thing." Cookie turned to Mr. Grooves with a smile. "Ya'll don't mind if I just run to the back real quick like and grab it do you?"

"Not at all, Darling. Be my guest." Cookie smiled and without another word turned and ran off towards the door on the fair right of the room. The giant thing creaked open and closed behind her as she disappeared into the area behind it. Poppy watched her go behind sighing and stretching out her back from the now uncomfortable weight of the heavy used farm equipment on her, but her attention went back to Mr. Grooves when he pointed towards the counter and spoke again. "Darling, if you want you can just place these bags right on over there with the other random things we brought in today. You look redder than an apple on the sun."

She nodded yes reaching up a hand to wipe at her face. "I feel like a baked apple too. ...Ya sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all, Darling. Not at all. Why don't you go do that and I'll have one of my assistants bring you out a glass."

"Well, if you're really sure."

She smiled and lugged her way over to the counter by the crate and weird machine thing. Placing the bags down by the crate, she shimmied the golf club bag of farming tools off her shoulders and into her hands, leaning them all carefully against the big ol' machine thing next to them. Sighing that her back didn't have weight on it anymore she stretched it out making her back pop. A few giggles made her look back over towards the small group of girls around the penguin. Bow was still pouting looking down at the clothes in disgust but looked up when the penguin adjusted the sunhat on her head, she looked up at him and Mr. Grooves said something to her. Poppy couldn't hear exactly what he said but it put a smile on Bow's face and he patted her head with a flipper. A smile returning to her face at the cute scene in front of her. A small creaking noise came from her left, and Poppy didn't notice the expensive camera starting to lean from the weight of her tools.

BAM!!

A loud bang filled the room but strangely enough, barely anyone flinched or looked up from it. As if used to hearing large booming noises in the studio. The only ones who reacted was Mr. Grooves, the girls, and Poppy. Poppy all but jumped out of her skin backing against the counter and whirling towards the source of the sound, the girls seemed to flinch, and Mr. Grooves only casually looked over towards the left side of the studio. There the other giant pair of double doors had been kicked open and slammed into the walls, a moment later a very angry......Yellow owl?? Stomped out and behind him followed some regular Express Owls holding various items or just following. .....Wat? Poppy had to blink as the small whatever he was stomped over near to where she was standing and starting barking demands all of a sudden.

"You three grab the bloody camera and make sure ye pecknecks keep a tight grip on it! I nae need me raw footage damaged in anyway!" His head turned as he barked orders to the owls who jumped and nodded at their bosses demands. "Good! Can't count on you all to do anything without me tellin' ye to cannae?"

Well THAT was rude. Poppy frowned at the rude little whatever he was and still didn't notice the large machine next to her lean over even more. Neither Poppy, the owls, or whoever this small yellow guy was(who was still yelling at the poor owls through all of this might I add) noticed the heavy duty camera leaning over or the glamerous penguin waltz on over towards him with a smile until they all reacted at his voice. The owls stopping, the yellow bird thing freezing for a few seconds, his fist shaking and slowly closing into fists, and his head snapping to peer over his shoulder, and Poppy looking over blinking.

"Conductor, Darling. You mustn't be so loud. It disturbs the peace and scares potential clients away," Mr. Grooves calmly spoke to this person. "You know I'm still expecting others to answer my casting calls."

Wait. Didn't Cookie also mention a Conductor? Huh. So this must be him. Not gonna lie, not a good first impression to her if she said so herself. Conductor huffed and turned his whole body turned to completely face the calm moon penguin now.

"Tis NAE of your business ye no good puffy haired peckneck!!," Conductor shouted while pointing a hand at Mr. Grooves. He was loud enough to make Poppy wince. "Why don't ye badger off and leave me to my worrrrrk!!"

"Darling, I would love nothing MORE than to leave you alone undisturbed," Mr. Grooves insisted calmly holding up his flippers, "All I ask is that you don't make such a ruckus in the lobby so my interviewers don't get scared off."

"HA!! Ye still going on 'bout that nonsense! Like anyone would rrrreally want to be in some techno sore to the eyes picture like yours!"

"Well that's not true at all. I have a gentlemen coming in tomorrow to see for the part of the Father in my little play. "

"HA!! The third one in a row? By this rate, ye won't be able to show ye face at the Award Ceremony for judging!" He smiled this time and crossed his arms.

"Now, now. There's still lots of time. And I'm going for something far more simple this year. A little change of style but still fabulous if I do say so myself."

"HMPH!! Well I say ye are full of birdseed if you think you have an inch of chance as usually! Another second place trophy would be more fitted! AHAHAHA!!"

Poppy could feel herself frowning at his words. Well that was really uncalled fore especially since Mr. Grooves wasn't being rude at all back or making a big scene like Conductor was. CREAAAAAAAAAAKKKK!! Hey...What was that creaking sound? Or was her ears ringing from the earlier screaming.

"Ye should give up now and save ye some trouble! With me raw footage it's surrrre to be in me favor."

CRREEEEEEEEEEEEE-

A giant creaking sound echoed out in a black blur as the giant camera leaned over and tipped. Owls hooted in fear as they scrambled out of the way as all eyes looked over and it seemed time slowed down as it went down, down, down- .....With a loud crash glass and pieces of metal shattered and flew everywhere. On instinct everyone close enough held up their arms and looked away from the shatter, but it was too late. Time slowed down as the camera shattered beyond repair and lots of metal clangs and sounds followed the disaster until it all finally settled piece by piece in front of them all on the floor. Destroyed camera and farming tools splayed on top of it. Everyone stood in shock staring down at the absolutely DESTROYED piece of machinery but that wasn't the last of it. A few sparks from the top of the camera shot out .....and then just a tiny spark of flame appeared. Well that tiny flame was enough to send some panic througout everyone there as owls sqawked and gasped back at the sight of the small flame which slowly started to grow causing everone else to get mildly panicked.

"SOME DARLIN' GET A FIRE EXSTINGISHER!!," Mr. Grooves yelled one flipper going up behind him to push back the small group of children behind him.

"STAND BACK!!"

In a fury of feather and blur, a white streak of foam shot out from some random direction and slammed into the flames, successfully putting out the flames with a sizzling sound by none other than the receptionist. The bird who was behind the counter wasn't finished yet as he continued to spray the camera and part of her tools down until it was all white like snow had piled on it and he stopped. Everyone remained in their tense pose for a long while staring at the camera...before some sighed in relief as did Poppy. Well that was certainly a surprise wasn't it? ...But not a very pleasant one by SOMEONE'S standards.

"MY MOVIE!!," Conductor cried recieving all eyes on his as his hands reached up to grab those feathery parts of his head staring dead at the camera in horror. "ALL ME HARD WORKED RRRRRRAW FOOTAGE IS GONE!!! .....AH!! YOU!!" His horror quickly shifted to anger when he snapped towards the fightened owls with an accusing tone. "YOU NO GOOD......FEATHER BRAINED....PPPPPPPEEEEECCKKNNEEEEEECKSSSS!! I TOLD YE TO BE CAREFULL!! NOW LOOK AT WHAT YE DONE TA ME HARRRD WORK!! WAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH A BLOODY SHATTERED MESS MADE BY BUBBLING BAFOONS?!"

The owls all froze at their bosses torment as Grooves turned around to ask the little girls if they were alright and Poppy stared. Watching as Conductor continued to shout as he blamed the poor owls for the mess....Blue eyes blinked down to the farming tools laid upon the floor. HER mess. The one she made-

Red eyes and shadows stared at her frightened form as a voice hissed. "Take her to the room and lock her away. ...I can't to look at her for as my prince had done. Perhaps locking away her forever will teach her a lesson about gazing into another man's eyes who belong TO ME!!"

"STOP!! JUST STOP IT WAS MY FAULT!!!"

Blue eyes snapped open at the yell. The yell that made everyone freeze and look at the red head who looked just as shocked and surprised as everyone else at her sudden outburst, but the Conductor wasn't yelling at the owls anymore. Despite him not having eyes, she could still tell he was staring right at her along with everyone else around her in more stunned silence as nobody spole.

".......Wot?"

"So YOU'RE the one responsible for this?," the tallest bird from the counter spoke putting down the fire extingisher and crossed his arms with a frown making Poppy flinch.

Poppy stared at him for a moment but seeing one poor worried looking owl behind him, made her frown before taking a deep inhale...and nodding towards the receptionist without hesitation. "That's right! One hundred peckin' percent!" She boldly pointed to the half foam covered tools by now. "Those are mah tools and it's mah fault the giant whatcha-ma-callit thing fell over 'n broke! Not anyone else's! So don't be yelling at anyone!"

The receptionist stood there for a moment staring at her before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a pen and piece of paper. "Are you willing to pay for the damages? If you chose to claim the damages that is."

She nodded again without hesitation. "I am!"

"Alright." The paper had the same bird skull logo and Dead Bird Studios in bold red words. "Where do you live, Ma'am?"

"Uh...."

"With us!," Hattie piped up.

"Alright." Under the words 'Billing Details' he wrote Red Head Human Woman and the adress Spaceship in the sky 1 6829 this planet, Invoice #: (insert random Owl Express Numbers), Invoice Date: Today, and Currency: Pons. After studying it for a bit he looked back down to the damaged thing with a hum. "Let's see. There was film so that counts under 'Distruping Studio Recordings' which comes to one hundred thousand pons." He wrote under the words 'You Will Be Billed For' as he spoke and looked at the damages caused. "One count of 'Penguin Harrassment' which is five hundred pons. Five cases of 'Owl Harrassment' for two thousand five hundred pons. 'Destruction of Property' oh definately for three thousand. And 'Tresspassing' for seven thousand."

Poppy could only stand there and let her eyes grow and widen in shock at the claims and how much pons this guy claimed she owed for such lunacy. ".......Tresspassing and harassment!? Of what kind?! I wasn't tresspassin' if I was invited in here!! And I wasn't harassing anyone!!''

"Ma'am. I'm only doing my job handling paperwork, and our insurance doesn't cover humans. The moment you stepped on property you became a liability and responisble for paying for any destruction you caused," he explained calmly as if he did this every day. He wrote one other thing down on the paper before holding it out for her. "You owe us one hundred thirteen thousand pons plus tax and another seven hundred fifty for the expensive high defintion camera to be replaced."

Poppy could only stare and not move at the paper held out to her with wide eyes and an open jaw like there was another cursed statue in front of her. After a moment, the recptionist carefully and calmly put the large bill in her hand and she finally reacted to the movement. with anger and a scowl. "WHY IS THIS SO EXPENSIVE!? I couldn't afford this even if I suddenly turned into solid gold like that roach did!!"

"Like I said, Ma'am. I'm only doing my job. If you like I could call the local court house of law, the lawyers there can assure you the paperwork and damages are all legal."

"Well I still can't PAY for it!.....What if I work off the debt instead? I'm a hard worker I promise."

"Well.....it wouldn't be the first time someone worked it off. But you'll have to speak with the two big bosses about it, not me I'm afraid."

"And they would be?"

"ME!!" She jumped and nearly dropped the paper when the Conductor scowled up at her with anger. "That was MY movie ye destrrrroyed with yer no good foolishness! If ye are gonna work it away ye better be ready to receive some hard work thrown at ye from meself!!''

".......No."

Silence. You could hear a pin drop as everyone in the studio of hearing range completely stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the scene before them with wide eyes. Completely shocked into silence as they all stared at the human alike. Penguins, Express Owls, the two children, and even both the directors seemed to be shocked into the dumb silence as they all gawked at the frowning red haired lady staring at the Conductor. THE CONDUCTOR!! NO ONE BUT DJ GROOVES HAD EVER SAID NO TO THE CONDUCTOR BEFORE!! (except Hattie that one time in the basement but we don't talk about that not that anyone outside of the little girl, and a few of her friends knew) But now it seemed everyone was too shocked seeing a new person say no to the famously hot headed owl. One owl staring completely let the script she was holding fall from her hands and land scattered at her feet as everyone watched jaws dropped. Eventually Confuctor was the one to break the awkward silence by what else, his famous yeling. "WOT!?," he shouted and stared at her. "An' why not?! Ye are the one who cost me mah raw footage! That was ten days of haarrrrrrd work I ain't nah gettin' back, Las!" The red head crossed her arms and didn't change her expression. "I know and I am terribly sorry I caused you so much trouble in that department. But I refuse to work with someone so rude and treats the employee's who's workin' hard trying to help him by calling them useless! Obviously you're a terrible boss who treats anyone helping him with no respect, and I would feel terrible! Being in one of your movies knowing that, Sir." The girls exchange silent shocked glances behind Poppy as she turned her head towards the damaged camera. "....If it's the material that I damaged I would gladly pay in anyway I can. But only on the basis you apologise to those you've wronged, Mr. Conductor. But don't you go thinkin' I'll do anything before I know I'll be treated with respect!" Conductor's. Jaw. DROPPED!! Obviously not used to anyone other than that ridiculous long time rival of his speaking to HIM. HIM!!! In such a brass and demanding manner and it took a moment for him to even process what she just said but in a moment his temper flared up in a moment's notice as those feathery appendages on his head wriggled and he pointed at the penguin director as the other fist clenched into a fist as he demanded. Mr. Grooves blinking surprised at the sudden action "Bu-Bu-Bu-BUT WHAT COULD BE SOOOO SPECIAL ABOUT 'EM DOWN RIGHT EYE SORE OF A SO CALLED MOVIE!? YE GARBAGE NEVER COULD GET OFF YE GROUND IF DJ GRRRRRROOOOVES HAD ALL ETERNITY AND BECAME PRRRRRRESIDENT OF YE BOX OFFICE!!" "That's not true! I actually saw one of his movies myself." "YE DID WOT!?" "You ...did?," Grooves shifted his funny glasses wearing face up towards her just as confused as the angry owl man. Poppy nodded. "Yes. I. Did. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't think it was that bad. In fact, it was really interesting. Maybe not the 'best' by bird standards, but by human standards the story was really easy to understand for someone who honestly doesn't really know a whole darn lot 'bout these fancy lights, or high tech stuff, or..." She waved a hand off shrugging. "Or whatever ratings are. And a struggling career was relatable for someone who's been struggling with a lot happening." Conductor was sputtering and made some kind of funny bird sqawking noise before some of the feathers around his collar ruffled up in rage and he jabbed a thumb at himself. "WELL MAH MOVIES ARE NOTHIN' TO SHY FROM EITHER, LASSIE!! RRRRESPECTIVELY THAT AYE AM THE ONE TO MAKE IT ON TOP ALL YE TIME!!" Her face frowned again as she looked down at the older bird with a harsher scowl. "MY respect, SIR, is earned. Not GIVEN! And so far you've done absolutely NOTHING to earn it! Yelling like a baby who didn't get their candy and throwing a fit is not the way to do that! You just come off to me as a spoiled old man who doesn't know the word no even existed!" "WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE BLOODY PECKNECK ANYWAYS!?," He demanded fuming. "If you can't respect him as your rival then the least you could do is respect him as another person in your profession. As far as I've seen he's been nothin' but polite and kind to everyone and considering he's not in mah face yellin' like a baby bird for his mama is somethin' I respect." With a huff of that sass Snatcher would've loved to see she closed her eyes, and turned her head away with her nose stuck up. "I will start RESPECTING you as an adult when you ACT like one and apologize and decide to stop throwing a tantrum and embarrassing yourself! Because the truth be told I think YOU'RE the only peckneck in this studio." More silence settled around the entire place as Conductor dropped his jaw and the only sound that came out of him was something that sounded like 'A-Ah...ah..ah ah ah.....' in a stuttery way. Hattie's eyes were wide and Bow's hands had come to cover her mouth in a dramatic way. If Snatcher was there, Hattie would have no doubt he would've started laughing loudly at the look on the old bird's face. In fact, she could almost hear it now. A deep rumbling chuckle-....But wait. Snatcher's voice wasn't deep? It was high and raspy. Then who was-... A cold flipper patted Poppy on the back making her hum and look next to her to find the afro wearing penguin chuckling...before laughing a deep but loud laugh that filled the room with an almost joyful mood. That seemed to snap the Conductor from his trance and glared in the laughing penguin's direction. After a moment, Mr. Grooves stopped and turned his gaze up to Poppy with a smile. "Darling! I never could've said that any better than how you did!" He patted her back again. "You know. I like you already, Darling. My little stars usually have great taste in character and I see they didn't spare any expense in making another darling friend. What did you say your name was again?" ......She blinked but smiled at the happy moon penguin politely. "Poppy Rose Bloomington. You can call me Poppy, Mr. Grooves." Grooves hummed for a moment looking at her up and down for a moment before turning to the glaring Conductor and the broken camera lying a few feet away in pieces. "Was that footage really that important to you Conductor, Darlin'?" "OF COURSE IT WAS YOU PE-" "There's children here." Conductor's feathery appendeges went back as he growled. "YES! It was half me movie! It cannae be so simply replaced with the secret idea I was goin' for! All the time I spent on it cannae be replaced in time of the award ceremony!" The penguin hummed and brought his other flipper up to rub the bottom of his beak staring at the camera with a thoughtful expression...before looking back up to Poppy. "I'm afraid he's right, Darlin. I've known Conductor long enough to know one thing he never does is lie about his movies, even if he does brag while doing so in such a rude manor." "HMPH!! OF COURSE I DONAE!!" Grooves just rolled his eyes. "Even so, I think we should help him." "YE WOT!?" Conductor glanced surprised at the penguin like he won the trophy all of a sudden. "What kind of nonsense are ye blabbering about now?" Grooves turned to him staring, before tilting his head down wear his sunglass slid down enough to reveal some of his eyes in a deadpanned expression. "Believe it or not, Darling, I don't like unfair advantages." Conductor just stared blankly at him. " But I'm sure my little stars here could help out with anything you may need." Bow lit up with a smile. "Yeah! I'd love to help!" "Don't you have a back up plan like you usually do?" "Of course Ah do! I ain't no dummy." "Well, there you go, Darling." He reached up to push his glasses back into place. "I'm sure you'll put together something spectacular like you always do." "......B-B-But..What are the damages!? Ye camera cost the studio over a thousand pons! I cannae just look past that!," he argued back pointing at the shattered thing. And Grooves hummed again. "I'm afraid you're right about that too. Frankly, these kinds of ones aren't too easily to come across."........In a moment he smiled and looked up to Poppy. "I know! She can work for me as payment for those damages." Poppy blinked with a surprised expression as did most of everyone else but at the thought of Poppy being in a movies both young girls suddenly looked even more excited. Conductor on the other hand- "ABABABABABA!! Hang on a pecking second! THE LASS WORK FOR YE FOR DAMAGING MAH FILM?!" "I-I AM?!," Poppy asked whirling wide eyed to the moon penguin director. "Yes. Cuz quick frankly it might've been your film, but it was on OUR shared expensive studio high definition camera, Darling. She can easily pay off any debt she owes for the camera and your footage by working and her pay going to the repairs and reienbursment for any misguided accidents." The Conductor growled again and went to probably argue some more- "Tick tock, Darling. You don't want to waste anytime fighting when there's a deadline to meet. It looks like you'll be needing to step up your game." "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! FINE!!" The tiny bird man turned and began stomping away towards the owl's side of the studio. "WHAT ARE ALL YE LOOKING AT!? SOMEONE BRING ME MAH BACK UP SCRIPT!! CHANGE THE SETS TO OUTSIDE SCHEDUALED!! SOMEONE INFORRRRRRM THE OTHER'S WE'RE GOIN' WITH PLAN B THIS YEAR!!! AND SOMEONE GET THAT SMASHED HUNK O' JUNK CLEANED UP!!" The owl's scrambled to grab anything they needed to grab and quickly follow the fuming bird boss as DJ Grooves chuckled and shook is head. "Don't feel too bad about the Conductor, Darling. He's usually all talk and no bite." Hattie giggled. "Yeah! He's a crazy, grumpy grandpa!" Both Grooves and Bow chuckled at Hattie's description of the old bird, but none of them noticed frozen and mildly panicked form. Her?! In a movie?! Where millions of people could see her?! WHAT HAD SHE GOTTEN HERSELF INTO NOW?!

#ABloomInTime #Snatcher #The Florist #Florist #a hat in time florist #a hat in time the florist #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #A hat in time florist x snatcher #a hat in time snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #Snatcher x the florist #snatcher x florist #the florist x snatcher #florist x snatcher

[abloomntime]

Blooming Friendships Ch1 Dadtcher (and story summery)

Wonder how two children gained access to the entire Subcon Forest? Or perhaps how a Witch met two kooky ghosts? Or maybe how lost children gained a family? Find out in this prequal of A Bloom In Time.

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(WARNING: Mention of character death and implied character death!! So there's this witch NPC in Nyakuza Metro and thought she'd be a good addition to the story. If you haven't seen my other story about who she is I highly recommend reading it to get a better grip on her person.)

The video showing the NPC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrkQpENoDkg

Hat Kid's canon diary entries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_NiBsM7qhw&list=PL-fJ7QGZdTEHD7-QnKLCLeVgbJ1_aNm8h&index=19

The scene of the bookstore is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZA3HCbHkR4&list=PL-fJ7QGZdTEHD7-QnKLCLeVgbJ1_aNm8h&index=11

Subcon Forest was not a place for just anyone to enter and exit as they please. There was a reason these woods had such a feared reputation and was rumored to be haunted. Because it was. By the King Snatcher of Subcon(as he liked to refer to himself) and his ghastly assortment of minions and dwellers behind him as his undead army, anyone who went in NEVER came out which added to the entire frightfulness of it all!!...Well no one except two little giggling girls who may or may not have left a lasting impression on him. But no one would dare suspect such a thing. The dark sky and dead trees twisted with dangerous vines as the sun dared not shine here. If that won't convince you to stay away then maybe the giant chunk of the forest that always so dangerously cold will? Or perhaps the section that's always burning bright with enchanted flames? Or maybe the ghostly king who claimed trespassers' souls as his own or the rumor of a powerful witch? Either way, whatever helps to keep trespassers out he was all for it. But he had no real responsibilities today. The minions could wonder around his woods without him barking orders as long as they didn't go near the frozen half or Vanessa, or go exploring on any other part of the planet for all he cared. As long as they were all out of trouble...Well the trouble that would eventually have to involve him. He was fine with whatever they did around here. Right now he was sitting down enjoying his book of dark tales and legends as he relaxed in his home. The old book in his claws feeling as brittle as cobwebs as glowing yellow eyes scanned over the story unfolding from it's yellow pages.

Oh yes. Down in the world unknown there laid a kingdom drab and dark. Where darkness and shadows collided and lived in fear and power. One would be mad to even think about stepping in a place like this. Where the dead are gone but still there, the shadows played and roamed and full of terror. A frightful place brave hereos dare not venture unless they wish to meet a tragic fate. Yes. This one place was alone ruled by a power hungry spirit, spited by his love in life and now seeks vengeance on any mortal who dared be foolish enough to be beckoned into his awaiting claws-

THUD!!

.....Snatcher slowly looked up from his book with a small frown. The small minion who had tripped dashing into his home and landing face first in front of his chair had groaned out his greetings before getting up. With a shake of his head and a look upwards towards the sixteen foot ghost. Snatcher raising a brow at the sudden interruption of his reading time.

"Hey Boss!," the small subconite happily shouted waving his arm towards the ghost. "I brought some great news to share with you!"

His master stared down at the little ghost who landed in front of him as he rolled his yellow eyes. The book in his claws closed and placed down the book to his right as he gave the minion what she obviously wanted, his attention. "Uuuuuhhh. What is it Number Fourteen?" Having at least three hundred something minions in all corners of his forest and not all of them retaining memories of their old lives made it harder to address them all by. So a long long time ago he simply just decided to name them all by numbers. Was easier to convey to them in his eyes. His head was placed on one fist as he leaned looked over the minion boredly. "Can't you see I'm busy? I specifically told everyone not to disturb me today. And yet. Here you are." His clawed free hand gestured to the small minion under his glare as his face slowly scrunched up into one of annoyance. "Disturbing me. In the middle of my reading session. Perhaps the hood of your face is blocking out your hearing?"

The minion shook her head and excitedly extended her hand to point to the outside of his tree home towards the purple dreaded forest surrounding them. "There's a fool foolish enough to wonder around your forest! Should we chase them to one of your traps?"

Silence rang out quietly between the two of them as the minion after a moment wobbled a bit awkwardly. Usually it didn't really take this long for her boss to respond. Usually barked an immediate "YES!" or "NO!" followed by a couple questions about the intruder but lately he had been so...reluctant to do anything of the sort. Not since the Newbies saving the world from that weird girl with the mustache. And that was almost a full year ago now

Eventually the ghoul sighed closing his eyes and shaking his head. "No. Chase them outta here or do whatever it takes to make them leave. I'm not in the mood to deal with outsiders. Especially during my time off!"

During the duration of their conversation neither noticed the footsteps leading up to the sinister spook's home until the owner of those footsteps walked along the dangerously spike blackish-purple vines that grew from the gaping tree's entrance looking like a dastardly mangle of tongue from it's jack-o-lantern jaws. The Pink heeled boots tapping along the thick roots until they made the figure stop at the very entrance of the domain that the trespasser dared to cross. Driving themselves into deeper trouble with the cocky tone and playful smirk on pink lips.

"And here I thought ghosts were supposed to be scary?~"

His face snapped to the female voice with a snarl but once the sight of the woman who DARED enter his home let alone his forest entered his vision he paused for maybe two seconds before that snarl turned into a deep scowl with narrowed eyes. "What are YOU doing here? Can't you see I'm busy?"

The brown haired woman shrugged twirling the scissors in her hand. "I could ask you the same thing, Snatchy." Her brow rose once her copper eyes glanced over at the unfinished book upon his lap he was attempting to finish. "You're a slow reader now, or is this some kind of new hobby for you?"

"Neither! BEGONE YOU WITCH UNTIL I CALL UPON YOUR WOEK!" He quickly Snatched the book out of his own lap and made a show of opening it, forcing his face back into the pages and away from her view.

She faked a hurt expression and put a hand to her chest. "That hurts Snatchy. It really does. In all the five hundred years we've known each other you're still that cruel spirit you've always been." He groaned.

"And you're still that annoying witch." She finally got him to turn his face towards the smiling witch dressed in white and pink and groaned as his eyes peeked over the edge of the book. "We both know you're not here for no reason. What ARE you here for, Hazelle?"

"You got me.~" She smiled real smug like and had the audacity to walk over to his large red arm chair and plopped down in the footrest he never used since. Well. He had no feet or legs anymore. Leaning her head in one hand and crossing her legs. "Well, the usual. I wanted to stop by and grab some of these cursed vines for my supplies. Maybe grab some swamp water for my famous grab-o-war spells, comes in handy when someone doesn't want to pay their side of our bargains. And of course I was wondering why you haven't come by asking for more blue potions of the dead. You usually get a big supply every few weeks." The witch's copper eyes flickered over the cover of the book he held and blinked. A brow raising. "And the last time I was even here you managed to keep reading the same book? Either that means you like the book so much you've been reading it over and over or something's been on your mind."

After a few seconds of frowning at her, Snatcher turned back to the dress in his claws and took the scissors. Starting at one side he started cutting along the drawn line as straight as possible. "A lot of things have happened in the past year."

"Really?," she asked interested and looked around the home as he scowled and pushed his purple face back into his book. Finding nothing really different she slowly turned back to him brow raised. "Nothing really seems to be different here or in your forest other than your attitude."

"Oh yeah? And do you mind telling me what exactly is wrong with my 'attitude', Witch?"

"Well while it's fully in your nature for you to call me names like 'Witch' and 'Hag', and demand I get out of your forest unless you need more of my blue potions or spells, and take a very long time to even come to me for such things..." She explained as he stared at her scowling from behind the book clearly not in the mood but also not making any movement to stop her as she deadpanned back. "It's never been nearly a whole year without you visiting me or demanding something of mine. That is.." She leaned forward slightly raising both brows. "Unless something has been bothering you on a very personal level." He stared at her. "Well? Am I wrong?"

Snatcher went silent again. Not moving or looking away from the woman in front of him neither confirming or denying anything that was just asked. After a few tense silent moments of her staring back he began to move again but remained silent. His hands slowly closed the book he was reading with a small thump and with the ghostly magic he possessed, with a flick of his wrist the old book floated up into the air and Hazelle's head turned to watch as it floated perfectly back in place on the shelf before returning to him. Deflating like a long balloon, Snatcher let out a looooong sigh, slumping in his chair and one clawed hand reaching up to rub where the temples on someone's head would be. Not answering right away. Luckily for her, Hazelle was a patient woman and just kept silently watching him from his comfy spot. After about ten minutes of this silence, a moment later Snatcher and turned to Hazelle still staring at him patiently. But she was rather taken aback by his expression. He almost looked ....tired. Which was a weird expression to see on a ghost as they really didn't need to sleep, and the only way snatcher could've gotten tired was if the ghost used a whole lot of spiritual energy or magic draining him for a while but he always bounced back within a couple days or so. The only time she had really seen him like this was when he showed up to her humble abode some months ago looking miserable absolutely COVERED in those blue potions he liked to use so much requesting she help remove it from his ectoplasmic body. All thanks to that little alien gal and her curly haired friend. The two stared at each other for a moment longer before she spoke up.

She pointed a hand at him calmly. "Something big is going on here. I can tell by that look on your face, old friend. You can't fool me."

"Why would I tell you? Nothing's happened. 'Sides. Nothing here I can't handle!" He huffed and reached looked up from staring at his hand.

"Do you know how much you contradicted yourself in those few sentences?" She rolled her eyes and leaned over. "Come on. You KNOW I ALWAYS find out one way or another eventually whether it's by you or me prodding around a bit."

"Anyone ever tell you you're a pain!?"

"All the time, Snatchy.~ But, c'mon. You know I'm right anyways. I'll find out eventually from one of your minions anyways or by something else, so spill." She leaned back all comfy like in the seat smiling that grin. "I got all eternity now.~ Something about one of those minions saying time piece sounds interesting. What'd I miss?"

He gave a loud and hard groan turning his head up towards the ceiling. "If I tell you will you PLEASE leave me alone?"

"Absolutely. You know I would."

"Fine then.....I-...I-I don't know.''

.....Hazelle blinked. Before her face scrunched up in a 'Wait. What?' expression. "You...don't...know how you're feeling?" he nodded not looking at her and her face drew a surprised but blank slate. "Alright. This is the first time I've ever heard you say something like this before." Her hand extended half way towards him. "How long have you been feeling like this exactly?"

"I'm not entirely too sure. A couple months?...I guess."

"Oook," she said unsure. This was strange behavior even for Snatcher who once went on a literal hour long tirade about how ghosts should be given a discount on bacon for being dead. "Well when did you start actually feeling like this? Maybe it has to do with some kind of magical change in the weather or something."

"A few days after those brats came into my forests!," Snatcher spat crossing his arms and turning his head away, "Ever since they terrorized me I can't help but think about those pesky pecknecks and what they did to me! It's utterly humiliating!"

"Well maybe it had something to do with them?," she suggested, "Tell me everything that happened between you three, and don't say you won't, Snatcher. I always find out in the end."

Well....She wasn't wrong about that. It was a possibility. Could ghosts even catch an alien illness? And there was the fact that if he DIDN'T tell her, Hazelle would most definitely find out and it was ALWAYS more hard for him to deal with things when she found out things on her own, so.....He spilt the beans. All of it. From him these strange hourglasses with bright silver shiny sand in them falling from the sky, how after just a few days of them appearing two small girls showing up in his forest, how he made them do his own dirty work so he wouldn't have too, how they eventually .....beat him. He scowled when Hazel chuckled at the ridiculous contract they had tricked him into signing. How eventually the Hat Brat fought the blonde little girl who nearly destroyed the world whoever she was and now...His situation with this weird nagging feeling and not sure how exactly he ended up with them. Leaving out just a few details like his embarrassing smack with the blue potion, or the fact he was rethinking those moments over and over. He had no idea why. Maybe it was just because he found it so ...so...FRUSTRATING!! Hazelle would tease him for that for sure. By the end of his brief and blunt explanation Hazelle was giving him a surprised look.

Which soon turned into a hum as he sat there staring at her. Her hand coming up to tap her chin in thought. "Hm...Well, I can't sat what it is for certain that's bothering you, but I can for sure that I've only ever seen you do this a couple times before and it's only ever been when you were thinking about someone special from your past you happen to miss." Her brow rose. "Such as a certain used to be blonde-"

"WATCH. YOUR. MOUTH!," he growled out threateningly making a point to glare and point a sharp talon at her .

In the face of danger the witch only rolled her eyes. "Ok. Well what I'm saying is....Maybe you just might miss them?"

"WHAT?!" Any dweller or minion within range of his voice fled at the flare up of anger coming from their boss and he sure showed it when glaring at the witch but Hazelle sat there through his tantrum. Snatcher hissed leaning out of his seat to get very close to her pointing. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! WHAT THE ACTUAL PECK GAVE YOU THAT STUPID PECKING IDEA YOU FOOL!?"

"Well, considering that the fact is that the only time you ever described to me feeling like this is those few moments in the old days when you missed you know who and from what you've told me is telling me otherwise, Snatchy."

"DON'T CALL ME SNATCHY! YOU KNOW I HATE THAT, WITCH!!" With a hiss he snapped back to the his chair and continued on scowling off as if nothing happened scowling...But Hazelle frowned.

She sighed shaking her head. "Alright. I get the picture. But maybe you should try relaxing and doing something to help take your mind off things in the mean time." She shrugged. "Who knows? It might just help you get over your homesick feelings."

"I AM NOT HOMESICK!! AND WHAT DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME!?"

"Well clearly the books aren't working." Hazelle paused for a moment looking down before smiling again as her face lit up. "I know. Why don't you try going out of this gloomy place for a bit?"

......He blinked. "What?"

"Take a vacation! You know, step outside the gloomy woods for a bit and travel. See the beaches, watch a movie, scare a couple crowds, cause a huge ruckus being a ghost! Haunt a few places!," she suggested pointing at him, "You LOVE scaring people!"

He frowned. "A vacation? And leave my forest open for any fools who want to wonder in or let Moonboy take it over!? HA!! Nice try!"

"Oh come on. It's better than cooping yourself up here until that feeling eventually goes away. Don't you go out sometimes anyways to get new books or painting supplies? You could do that." Her face perked up upon remembering something. "OH! I know! There's this cruise that's pretty popular! You should go make it a ghost ship!"

"Not for a full pecking vacation! And a boat? What makes you think I'd do anything like that?!"

Hazelle stared at him for the longest time before sighing, shaking her head, and standing up as Snatcher continued to sulk. "Alright. I know when to stop. I'll be taking my leave now. But first a little fairwell present." Snatcher rose a brow as she reached up, took off her hat, and reached inside it rummaging in around for a moment before pulling out what looked like a pamplet and held it out to him while putting the pointy witch hat back onto her head, "Here. Take this."

Snatcher looked between her and it for a moment....before he reached one of those blackish-purple arms out to her and snatched it from her hand. Holding it up to his face beheld the perfect scene of a bright sky, the ocean, and a small boat. "....What is this?"

"A pamphlet for that cruise I told you about, Snatchy." She smiled. "In case you change your mind."

The ghost looked from the pamphlet to her before shaking his head. "You always were a stubborn old hag weren't you?"

"Hey that's not fair. I'm barely even seven hundred years old yet." She winked turning. "If we're comparing ages you'd definitely be considered my older brother.~ But anyways. Tata!~" She wagged a couple fingers stepping off and out of the home. "I'll just help myself to a few of your cursed plants and be out of your hair. Do be sure to visit sometime soon!"

"Yeah!? WELL GOOD PECKING RIDDANCE YOU OLD BAT!!," he huffed again tossing the paper thing and crossed his arms as it harmlessly fluttered all the way down to the old floor.

Stupid witch! What did she take him for!? A fool!? No, no, no. Only fools followed her advice. HIM!? Stuck on a boat out in the middle of no where leaving his forest open to attacks from Moonjumper and possible outsiders!?....Nevermind him and Moonjumper's had a semi-peace treaty thing going on between them for about seventy years now. But still it was the principle of the matter! What kingdom would be run if it's ruler sudden disappeared simply for a stupid vacation!? HA!! He wasn't dead yesterday you know! It'd take more than just a friend's-....Witch's word and some dumb paper advertisement to get him to leave his forest! And having the nerve for suggesting the oddly strange incompletely, longing, semi empty feeling was because he actually MISSED those brats! NOPE!! NUH UH!! He definitely did NOT feel like he was missing something or the like just because they might've reminded them of the once living children of the village!! .....NOT!! No matter what he was absolutely, positively, definitely NOT going to go on some dumb stupid vacation to get his mind off things! Because he didn't NEED to get his mind off things! He was perfectly fine! He was NOT going!!

....

He did end up going.

It was a week after Hazelle had suggested the dumb idea to him in the first place and he had rejected it at all costs. Trying for hours to read his book trying to not remember the oddly high pitched child like laughter that came from the memories of the two girls that once beat him with a stupid potion! It was only because he was absolutely still infuriated at them being some of the only people to beat him in literal hundreds of years!! YEAH!! That was it! He would not allow it to happen again!...So obviously because he was so frustrated with it, it was causing him to think about them more and give him that odd feeling! YEAY! That must've been it surely!! And he was totally just leaving a minion in charge and leaving the forest for a little bit only because he felt like causing mischief he hadn't been able to really to get for a while. And he certainly wasn't deciding to use this cruise thing because she suggested it. He was only deciding to do it because he hasn't had the chance to haunt a ship before so it'll be a thing to cross off his bucket list. What he did however give her credit for was making sure he would get a headache life he usually did whenever she suggested something. And it all started with seeing the prices of the tickets that were being sold for the boat. Two hundred pons per ticket!? He had to pay two hundred pons just for ONE ticket!? HA!! I think not! Of course being a ghost he didn't even had to pay if he wanted to but where was the thrill of sneaking on then? It made this all the more fun and worth while! With the docks a mess thanks to the weird seals and him being a ghost it was easy for him to sneak about the shadows and find the perfect hiding place! A crate that was to be brought aboard. He didn't even have to make any effort in doing anything himself. With a wide pumpkin grin he easily phased through the wooden outside of the crate and curled himself up all cozy inside. Other than some of his spiritual energy seeping out no one would tell he was in there even with his magic seeping out, unless you specifically know him to notice....and what luck! Because one of the persons he was totally NOT thinking about this whole time had returned and was making her way up the dock and towards the boat following that mysterious feeling of a time piece calling out towards her to come and get it. Of course he didn't notice her arrival or her ship as 1. It was in space how could he know she was here to begin with? And 2. neither brat had bothered to show back up in his forest for him to be alerted to their presence at all. In fact he still didn't know she was literally outside his crate until the little girl was passing by looking around for any signs of her missing time piece, and paused noticing the dark purple almost black aura seeping from around the crate he was in. Curiously the hatted girl bounded up to the crate examining it with her eyes as the wood seemed more...Darker almost tainted than the crates around it and the purple spilling around it's based seemed almost familiar somehow....Her blue eyes suddenly lit up with a smile at the familiar feeling. Reaching a hand up to give a hard knocks on the front he was leaning against. From the inside of the crate he blinked almost startled. Someone was...Knocking on his crate? More knocks followed making him scowl when the person failed to get another response from him. So some fool wanted to get his attention so badly huh? Well they'll be sorry once they found out who they were really dealing with!!

"*ahem*," he cleared his throat before putting on that totally sinister facade of terror that struck fear into the hearts of all mortals, "AHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!! FOoooooooo-" He paused. Mouth open in mid sentence as what he could only describe as ....as....childish girly laughter!! Came from the outside of his crate..and it wasn't just any girly laughter either. HE HEARD THIS BEFORE!! From his many memories of two small gals who lively galivanted through his forest before. "Wait a minute." The top hat wearing girl on the other side smiled both amused and very very happy to see the familiar face again. Blinking as two yellow eyes popped onto the crate's surface to stare at her...and his metaphorical stomach nearly sank. WHAT!? IT WAS THAT BRAT!! The one who plagued his life months ago! Those yellow eyes narrowed as she giggled more. "Its YOU!? AGAIN!?"

"Hey BFF," she greeted with that infamous wink with a blep face that made him groan.

"Ugh. You show up in my forest, assault me, refuse to leave, and then turn up to ruin my vacation too?" Never mind a small part of him seemed almost giddy to see her face again. ...GIDDY FOR REVENGE THAT IS!! "You really are just the worst, Kiddo."

She giggled at the ghost but shook her head. "I didn't know you were here!"

"Oh really? Then it must be a coincidence that I just happened to want to enjoy myself outside of my forest and you just happen to show up in the same place? I wasn't dead yesterday you know! What other possible reason would you be here unless it was to annoy me?...Unless you also happened to decide to take a cruise too then it just means fate deals a cruel hand."

She shook her head again tilting it to the right curiously. "I'm picking up leftover time pieces that I didn't catch onto last time I was here. But are you hiding?"

".........Yes. I'm hiding in a crate. Tickets are expensive!" So...she wasn't just here to pester him? What a relief. But now that she knew he was here she might just go ahead and bother him anyways in the middle of getting those stupid hourglasses!!...Unless....He pestered her FIRST!! A devious smile spread across his wide face as his mind went to one specific idea. Revenge! Now that the brats were back he could finally get revenge for what happened all those years ago!OH HE COULD CUT HER OFF AT THE PATH AND GET TWO STEPS AHEAD OF HER NOW!! SOMETHING THAT SHE WOULDN'T EXPECT!! ...Yellow eyes blinked at a tiny hand waving across his face. "Oh right. You're still here. Well I won't keep you from collecting whatever boring collect-a-thon trip you're planning on going on. ...In fact you should probably leave to get them right now. Wouldn't want any of those powerful artifacts getting into the wrong hands like last time."

That seemed to convince her to get a move on it and leave him but not before giving him a sappy goodbye that left a strange feeling in his guts...But nevertheless this stupid vacation can wait. Exiting the crate the shadow moved like a bullet out of a shot gun towards a specific place he knew would be the last place the kid would've expected him to be. The strange lonely empty feelings from months before exiting and his excitement for revenge against these two grew! See? He knew it was just frustration from not getting revenge all this time! Hazelle and her stupid advice! He didn't need a vacation! He needed to get even! Which is why the Kid's spaceship would be the perfect hiding place! No one would suspect it! The ship wasn't too hard to get to after all. Just a form of teleporting and not even five minutes later he was there in the ship in a wild form of purple aura magic. It was when he actually got into the ship that he had to take a pause and look around the control room of said ship. It was.....quiet. Nothing except the small beeps and boops of the control panel and the small light vacuum sounds as the small vaccum robot thing slowly passed by him on the floor. Snatcher blinked at the thing as it steamrolled by his tail. With his brow raised, he watched it go past for a moment before looking back around the strange place. Well if the kid wasn't here then he'd have the chance to snoop around a bit. After all she wasn't here to stop Snatcher and this was the first time on an alien spaceship....HA! And he'd still be haunting a ship so this totally counts to scratch off his bucket list! With a sly grin on his face he chuckled. This would be the best chance he would have at getting blackmail material! There had to be SOMETHING he could use against the brat! Easily floating through walls, he made his way around the place. Kitchen, bathroom, attic, some kind of lab, hourglass filled room......Hmm. Perhaps he could take one to lure her back into his forest?? But was it worth being hit with an umbrella again??..He made a mental note of it in case he needed to use the idea. BINGO!! Kiddo's bedroom! There HAS to be some dirt he can use against her somewhere!! Well imagine his shock and surprise when he phased right through the wall and right on the other side was the kiddo's room....With one kiddo already in it. He stopped. Bow stopped looking up from the children's book she was currently holding and staring at him wide eyed. Both stared at each other. Snatcher ....didn't expect to see her here. Uh oh. The jig might be up!

...Bow blinked. "Mr. Snatcher?"

"Uh.....WHY HELLOOO THERE!!," he greeted putting that grinning facade quickly as he was used to doing. "Fancy running into you here!" He pointed at her. "What...are you doing here?"

"Reading," she answered holding up the book to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh....Haunting of course!," he casually made an excuse with a shrug, "Sort of my hobby, Kid. Ever heard of a ghost ship?" She nodded. "Well this is one now! But uh..Where's the other brat?"

"You mean Hattie? She said she's not gonna be here for a few days."

"WHAT!?"

Instead of being scared of an angry fire weilding soul snatching spirit, Bow just nodded casually. " Yeah! She said something about getting more time pieces!" She turned back to her book again not giving him a second glance. "But you can wait for her too if you wanna."

He cursed 'peck' under his breath and dawned a frown. Well his plan of getting her when she came back would be ruined until the brat finally came back. He didn't have time for this!! "HA! I wait for no one! when she gets back you tell her she better not disappoint me!"

Bow looked back up to ask what he meant but was only met with a small dissapearing purple smoke.

.....

.......

.....TWO WEEKS!!

He had been waiting two pecking WEEKS for that kid to come back and she hadn't!! Sometimes he'd pop in to see if she had only to find Bow watching TV, eating, or doing something! But still no Hat Brat. WHAT THE PECK!? Surely taking those blasted time pieces couldn't have been taking THAT long!! What was taking her so pecking long!? For the probably millionth time he scowled and teleported himself back to the ship to see if the brat he had been waiting for was there. Surprise, surprise she wasn't there AGAIN!! ....But strangely enough neither was Bow. Which was odd cuz he always saw her running around at least. Sometimes she'd make him sit with her and watch mind numbing TV or read to her those lame stories. Her favorite being Starella. Or he'd listen to her ramble on about her old home somewhere called Nyakuza Metro City and all the cats. That he minded the least because he had a cat too once a long time ago. But it was strange not seeing her around here now. Eh. Oh well. Now he had no one to stop him from snooping around a little bit to pass the time. Flying back into the kiddo's bedroom he took a moment to really look around the place. There wasn't a whole lot of things that could've been useful to him in there. The quiet settled in as Snatcher silently looked around the room. The cutsie styles wallpaper coupled with the small mobile attached from the ceiling was typical for what you'd expect a kid's bedroom to look like. Like the giant bear, purple chair, and the toy box. the blueprints hanging up onto the wall wasn't very interesting to him either. There must've been SOMETHING in here! Opening the closet beheld nothing either. It was totally empty! He mumbled curses under his breath before turning curiously towards the giant pillow pile. Hmm. He wondered...Being a ghost he was easily able to phase through the mountain of pillows and it was nothing but an eye sore of rainbowfied colors until- AH HA!! His head popped out into a small space that was settled under the pillows like a secret pillow fort. BINGO!! With a smile finally spreading itself on his face Snatcher peered around the small hiding spot. Well, well, well. What did we have here? There was a small shelf with books, a couple pillows strewn about, another giant bear plush, and a desk with a few things that caught his interest. First being the feather and ink pot, with the open book next to it, and what looked like just a plain non magical hourglass. But what was really interesting was the fact that the book was wide open and it looked like it was written in not too long ago.

"Well, well. I wonder what this is?"

If this was that Hat Brat's journal then maybe he could learn a thing or two that might help him beat her in their next encounter. Plus reading books was sorta his specialty anyways. With a sinister smirking glee on his face, Snatcher did what any self respecting person would do. Do research on their arch nemisis. Picking up the thick looking book in his claws he quickly flipped it to the very first page and began to read what was written. Written on the very first page was:

"Day 1....

So....I am stranded. A big guy in a chef's apron and a suit knocked on my door, and decided to mess up everything. Apparently they're the "Mafia of Cooks". Why couldn't I have gotten stranded on a normal planet?"

And that's where it ended. Except for an ink splotch at the very bottom of the page and Snatcher frowned. She didn't even use the entire page?! If one thing frustrated and annoyed him the most it was the waste of good paper and she wasted it only to write a few sentences. But what perked his interest was that it was labeled as "Day 1", and that meant this must've been when she first came to the planet and apparently when she got stranded. So could she possibly be using this book to log her day to day life on this planet? He decided to skim through the next through pages.

"Day 2...

I'm not super sure what that was supposed to be? Some big loser stood around and threw barrels at me! Some even had spikes on! Who has spiked barrels????"

The page ended in three drawing of barrels of different danger levels and labeled LV.1 Barrel, LV.5 Explosive, and LV.35 Stabber. ....Spiked barrals?? Hmm. Maybe he should use something spikey next time?

"Day 3...

Wow. And I thought the regular Mafia were weirdos. At least he had a Time Piece I could take. How do they keep finding these things...."

On the bottom of this page was mud stains with the word Mud crossed out and replaced with Alien Slime...Whatever that was about.

"Day 4....

No wonder these guys are so dumb if that's who they put in charge! I guess nobody is the boss now though....Whoops!"

This one made himself chuckle. Why? Oh because he's seen the Mafia before along with their 'Boss-in-a-Bottle' as he liked to refer to him now. And he agrees with her that the Mafia were about as smart as a rock if a rock could walk and talk. Glad to know the little Hat Brat had a sense of humor.

"Day 5...

Ha! That'll show these dumb Mafia guys how outdated single stage powder based incendiary propulsion is. Winning fairly is overrated anyway."

"AHAHAHAHA!!" He couldn't help but cackle at what was written down on the page which also ended in more ink splotches. Oh the IRONY of it all! And honestly...unexpected from her. That'd be something he'd expect himself to say not a little girl who was more interested in playing on the bouncing mushrooms.

"Day 6...

It's....so....HOT! Something seriously wrong has happened to the island. It looks like a huge volcano went off! The Mafia guys are too big and tough to admit it, but the heat is definitely getting to them. Mafia guys get way smelly when they sweat....well, way smellier!"

He chuckled again because if he still had a nose he probably would've agreed with that statement.

"Day 7...

Y'know, I've been seeing these tickets all around Mafia Town. Blue, red, green, yellow- they're kinda pretty! I HAVE been wondering where they all go though. And I've been wondering what the Mafia could be keeping inside those things too! Well today's the day I'm gonna find out!"

This page ended in what looked like the cruise tickets he saw floating in the wind. Well nothing was really interesting in the first seven pages besides him getting a small chuckle out of her, so he kept scrolling.

"Day 8...

I just met the strangest group of birds I have ever seen. Ever. One is a big disco penguin, and the other is a...uh...bird-ish thing? Is he even a bird? I have no idea. Birds don't usually have teeth, but this guy does. It's creepy. They're 'fighting' to see who can make the best movie. That's in qoutes because no one really seems to want to fight, except the Conductor."

And the page ended with a picture of herself taped to the bottom. Disco..penguin and bird thing?? Did she mean those two characters he briefly saw during the fight between her and the Mustache Brat??

"Day 9...

Y'know there's a lot of creepy...crow...type...things getting on this train, too. Actually everyone on this train is acting real funny, even the owls. And they're harmless nerdy guys! I feel like something bad might happen since it feels so freaky, but the Conductor is definitely, um, how do I put this? "Loud"? "Pushy"? How about..."persuasive"? Anyway gotta go catch a train!"

This page also ended in a small ink splotch.

"Day 10...

Ohmygosh! That big penguin DJ said I could be a STAR!!! I wonder if he means like a popstar...Wait! Do I have to learn how to sing? Maybe an internet star...No, no. A MOVIE star! DJ Grooves says he's going to take care of all that stuff, I just have to show up on set, and I'm gonna be famous! I can't wait...I just hope I don't have to sing."

At the bottom was more pictures of her but in what looked like a city at night.

"Day 11...

Every time I'm around the Conductor I can hear him mumbling about his movie. I think he's trying to find out some big, huge, impressive, exciting, AMAZING thing to do with his train. I mean, OK, MAYBE his movie could use more action or something. Like, um...uh...I actually have no idea what he could do. Being a movie director must be hard."

The page ended in question marks drawn on it. Oh yeah? If she thought that was a tough job try being in his shoes for a day!..Er..Ectoplasm for a day.

"Day 12...

This moon set sure is getting busy! There's so many moon penguins showing up! And some are bringing balloons! And there are these floats that are SUPER BIG! Everything is looking so pretty! DJ Grooves says they're all here for me too! I can't let everybody down! I don't know what we're going to do next, but I know I have to try my best for all of my fans!"

"Day 13...

I'm so excited! There's going to be a fancy awards show and I get to go! I mean I think I'm excited! I mean...I wonder if I helped the right bird win? All the birds were really nice, and the movies were sooo cool! So...I just...wonder. ANYWAY, I'm super excited to see the award! Also, the time piece, hehe."

The page ended in a picture of herself thinking.

"Day 14...

What is it with people on this planet double crossing me? It's ruuuuude! That's the last time I get involved in show business for a long time."

This page ending in exclamation marks. ...Wait. THAT'S IT!? Who double crossed her?! And what's with the wording of this? It's in a way that makes it sound like it happened twice! Then who was the first one who double crossed her!? And how!? It might've given him more ideas! ...Hmph! Guess he'd have to continue reading to see if he could find out.

"Day 15...

Uhhhh? What is this place? There's spiders and ghosts and a big creepy creepy grinning...person? Thing? They said they were gonna kill me but then made me sign some paper instead? And I think he took my soul or something? Say whaaaaaat."

And it ended with her weird alien signiture and...his SEAL!? Wait a minute...THIS JOURNAL ENTRY WAS ABOUT HIM!! Oh FINALLY!! Something worth reading about! Let's see how the Hat Brat found his work ethics.

"Day 16...

I thought I saw some weird tower poking out from between the trees in the gross swamps, but it turns out it's a big old well. The Snatcher told me so! At first I thought he was just being nice, telling me neat stuff to look for...but then he told me I'm gonna have to go down there where it's smelly and dark! Shouldn't grown ups usually be keeping kids OUT of wells or something?"

This also ended in an ink splotch. ....A strange feeling bubbled up from before but he shook it off. Hey! She agreed to the contract and he had another person to deal with that day! Some dumb Mafia wondering in. ...Maybe he could've made the Mafia guy do those things sure and...spare her as a grown up...But to be far she agreed they were dumber than rocks.

"Day 17...

A toilet. A...toilet! A TOILET! Why is there a smelly dumb gross toilet in the forest, and why do I have to deal with something so smelly and dumb and gross!?! That Snatcher is such a jerk! Why do I have to do this? I DONT WANT TO TOUCH A TOILET!"

More exclamation marks. HEY! He wasn't being a jerk!.....That time. It was HER soul that posessed it! Therefore it was HER fault and it was only fair SHE clean up HER mess!!...Granted..maybe he should've kept a better eye on it so it couldn't escape, but it wasn't HIS idea to make it posess an outhouse!

"Day 18...

That Snatcher Guy is such a jerk! Ugh! This stinks- now I need to go STEAL something 'of his' from some old lady's attic? What's an old lady doing living in this spooky forest anyway? Wait...She's going to be creepy, isn't she? Old people already creep me out..."

"AHAHAHAHA!!!" Another ink smear. "Old Creepy Lady, huh, Kid? That's definitely something I can agree with right there." But still. He wasn't being a jerk THAT time. She wanted the shiny hourglass thing, he wanted someone to check on the state of the old mansion. It's a win win. She gets the hourglass (if she made it out alive) he got to know if Vanny was still locked away tight there without seeing her...Of course he did try to slow her down...but that was desides the point.

"Day 19...

I don't get it? He seems super creepy and menacing but he wanted me to deliver mail? I have a really bad feeling about this, but he won't give up his Time Pieces unless I do his weird contracts..."

HEY!! Cut him some slack will ya!? He saw how much she enjoyed riding around on the scooter all smiles and giggling like a maniac..He hadn't seen that kind of genuine childlike lively behavior since the children in the villiage..and they don't act like that anymore..Barely any of them remember their pasts anyways....A-AND WHAT WAS SHE COMPLAINING ABOUT!? She's lucky he didn't make her give back the badge after she beat him with that blue potion!

"Day 20...

THIS GUY!!! I do his dumb jobs and then he tries to double cross me??? I beat him up and now he just wants me to go away, but he also like can't make me, so whatever."

And it included two pictures of him...Wait a minute...WHERE THE PECK DID SHE GET THESE!? He sure as PECK didn't give them to her!! He narrowed his eyes and he gave a small growl from his throat. Oooooh hoho! She was gonna get it now for SURE!!...If she ever showed UP!! Or when he figured out how...He grumbled and just flipped to the next page.

"Day 21...

That...was a really big bird cage. And a really big bird! It looked kinda too big to fly. Or move. But it was cute!"

There was a black feather taped to the bottom of the page with the words 'these are so fluffy' next to it.

"Day 22...

So hot!!! Too sweaty to write properly. Why is there a cake made of lava????? I hope the next time piece landed somewhere cold..."

And then there was 'sweat drops' and 'more sweat drops' written on the bottom of the pages....Gross! Made him cringe. ...Wait. Why did a giant bird cage and lava cake sound familiar???

"Day 23...

I think I say some ghosts today? Goat ghosts? I don't know where that bell took me but it certainly wasn't somewhere I was supposed to be."

"......Moonjumper," he growled under his breath. A small picture of a ghost plus a goat was drawn on the bottom of this page. Of COURSE she went to Alpine Peaks! Why wouldn't she? That's where the magical bell was that could transport someone into the Horizon where a whole bunch of goat ghosts and some of his kidnapped minions lived. And Moonboy with his brat! How the peck did one of her hourglasses get THERE of all places?! Even he couldn't magically teleport there unless he used the bell. He was just surprised she was able to leave without Moonboy trying to puppet-fy her...No wait. With how she beat him it was believable. Wasn't somewhere she was supposed to be is right.

"Day 24...

I think I need to lie down. Why'd it have to land at the top of that windmill? That thing was huge! Why would you build anything that big?"

and then there was a drawing of her and a windmill to compare sizes.

"Day 25...

What the heck was that all about? Those nasty plants flowered and infected the big goats or something? All I know is they got REAL angry and things got REAL stormy and it was a bad time for everyone."

More ink splotches.

"Day 26...

That got out of hand. As if this planet didn't have enough lava on it already! I'm sick of people here sneaking onto my ship! It's rude! Time for me to go home!"

More exclamation marks....Snatcher stared at the page for a good moment.This was it. This must've been the last page she wrote after fighting that Mustache Brat...before leaving the planet entirely months ago to who knows where with Bow tagging along. ......He quickly shook off that weird feeling bubbling up from his insides as he scowled. Well...No matter. Not as if he cared if she left beyond getting revenge! And there was more to read. He forced himself to turn the next page. What greeted him was a drawing of two boats and an ocean.

"Day 27...

Wow! Look at the Size of that ship! Maybe I should have made mine bigger...Anyway, this should be fun! I deserve a holiday after all this running around. I wonder if there's more time pieces here, though."

....A ship...Wait. THAT CRUISE SHE RUINED FOR HIM!! So she ended up going after all and writing about it. But why was the page labeled 'Day 27'?? Odd. She only spent a max of twenty six days here before she left. Not '27' or more? Did that mean she had one book specifically dedicated to the number of days she was spending on this planet specifically???

"Day 28...

There's tooootally more time pieces on this boat! Nobody even wants 'em! That moody old Captain made me clean up (ugh!!!) his ship, but jokes on him! At least no one's getting murdered or blown up here."

"Heh." Oh jeez. Guess he was half responsible for her opinion on that one.

"Day 29...

Uhhhh.....Whoops! I don't think anyone saw me do that. Should I come up with an excuse just in case? It was a freak accident? Icebergs just get in the way of ships sometimes? I really wanted to do it? Maybe sinking ships isn't even illegal on this planet?"

"......PFFT!! SHE DID WHAT!?" It ended with another drawing of her thinking. Don't tell him she ACTUALLY sunk the pecking ship! What a riot! OH THAT KID WAS DESTRUCTIVE WITHOUT TRYING!! Now he definitely regrets not going on that cruise to see the inevitable chaos ensuing and watching hundreds panic at the sinking ship! It totally would've been worth being inside that cramped crate! He hated to admit this...but he was finding her more lik-...But...Less unbearable by the word. Not that she wasn't unbearable. Only now a little lesser than before because she could make him laugh.

"Day 30...

This place is busy huh? These cats traveling fromall over the place! And...the trains are pulled by cats too? Weird. There was a time piece here...but some big SCARY lady made me hand it over to her. What's her deal?? Why is she so mean??"

A few cat faces/paws were drawn on along with a word in her weird alien language. Big scary lady? She couldn't have been talking about Vanessa. She HATED cats. He should know...

"Day 31...

The 'Empress' has me running around finding time pieces but then she keeps taking them back off me! Rude! She gave me some 'cash' for it. It's green and smells of cat fur. What is it for?"

This page ended in a picture of the hat brat neck deep in green stuff and wearing cat ears. 'Empress' huh? Didn't know this planet had another monarch from him. Must've been on the other side of the globe then because Vanessa was a 'Queen' of NOTHING. Not an Empress.....And what the peck was cash??

"Day 32...

The smell of food is so distracting when I'm running around this place...I wonder if that rude lady will notice if I stop looking and go eat instead."

Another ink smear.

"Day 33...

These tunnels are kinda spooky! They're all dark then a big cat comes whooshing along it...There was a smashed up time piece here too, but I had to give it over like the rest. Grr..."

"Day 34...

Woah! That was tense. I nearly got squished! All that for more of this 'cash' stuff. I'm making lots of 'money' apparently. But I want my time pieces, not this junk!"

More exclamation mark doodles.

''Day 35...

I fell through a sewer gate and there was more Metro down here?? Whaaaat? AND there was a time piece down here! But I didn't get to keep it..."

Another ink smear.

"Day 36...

So...The Metro is underground. But there's an underground train line? And these manhole covers lead under-underground? Cats are weird!"

More question mark doodles.

"Day 37...

How many are there in this place? Not that I'm getting to keep any!!! I'm going to sneak in there and get them back somehow..."

More exclamation mark doodles.

"Day 38...

Woah...That was close. That nasty cat lady almost got me! But I bravely escaped completely on my own, and ALL the time pieces are mine. Bye bye, Metro!"

And the last page ended with a picture of an hourglass and herself in some goofy outfit holding a bat.

...He flipped another page. And then another. And then another. All blank. Then he ended up flipping through the entire book only to find all the other pages blank. "That's IT!?" He closed the book and frowned at it's cover. "Well THIS was a fine waste of my precious time! Uhhh! I could've came up with a plan already instead of wasting my time with this useless stack of wasted paper and ink!" Grumbling to himself he turned to place it back down the way it was. Couldn't have the kid knowing he was snoop-...He paused. Blinking as his eyes landed on something else he wasn't expecting to see. "A second book?" Laying there where the Kiddo's journal was, was a second closed book. He must've not seen it because the first book was wide open laying on top of it. His brow rose intrigued before placing the first book down and reaching his other hand over to pick it up. It looked the same as the other book he picked up leading to the conclusion this also might've been another journal of some kind. Should he read it?...Eh. Why not? It might just be blank anyways. "This better be good." He grumbled before opening the first page of this new found discovery and load and behold there WAS words. "Ok, Kiddo. Let's see what secrets you're hiding in here."

"Day 1...

Hello new journal! I'm not sure what else to write in this since this is my first time writing in this. Mother's bookstore friend gave it to me while I'm staying with her to pass the time away while Mother's being taken care of at the weird white building. She says I shouldn't worry as the Doctor's making sure everything goes alright. I hope Mother returns soon, I don't really like all the green looking veggies Mother's friend makes me eat. But the doctor said she's sick so it'll take a while for her to get better."

Snatcher blinked nearly dropping the book in his hands at what he just read...rereading and staring at the few sentences on the page as he blinked. The kid..HAD A PARENT AFTER ALL!? WELL THEN WHERE THE PECK WAS SHE LETTING HER CHILD GALAVANT OFF INTO THE UNKNOWN REGION OF SPACE!? ....Well this did say she was sick.This...This was a lot to take in for one page but ...THIS was the kind of info he was looking for!! Finally we're getting a little bit of character backstory! He turned the next page.

'Day 2...

Every day is so boooooring! There's nothing to do around Mother's bookstore! She's had it forever and always works here with her friends. Mother's friend suggested I read a whole bunch of picture books but all of them are boring too! It's a lot more fun swinging on the chandeliers with the umbrella Grandpa Tim made me but Mother's friend only scolded me and took it so 'I wouldn't break anything'! This stinks worse than the green veggies!!"

This got a little chuckle out of him. "Ah. So I was right in her always causing trouble for everyone then. Glad to see it wasn't just me who gets headaches from her."

"Day 3...

Today I found the old Blueprints I made with Grandpa Tim a loooong time ago! He said he would make me a spaceship just for me and one day I could go traveling the solar system like he did! I miss him he was really cool! He ran this BIG company and everyone called him the 'CEO of Time' or 'Third Eye' because of his extra eye. Some kids think he's weird but he's really smart and cool! Mother and him don't get along too much. They had a big fight when he said when his time went it would be my time to handle our family's treasured 'pieces'. This part is in qoutes because he made it sound like that. Mother made me leave when they argue but since I'm sneaky I listened anyways. She doesn't want me to travel space or take over Grandpa Tim's 'treasure pieces' and said I should have a normal life like she chose too. Which isn't fair and BBBBBOOOOORRRRING!! I don't wanna become a cranky old librarian. Traveling through space with treasure sounds much more exciting....I wonder if I can find where he hid the treasure if I follow the map on the back of the blueprints?? I haven't seen Grandpa Tim in a long time. One day Mother had her friend 'babysit' while she went out to see him in a weird black dress. (I can take care of myself!) She says she'll tell me when 'I'm Older'. What does that even mean? Anyways, I'll hide the map for now. I finally have an adventure! But first I have to get my umbrella back from the 'your grounded' area."

".......Why does this explain so much?" So .....It was her grandfather, whoever he was, who built the ship and he seemed to have given her those stupid time pieces. But referred to them as 'treasure pieces'. They didn't seem to be any treasure to him! More like destruction magnets! ...And....It also seemed he was..*ahem* 'Out of the picture'. So to speak.

"Day 4...

I know this says 'Day 4' but I really haven't been writing in this journal too often. Too busy planning on busting out and seeing where this mysterious map leads too, and waiting for Mother to come back to get me. Which is why I'm writing now. Mother's Friend said that I'm going to be staying with her for a while now. Is Mother missing? I asked but she told me she'd tell me 'When I'm Older.' What is with THAT?! Also something weirder happened. These weird guys from Grandpa Tim's old company came to Mother's Bookstore to talk to me. They were looking for something Grandpa had called 'time pieces'. The heck was that? I don't know but something is telling me to follow that map soon. I've located where my umbrella and hat are. It's only a matter of time before I go see what's at the end of the map. I can't take any more broccoli."

.....So he assumed that meant her mother was out of the picture too due to whatever illness was mentioned before. That was something he knew all too well. Thanks to Vanessa, EVERYONE he knew was wiped out within the cold or was driven far away. Peck...It's been a thousand YEARS! They were all dead by now anyways.

"Day 5...

It's been almost three days since I snuck out. My umbrella and hat were easy to get since Mother's friend hit them on top of the fridge. As if that'll stop me! And I finally found out where the map leads! MY SHIP!! At first I thought it was just gonna be some dumb boring old stuff like checkers or something. But the map lead me to this old shed looking place outside town and there it was inside! As I'm writing this I'm inside the ship's control room. And I think I found out what these 'time piece' things are. There was this BIG vault and I was sure the treasure would be in there and these was hundreds of these shiny hourglasses inside. It must've been the 'treasure' Grandpa Tim always told me about. But why did he put them inside my ship?? Was he trying to give them to me without Mother knowing?? I found out they are called time pieces because that's what the computer calls them so it must be true! And that means the pretty things are mine!...But they're kinda weird too?? But in a familiar way?? When I held one it was like holding a piece of me...If that makes sense. I can't write it down because I don't like writing a lot, and because it's hard to describe. But I just...KNOW they're meant to be mine. Like they're connected to me somehow. Anyways, there's a whole lot of buttons on the control panel. I wonder what would happen if I press the launch button?"

YEP!! He knew exactly where this was going.

"Day 6..

I think I messed up...I ended up pressing the button ON ACCIDENT and suddenly the entire ship launched into space. And...I think I'm lost. I fell asleep when the ship shook really badly and now I'm awake. And now I can't figure out where I am.....BUT THIS IS ALSO GREAT!! I'M FINALLY ON AN ADVENTURE LIKE I WANTED!! SPACE IS SO PRETTY!!....But I think I better go home first and tell Mother. If I don't she's going to worry when I'm gone, and I don't like it when she's upset. I found a Guide Manual so maybe this'll help me. I really don't like reading, but I think I don't have any other choice."

"Heh. So she does have at least some common sense." Still what did she expect to happen when pressing a LAUNCH BUTTON?! On accident his tail.

"Day 7...

That was easier than I expected! Grandpa Tim must've made this computer operating thing easy for me! I'll thank him when I get back too! According to my computer it's gonna take a long time to get back. In the mean time I'm gonna start exploring the ship! There's so many rooms and stuff to see! Did Grandpa Tim leave all this stuff for me??? Oh well. It's mine now."

"Day 8???

It's been really nice! I put question marks because I don't know how many days I've been gone now, but my computer says I'm almost half way there so it's ok! I made a pillow fort in the giant pillow mountain to hide in. And I looked more at those shiny time pieces, but something weird happened. I accidentally broke it but it was NOT my fault! How was I supposed to know it was breakable?! ...But I know how to fix them and use them too. It's funny because I've only had them for a little while but it feels like they've always been a part of my life and I know exactly how to use them! Crazy right? I must be a magic genius or something. There's also this nagging feeling telling me things. I think Mother said it's called your conscious when it tells you something's bad or good? Or maybe it's my gut feelings? I don't know, but it says I need to keep these things safe now. Which I'm gonna do anyways because these are MINE now after all."

A feeling huh? Well that would make sense. He had a suspicion her family was connected to these weird things after all and by how this book was going so far it seemed everything was falling into place of those suspicions too. By now Snatcher had completely forgotten those revenge plans and he didn't know it but a look of....sadness came over his face.

"Day 8.5???

I found a weird robot building kit in the attic and decided to build him. It's gonna be cool having a cool robot pet! I think I'll call him Rumbi. The picture of him on the box is cute. I wonder if he'll be just as cute after I build him?"

Ah. The robot vacuum thing.

"Day 9???

Well this is just great! I get half way there and now Im stuck on a random planet because some dumb guy broke my ship's door! And now all my time pieces are gone! I need them to magically?? power my ship or else I'll never get home! ...But I've never been on another planet before. This might be fun to explore! I'm gonna use another journal I found to write about what I find. Why? Because I can!"

Ah! That must've been the other diary then he read. A bit inconvenient to have two diaries but then again that wasn't his choice.....Still a waste of paper though.

"Day 10???

I met someone while in Mafia Town again! And not like that double crosser Mustache Girl. Her name's Bow and she's really fun to hang out with! She was being held hostage by these dumb Mafia so I beat them away with my umbrella! I think she's the only person I've met so far who hasn't double crossed me yet. She says she's from somewhere called Nyakuza Metro?? Sounds fancy. Anyways, I don't think she has anyone here to help her. In that case she can come with me and I'll keep her safe. I think I saw an extra umbrella in my spaceship too. I can show her how to use it!....This might be the first friend I ever had!"

Ouch. That kinda stung....But good for them both he guessed. At least this explained where Bow came from.

"Day 11???

Bow gets along great with Mr. Grooves. I think he's really nice too! She's almost as good as I am when I use my umbrella. She told me more about her old home. She ran away too to find adventure but she used to love in something called an "Orphaned Kitten Home"?? I guess that means she doesn't have any Mother or Grandpa Tim of her own, but that's ok! She's my friend now so she can have my Mother and Grandpa Tim as well. I'm sure they won't mind!"

Snatcher ....Snatcher blinked. A bad feeling settled in his guts (metaphorically if he still had guts) "....Oh no. *sssiiiiigh* Geez kid. What did you two get yourself into in life? I don't think my life took a turn like this this early."

"Day 12???

Today we met some weird people. Really nice but really weird. That bell took us to some real weird place filled with ghosts and we met a new friend! His name's Timmy! And he can do magic like some wizard! And there was this witch! A REAL WITCH! ...But she didn't have green skin or black cats. What gives? Maybe witches are different on this planet. There was a time piece here too, a ghost gave it too us! He looked really scary but he was a lot nicer than that Jerk Snatcher. The Witch even teleported us back to the mountains. She's the nicest witch I ever met."

"WHAT!?" THEY WERE PECKING LUCKY THEY MADE IT OUT OF THERE WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT UP IN THOSE RED STRINGS!? Never thought he'd say this...But Thank Peck Hazelle was there. The thought of Moonboy puppeting those two around like dolls with his red strings made him growl under his breath and nearly sink his talons into the book's pages. Instead he roughly turned the next page and buried himself into the book.

"Day 13???

I know it was a long time since I wrote something but I finally did it! All the time pieces are recovered and my ship's at full power! I can finally go home! And Bow's excited too! It's gonna be cool to have someone to hang out with! ....But it's gonna be sad to not see anyone again. I tried taking off but the emergency break stopped us because something was outside the ship causing a disturbance. And everyone was hanging on asking me to stay...I didn't want to do it, but I pushed them off. I'm sure they're ok...But I gotta go home. Mother and Grandpa Tim are waiting for me. And I promised Bow she could meet them! We're almost there anyways! Maybe one day Ill come back and see everyone again."

Snatcher stared silently at that page in his claws. He remembered that day. Hanging onto the ship desperately clinging to it and offering the two renewed contracts but ended up floating back down to the planet from space after getting pried off by the Kiddo. Not seeing them again for the longest time. Didn't they realize that there was literally nothing left for them on whatever planet they were heading for did they?......Poor unfortunate souls.....Not that HE cared of course! He was just pointing out their poor situation.

"Day Unknown???

I don't know what to do anymore. Something really bad happened when we got home. I should've been happy but I wasn't I was...Scared. I didn't know why until we tried landing. Something was telling me not to land but I did anyways. I should've listened to my gut. Someone tried to get into my ship! There was guys from Grandpa Tim's old time company and demanding I hand over the time pieces! NO WAY!! Not after I worked so hard to get them back! It was like Mustache Girl all over again but more scarier. Bow was scared too. I ended up pressing the launch button again and knocking them off the ship. I don't know what to do now or where to go, but my gut is telling me to stay away from the planet. I guess I don't have a home there anymore...And I have a feeling Grandpa Tim and Mother are gone too. At least I have Bow and my trusty ship and Rumbi! And the time pieces are all safe! I'll write again when I feel like it. For now we're gonna see if my TV works."

....Ah. So it seems that the reality of the situation finally caught up to them huh? Good call on her part. Who knows what time bending dangers those fools would've caused if they got their hands on them. That blonde brat was just a kid and she nearly destroyed the entire planet! Who knows what those fools would've done!

"Day Unknown???

We're doing ok..Better than I thought. I was showing Bow my cool collection of Rift Books! Apparently they appear where ever a time rift appears and depending on the surroundings makes a cool picture book about it's past! Pretty neat! Some are sad but most of them are really cool to look at. Snatcher's is really really sad though."

.......His what?

"Day Unknown???

How could I not notice before?! I thought I got all my time pieces but according to my log book there was more missing! I must've not gotten them all from the planet when that mafia guy and Mustache Girl made them all fall from my ship! ...TWICE!! I'm installing a giant new security lock on my vault and heading back to get them! ....I wonder if they'll still be happy to see me again? I might visit them again. After I get those time pieces."

Ah. So that's what prompted their return here. Not that he was complaining of course. It was as good of an excuse of any to return here....But that begged the question. The other diary he read suggested that she had collected all the remaining time pieces...so why didn't they leave again? Yeah she didn't have any home or family now, but what's stopping these two from exploring the galaxy like she wanted to before??

"Day Unknown???

Today I found this hourglass in the attic. It's not a time piece but it's not just a regular hourglass either. According to the instructions this is a memory replaying device of some kind. COOL!! I'm still deciding what to do with it....But I have an idea."

"Day 14?.....Im just gonna say 14 and start from here.

A lot has happened since we got back. I found out Conductor has grandkids and they're all cute and very fuzzy with their feathers! ...But I still wonder what kind of bird they are if they are birds? And I got all my time pieces back! I had to sink a ship and visit the metro to get them though. YIKES!! Now I know why Bow left! They're all thieves and crooks! And that Empress is scary as PECK! But on the bright side now I can explore more of the planet and visit everyone! I can't wait to see Cookie and Mr. Grooves and Timmy again! I just hope I don't run into Mustache Girl. Speaking of seeing people, Bow said Snatcher tried to haunt my ship. I wonder where he was on the cruise?? I didn't see him on the boat, and I tried to visit him but every time I went to his woods he wasn't there?? Like whaaaat? Ghosts can turn invisible so was he invisible? Is he playing a game of hide and seek? I thought he wanted to see us? Oh well. We're gonna see Mr. Grooves tomorrow anyways! He says he wants to show us Cookie's new movie! I'm so excited!"

Snatcher turned the page...but paused when he noticed it was blank white. He started flipping through pages again only to find them all blank too. Looks like the kiddo hadn't written anything else recently...Well if those two were both out visiting others then that explains why they weren't here when he showed up today. But he still wondered why they were staying if at all?? Were they even planning on sticking around after they were done visiting?? The thought of either leaving again made him freeze up for a moment...before shaking his head with a small growl and going to close the book. He'd have to put these back where he found them so neither would suspect anything. that was until a fluttery paper sound caught his attention. Snatcher blinked as something small fluttered out from between some pages of the book and bumped into his tail on the way down to the floor where it rested. Huh? ..What was this? A letter? Reaching down one long arm he easily picked it up and brought it to his face ...and what he saw made him stop completely. Because this wasn't a letter...this was a PECKING PICTURE!! Smiling up at him from the picture was clearly an old man by his white hair and beard. ...But strangely had THREE eyes!! He smiled up at the camera with bright blue eyes, the same bright blue eyes that was on the woman next to him and he stared at her. THIS WOMAN LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE THE KID!! But only slightly different. Different hats obviously, and she wore a scarf and hat, and her hair was a bit darker and longer...but other than that she could've passed as the kid easily if she was older..And speaking of kids...Right smack dab in the woman's arms was HER. THE KID!! ...Only...Younger. She didn't look older than a year or two being so small held in her presumed mother's arms. She must've been really young when this family photo was taken. The woman didn't look that old either. To lose life at an age-...Shaking his head he sighed and inbetween the pages the photo went back. Doesn't matter. At the end of the day this wasn't any of his business and he didn't get anything he hoped for either so...I-It was best he put everything back. Closing the book he carefully placed it back and took the other book, opened it hopefully to the page it was, and placed it back open on top of the other one. There. Just like nothing ever happened.

"Uuuhhh. There. I think that's enough tragic tales for one night. Time for me to scram out of here before I'm doused with another round of umbrellas swipes.

Snatcher turned to leave but in doing so hit his arm against something. And it turned out to be the small hourglass on the desk. He blinked over as it fell to the floor with a thud and he paused blinking at the plan thing for a moment.....Before a sudden light started showing from within itself. Yellow eyes widened. Glass and sparkling blue sand caught his reflections in their sparkles, energy gathering up and then-.....White. The energy was so bright he had to turn his head away to avoid it, the energy wave knocking him back to the floor and everything going black.

......

...........

.....................................

............................................."Uuuuuuuuh-"

What?...W-What happened? .....he guess he must've been slammed back harder from that energy blast than he thought. The ghost reached his arm up against the floor and slowly pushed himself up after a few more minutes of just weakly laying there, he coughed and slowly raised his heavy body up. White dots scattered his vision as he blinked his eyes up at his surroundings. Everything was still white.....He shook his head hard and blinked his eyes again but the white dots were still there. It took him a good few moments to realize that what he was looking at was in fact snow.

"WHAT THE-" Faster than one could say peck the shadow shot himself up and was able to finally make out that his surroundings weren't the same as they were before. First being that the surroundings around him were dark. Nighttime? And he wasn't in the pillow fort anymore. Instead he found himself in a town. ..Blinking his head swiveled each and everyway looking around the cold and lonely night. There was a few cobble stone streets shiny with fallen snow and ice, and a lot of brick buildings surrounding them on all sides except one which looked like a small part of a forest with it's barren trees and snow built up. The only lights coming from the old timey looking streets lamps or the occasional house with their only company being the frozen water fountain and carriage without any horses in sight. In the distance he could barely make out a clocktower and more taller buildings through the falling snow. He stared around, wide eyed and shocked....before scowling. "WHERE THE PECK AM I!?"

Was he teleported somewhere?! Where the peck did that hourglass take him!? And it just had to be somewhere with SNOW!! He LOATHED snow and cold weather for good reasons. Cold always lead to bad memories because of Ms. Snow Queen...But that still didn't answer his question of where the heck was he?!

RING!!

Snatcher snapped around towards the sound of a bell. And he stood (floated-) face to face with a giant building. Looking up beheld the sign above the door inbright yellow letters spelling out the words Time's End Bookstore. But what really caught his attention was the door opening letting light flood out onto the dark and cold streets and a woman stepping out.

"Thanks! See ya tomorrow!," a woman's voice called as she stepped out and Snatcher's jaw dropped upon seeing who the woman was.

HEY!! IT...IT WAS HER! THE LADY FROM THE PICTURE HE SAW! SAME HAT AND YELLOW SCARF AND EVERYTHING!! THE KIDDO'S MUM!! AND SHE WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE!! Snatcher continued to stare slackjawed shocked at the woman as she closed the door behind her with the sound of the bell. Before shivering from the cold and reaching up to pull her hat further down onto her head. She stepped down the small set of stairs leading up to the building before turning left and, hugging her arms to her body, started making her way down the frozen streets. Her footsteps echoing out into the lonely streets.....Snatcher blinked. Before snapping out of his stupor and quickly floated after her. Nevermind how she could've missed a giant ghost in the middle of the street anyways in front of her shop.

"Hey Lady!," he called after her before flying right over as she approached the corner of the street. "HEY!! Do you mind telling me where I am?" The woman completely ignored him still walking away which annoyed him. "Yes? No? Hello? Are you there? Why aren't you saying anything!?" His hand shot out to grab the lady's shoulder but he yelped, freezing even, when he passed right through her solid looking form...Like she was a ghost or something. Which was ridiculous because HE was the ghost around here! he stopped. Shaking his head and taking a look to his hand before looking back at the lady. She continued walking until she reached the corner and turned around it, walking out of sight and disappearing. He still floated there ...Until a sudden white light appeared from somewhere behind him. He whipped around and closed his eyes when the white light and energy consumed him. As soon as it came it went and when he blinked again he found himself back inside the kid's pillow fort. Blinking...he looked around the small space before looking down and seeing the plain looking hourglass on the floor. ..Every so slowly he reached down and picked it up, bringing it to his face to scowl at it. "What was that all about?"

As if answering him, the memory of one of the journal entries popped into his mind:

"Day Unknown???

Today I found this hourglass in the attic. It's not a time piece but it's not just a regular hourglass either. According to the instructions this is a memory replaying device of some kind. COOL!! I'm still deciding what to do with it....But I have an idea."

.......A memory replaying device...One that could store and replay memories. He stared at it for a long long moment, before looking back over to the diaries that looked untouched from where he put it back. The gears whirled in his head as he got an idea....And a large smile spread across his face. Well, Well. That wasn't a bad idea. He carefully placed the hourglass back on the desk where it was. Looks like the past would come back to literally haunt her in more ways than one! He just needed a lot of contracts, a book, and make a few deals.~ He easily phased his body out from the pillow fort and looked around the room. But the real question is how he would get them to do this? He couldn't threaten them because....H-His own reasons and he didn't feel up to it. Perhaps a bribe of some kind? Prizes of course! What kid wouldn't agree to something for a cool prize!?...But he'd have to supply something they would actually like. What was something they could use- His gaze slowly panned over to the closet..and another smile spread across his face. OF COURSE!! But first he needed to prepare for tomorrow. There was so much to do and so little time to do it!

#ABloomInTime #snatcher #Hat Kid #Bow Kid #BloomingFriendships

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch19 Paintings By Ghosts

(It took me A LONG time to research and find out what all the paintings in Hat Kid's gallory looked like. If I missed any or got any wrong please let me know. All mentioned paintings can me seen in the painting room through the green door in the machine room of the ship.)

Lunch breaks were nice.

She was starving so before anything else she wanted to get somethin' in her stomach. Looking in the lil gal's fridge, there really wasn't too much of anything. It was all pretty empty except for a basket of apples, half a cheese wheel, and what looked like a carton of eggs. Well, she wasn't about to not get something to eat, and down at least three of those apples she had. They weren't as sweet tasting as she remembered the ones her father grew on their farm were, but as if this person was going to start complaining about food at this point of her life. Sure her life was REALLY crazy up to this calm point, all of it sounded like a really bad story, she was going to have to learn a whole knew pecking world different from her old one, and she was going to have to deal with her past. But if there was one thing she needed to do now was take that darn ghost's advice.

"The important thing is that I can't change or fix anything that's already happened alright? I can't send you back. I can't give you anything from your old life......And I can't change what happened to you. But, I can help make the future easier and help you with whatever you need to settle down with alright? But you got to understand that it's NOT just going to be with a snap of my fingers."

He was right. What had happened happened and there's no way she was going back there anyways, so it looks like she'd just have to start where she left off way back when. Hard work. Save up enough pons. And get that flower stand! May not seem like a giant grand idea like some would expect, but that's what she always wanted. A life where she could surround herself by precious beautiful flowers admiring their beauty and scent and give them all to people who enjoyed them as much as she does. Her blue eyes reflected in the gold coloring of the bracelet that was still tight around her wrist, bringing her other hand up to clamp around it to herself. Her business may have never taken off if that one fateful encounter with the handsome and kind prince from the neighboring kingdom hadn't taken such interest in the way she grew her little babies. He never said one bad thing about them. Complimenting on how deep a red her roses are and surprising him when she said they didn't just come in red...She chuckled remembering that silly surprised face of his.

The prince stared at her shocked, brown eyes blinking as she held out the white and red rose bouquet to him. "Wow. You're telling me they really come in more than three colors?"

She nodded  back at him. "Yep! How many colors did you think they came in?"

He figeted fiddling with the soft petals of one white rose nervously. "W-Well. I knew there was a whole bunch of red ones, and I knew there was white ones because my mother always uses then for balls. A-And I saw black roses at my grandmother's burial. May she rest in peace.....Wait." His brown eyes widened as he stared at her. Poppy blinked when he suddenly put his hands on her stand leaning forward a little. "H-HOW MANY COLORS OF ROSES ARE THERE?! I DESPERATELY NEED TO KNOW!!"

After a moment, the red head smiled and gestured to a whole slew of potted roses behind her he didn't seem to notice and his jaw dropped at the sight of them all. "Well, you sure like to learn things, so let me tell ya a thing or two about roses. There's all different breeds of roses, but all of them fall under one of the eleven color catagories ya hear? There's red, white, n black like you're used to seein'. But then there's yellow, blue, pink, purple, orange, and even green!"

His eyes landed to a beautiful batch of emerald green roses Poppy pointed out and his eyes widened more. "Those would be perfect for Vanessa! They match her emerald eyes so perfectly." He smiled and turned to Poppy. "I'd love to have some....But wait." He counted on his fingers. "Red, white, black, yellow, blue, pink, purple, green, orange-....That's only nine. I thought you said there was eleven."

She giggled. "You caught me! You see. Some are different shades of blue or pinks, but they'd still be classified under those colors, but some roses have two colors on them."

"You're KIDDING!"

"Nope!" Turning around. She spotted one of her hanging planters and reached up to pluck one of the ones near the top, carefully minding the thorns and brought it down to him. He stared at it in amazement. IT REALLY DID HAVE TWO COLORS!! It was a yellow rose but the tips of the petals were a dark pink, almost red as Poppy smiled at it. "This is what you call a Bi-Color pattern. Some breeds of roses have two colors like this. They're really popular at birthdays. But...If you want something real purty like." She set the single rose down and looked at him. "I got one more surprise for the history books."

"And what would that be?"

"Rainbow roses." He blinked confused so she held up a hand and bent down to rummage around under her stand. "I wanted to keep these hidden for the time being because I wanted to sell my over stock of other roses first since an unexpected amount bloomed this year. And you know how everyone's gonna be itchin' to buy their loved ones flowers on Cupid's Day. I wanted to sorta save these for special customers." She grabbed a small pot of something and stood up. Holding the pot just enough to be seen by him leaning over the stand and no one else passing by. His. Jaw. DROPPED. THEY WERE RAINBOW!!! Every color save for black and white was on there. All in different places on the petals and some petals being full different colors along with blended petals with two different colors mixed on them. They almost didn't look real. As if someone painted on them blindly with multiple paints. Poppy gazed at them lovingly. "My Great Great Granddaddy Willow 'Tree' Bloomington was able to cross breed all kinds of roses together until he made them. "

"I heard of him before. He used to be the Royal Gardener for the Old Owl King didn't he? They say the gardens were never more beautiful than when he was in charge."

She nodded but frowned. "That's right. That ol' birdbrain wanted my great great granddaddy to never share his masterpiece with anyone else. Wanted them all to himself, but that's like askin' an artist to not show off his art. So when he retired, he stole a few clippings and fled the country. Since then these beautiful little guys have been my family's birthright. We're extremely picky about who gets them...Or at least I am. Papa thinks I should've just stayed on the farm and become a milk maid like Mama." The prince's eyes softened at the small frown on her face but she was quick to smile again for an important customer. "So! Will it just be the one bouquet for ya, Princey? Or were ya'll still interested in those pretty green ones?" She asked as she tucked away the beautiful colorful ones again.

"I..." he glanced over to the emerald green ones then to the giant one he was already holding....And smiled again. "You know I think I will take another lovely arrangement of those too. Equal size."

Poppy smiled. "Coming right up, Your Highness!" In a few moments, she held out a pretty arrangement of green roses the shade of Vanessa's eyes all wrapped up in pretty white paper. "Two extra large bouquets will be eight pons please-" She paused and blinked when the white and red rose bouquet was held out to her and eight tiny green diamonds were dropped to the stand. "Oh. Do you need me to hold that?"

"N-No. T-they're for you."

"Me? Why? I thought you wanted to give Princess Vanessa double flowers."

"Uh.." He quickly gave a nervous smile. "W-W-Well, on Cupid's Day people give their friends and f-family too. It's all about spreading love to those you care about. It doesn't have to mean romanticism at all! Especially because I consider you a close friend!" He grinned wider nervously and wished he could push himself for how weird he must've looked. But Poppy just smiled.

"Well aren't you sweet?" She happily took the roses from him. "Now I can see why so many people like ya! And why Princess Vanessa took a likin' to ya! Such a gentleman to everyone! But are you sure you're not givin' me my own flowers?"

"Hey. I paid for them, so technically they were my flowers to do as I pleased with, and I w-wanted to show my appreciation to my.....f-friend."

"Aw. Ya'll just too kind. If that's the case, then you don't need to pay for mine."

He held up his hand and grabbed the green rose bouquet. "No, no. You did the hard work growing them. I ordered them in the first place. And they're already cut. The least I could do was pay the four pons for them. B-Besides. I don't believe in special treatment."

"Well alright. If ya insist. But here." She looked back down to the yellow n pink rose she had picked to show him and picked it up again, minding the thorns and holding it out to him. "Here! A small token from one friend to another too! On the house!"

He smiled and slowly took it from her. "Well then...Thank you, friend....I-I..Should probably be getting these to Vanessa."

"That's a fair point. Wouldn't want to keep her waiting on Cupid's Day. It's the most romantic day of the year!"

"Heh. Yeah....L-Love."

Sells really did increase after word of the prince buying her flowers went around. That day alone must've been her best Cupid's Day ever cuz right after he left with those green roses a woman came up to her and asked for five purple roses for her parents and sisters followed by others. She sold her normal quote for flowers that day plus lots of extras! She was able to get lots of work providing for small weddings in the town square, parties, and other festive times. All because of one friend's kindness. She felt guilty now that she only got so much business from his reputation but this time she'd have to really work for her dream! And she was totally going to be the best florist anyone's every had in a thousand years! For now she'd just rest a little while and help out with whatever that purple onion jack o lanturn had in mind, and wait to see what he was planning. She wasn't sure what to expect from a giant ghost but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. Poppy made her way back out the kitchen's double doors after dipositing her third apple core into the trashcan in the corner, and the scene in the control room made her smile. The two girls were sitting on pillows a little ways from the television playing with the gold castle, it looked like a game of princess since Bow was making a princess doll scream help from the tower and Hattie was acting out the villain with that golden mafia man. The other old things like the gold pencil and cookie was all in a small random pile a few feet from them both.

"You will never have the princess! She'll be locked away forever and the kingdom of gold will be mine! Muahahaha!!," Hattie said in a fake deep man's voice.

"Oh yeah! Well I, Sir Cat-o-lot, will save her!," Bow threatened back holding out a small black cat plush. They must've heard her giggling when she came down cuz they both looked up at her as she came in and Bow waved at her. "Hi, Poppy! Wanna play?"

"Yeah! You can be the giant who comes and steals the gold up the apple tree in the sky!...Or was it a bush in the sky?"

"I'd love to, Pumpkins. But I still gotta job to do, don't you remember? I'd rather finish it and then relax a lil bit. There anywhere we missed?"

Hattie shook her head. "No. Rumbi already swept everywhere, the painting room was so small and easy. He's still sweeping the engine room."

"What about the mail room?,'' Bow asked pointing to the yellow tunnel entrance poking out from the wall near the engine room door. "It has junk mail all over the place after Mayor Mafia Glasses read through them all."

Mail room huh? Well she didn't know who this Mayor mafia ..glasses?? was, but if it was the last room she needed to clean then she might as well get it all done. Then she could finally relax for the day. Walking over the yellow entrance, the children went back to their little game giggling. Great. This entrance looked small too, she'd probably have to crawl through there as well and drag the broom behind her like last time. Leaning down, she peeked inside....And fell backwards with a yell. Both girls flinched and looked up at her loud yell as Poppy stumbled before landing on her behind at the sight of two yellow glowing eyes and mouth smiling at her from the darkness. A high pitched raspy laugh rang out and two clawed hands reached out to grab the outside of the yellow tunnel, before the darkness pulled himself out smiling and revealing himself to be non other than the famous snatching ghost himself. Poppy's scared and confused face quickly turned to one of anger as she scowled.

"I should have known!"

"AHAHAHAHA!! You should've seen how utterly scared you looked! That's a feeling I never get tired of seeing any day," he rasped out and looked down smiling at her as Poppy stood up and dusted herself off. Giving him a scowl.

"So is THIS one of the pranks I heard about? Y'know for 'the most powerful ghost on this measly planet' that sure wasn't very impressive."

"HEY!" He scowled back and crossed his arms. "There's NOTHING wrong with a classic hide and go boo routine! Works almost a hundred percent of the time! And you're one to talk about not impressive work." He jabbed a claw over at the watching girls. "Playing and walking around when there's work to be done? That's not productive at all."

"We're already finished."

".........WHAT?!" It took him a few moments to register what she said but when he did his head snapped to her so fast she was afraid it was going to float off and faze through the wall. "You couldn't have cleaned an entire ship in one day?!"

"Well, to be fair we aren't all the way done." She pointed behind him with a deadpanned look. " We're waiting for Rumbi. An' I still need to go fix up whatever's up there and I need to hammer a plank of wood back in place upstairs since we found gold buried under it. Now excuse me." Snatcher gave off a confused noise when Poppy just pushed his tail aside and went back to peer back up into the yellow tunnel. She could see a light and some kind of papers floating around everywhere. "Hey! One of yall get me the broom and somethin' to catch a bunch of flying paper." Bow nodded dropping her toys in favor of running off to the kitchen as Poppy turned back to the tunnel and started crawling her way up it towards the light.

"You found what under what?!" Snatcher turned back as Poppy disappeared into the yellow tunnel. "H-HEY! Don't you know it's rude to walk away from your boss when he's talking to you about your contractual obligations!?" When he didn't get an answer he stuck his head in the tunnel entrance. "Yes? No? HELLO!! Why aren't you saying anything?!"

"Y'know, for a dead guy you sure have a loud mouth!," she called back smiling when she heard him sputter.

"WHAT?! The peck I'm not! You're the one ignoring me!" He floated through the walls after her snorting form.

"Maybe so but I think your bark is worse than your bite, Purple Onion! What are you doing here anyways? I thought ya were busy." Her face popped up out of the entrance just in time for it to get smacked by a very old envelope, to which she shook her head and got it off to gawk around. Papers were flying around alright, they were laying all over the place if they were flying about or in a big pile on the other side of the room. In the middle of the room was a desk with two pans on it. One was green and said IN and the other was red and said OUT. There was also a few pole blocker things in front of the desk like the ones around those metal table things she'd been seeing around. A small coffee table stood off to one side of the room with two blue seated cushioned seats, near the entrance was two metal deviders and a giant wooden dresser, and to her far left was a giant basket filled with more old letters, a fan, and a pale carpet stood under the desk. She gazed up hearing a snicker and Snatcher was there probably because of the letter smacking her face. Before giving a grunt when a piece of paper smacked him in the pace making her snort again. "Not so funny yourself Mr. Meany."

He swiped the letter off his face scowling and staring at her. "HEY! I'm not completely heartless you know. Every so often I steal letters from others and deliver them to my minions as if they were getting something. It helps lift their spirits so to speak. And to answer your question." He threw the paper away which fluttered to the ground. "I often come back and check on new employee's progress every few hours or so, this is no different. But I have to say I'm suprised with how reliant you were for this tack."

"Well I did have the two best helpers in the world." She smiled and finally got to stand up in the room looking around with a hum. "This one might be a little tricky, but can't be worse than a room of snow. And I still have to hammer that bourd back. Bow tugged it loose after that gold."

"Where the peck did you all get the gold? Im pretty sure I don't pay you until after the job is done, as I'm not legally obligated to pay for unfinished work."

"From the Roach King."

"The Roach what?!"

"Ask them if ya'll want some answers." She turned hearing some footsteps behind her and smiled seeing Bow in the entrance to the yellow hallway. A broom and dustpan in one hand and a trashbag in the other. "Well, why thank you honeybunch!" She reached over hand out for them and Bow handed them over.

"I couldn't find any nets, so I thought you could use the bag to catch them?"

Poppy smiled standing back up and looking over to the mail floating around and sighed. "Actually I think we'll be needing a lot more bags if we want to clear all this mess out." She pointed towards the giant pile of letters along the wall. "That spinny thing there is propellin' these here letters up and then they're blown all 'round the room makin' a mess. We'll have to just get rid of all this junk."

Bow scratched her head. "How? I don't think they'll all fit in the trashcan."

Poppy smiled and looked up towards Snatcher who after staring a couple seconds back to her finally got a sense of what she was thinking. "HEY! Just a pecking second here! You're not pawning them off on me!"

"I'm not. You can just take 'em and give them all to those precious lil helpers of yours can't ya?"

"Well...Yes. But who are you to decide what I DO with my time?"

"Oh c'mon. it'll be so sweet of ya." Her big blue eyes shined at him as she smiled up towards him. "Won't ya just help a gal out with this just once? You're other uh...'employees' would really get a hoot from it too-"

"OH ALRIGHT!!" He turned his head away. Anymore staring at her smile and he'd start feeling mushy which he hated. "But I expect YOU to get them all ready to go for me! Since Im not legally obligated to help with cleaning."

Poppy eagerly agreed and sent Bow back to grab more bags from her as she got to work picking up a few of the letters scattered about on the floor at her feet. Snatcher having nothing else to do at the moment decided to leave the mail room and fazed through the wall back into the control room in time to see Bow slam open the kitchen doors and run in. At the sight of her ghostly BFF, Hattie sprung up and bounded up to him. Chattering about how much of a good helper she had been and how she was STILL a better helper cu technically she was still cleaning....Well really Rumbi was the one sweeping away at the engine room but she put him there in the first place. And then when his yellow eyes looked over at all the random gold objects laying in a pile, he pointed a claw and asked about it. Her face lit up even more and she went on a long spree about how she found these mysterious notes in her room and then Poppy found a whole bunch more while cleaning and then they followed them up all the way to the attic. And then Hattie went on to tell him about how Bow busted open a plank of wood from the side of the staircase in the attic and it turns out there was gold in it! Speaking of Bow, she had burst back out of the kitchen sometime during her ramble and dragged a good number of black trash bags behind her disappearing into the yellow entrance most likely going to delivery them to Poppy. In the mean time Hattie told him all about how this roach stole her gold potion and turned all this stuff and the gold potion itself into gold. Holding up the objects one by one up to him. The cookie, the gear, the potion, and her most proud posession the gold castle which she beamed with happiness eager to show it off to him. If he was anyone else he would've called her reaction cute, but all it got was a small half smile from the ghost before the hatted child had the brilliant idea he should come and see the notes for himself. Eh...Why the peck not right? He had literally nothing else better to do while waiting on the cleaning duo up there, and he was sure Minion Number 47 could run the place for a little while longer in his absence. She WAS head of the manor staff when she was alive so she'd have no trouble giving orders to lots of people on a tight scheduale. He saw the notes alright, and this mysterious Roach King they were all talking about. The gold roach statue sat ontop of the papers he apparently left out for them to follow and Snatcher couldn't help but read through them all not that the child seemed to mind at all. She left in the middle of him reading through them, saying something about needing to check up on Rumbi but he didn't care. He was honestly surprised at the letters addressed to the girls, having such kind words to say about them both, but they weren't wrong either. In fact they were very accurate to their positive nature, but if he could add a few things it'd be childish, sassy, and a whole bunch of other things to describe them then just having a gold heart. As they were much more than a gold heart, but hey. The guy turned himself into gold. What was he supposed to expect from him? Placing the notes and gold statue of the roach wearing a crown, he decided it was about time he headed back and see what was up. Imagine his slight surprise when he popped his head through a wall and saw what looked like a large round black ball stuck in the entrance to the slide. Which gave way a moment later and tumbled to the floor revealing itself to be a full trashbag and Hattie tumbling after it landing on her stomach with a thud. The hatted child pushed her self up pushing the comically large hat off her face and scowling at the bag. Snatcher could only watch in amuzement as she rolled it over towards four other full trashbags near the control panel.

"Sheesh, Kid. That's a lot of mail," he commented.

"There's three more bags," Hattie groaned before hanging her arms and stomping her way way towards the slide entrance as yet another bag was having a hard time exiting. Most likely by Bow shove it. "Cleaning is so BORING! Why do I gotta do it?"

"You're not the only one, Kid. And by the sound of things, you've never would've found that gold if you didn't clean up," He pointed out just as Bow popped her head out as the bag shot out.

"Yeah. But now we found it and now it's boring!," she whined back heading to the slide.

"Aren't that robot and Poppy the ones who've done most of the work?"

"WE HELPED!!"

"Then you should have no problem helping her with one last teensy tiny room." He glanced at Bow running back with a smile on her face. "By the looks of things you're practically done already."

Hattie groaned but followed Bow back up the slide towards the mail room, followed by Snatcher who fazed through the wall after them. "Anyone ever tell you, you work too hard for you're own good," he asked popping his head just above the slide exit.

Poppy chuckled wiping down the desk before looking over her shoulder at him. "Lots of times. But I aim to please, and I learnt a long time ago that hard work comes good rewards." She watched the two girls dragging the last two bags away and smiled. The mail room didn't have to be that clean to be honest. There was barely even any dirt on the ground. A quick sweep, bag the useless mail, wipe down these tables, and she even dumped those blocker rod things in the empty giant basket over there outta the way. "The place is mighty fine looking without paper smackin' your face. I didn't know aliens had a mail room...Well to be honest I didn't know they could have a painting room or anything else either."

Something about that sentence made Snatcher freeze for a moment and stare at her. " You...saw the paintings?"

"Well....No. But Hattie told me she already had the place swept so it's already taken care of ain't it?"

"Would you like to see it?," he asked a small feeling of excitement bubbling from his chest.

"I would  but I have the attic to fix don't I-" She jumped when Snatcher grabbed her arm and pulled her forward.

"That can wait! You're taking your once a day fifthteen minute break and coming with me. What's the point of living here if you don't see the entire complex?,'' he said with an almost cheery voice and looked down to the small girls pushing the last of the junk down the slide slowly. "Get good Kids! We have some real work to see!"

At one point, Hattie fed up with everything took a few steps back, before tackling the bags and Bow along with them. They all unstuck pretty quickly tumbling down into the control room with the kids landing all in one giant heap on the ground. Well ....That certainly did the trick didn't it? Snatcher seemed to be please as he tugged Poppy along and only stopped when she yanked her hand out of his grasp. He froze as she gave him a stern look for a couple seconds, before willingly going down the slide entrance herself. Oh if only he could punch himself for that. Poppy emerged a moment later in the control room and glanced up at Snatcher with narrowed eyes.

"I understand you're excited, but trying to yank me through a wall isn't an option. I would've bashed my head into that wall there!" Those yellow eyes glanced to the wall for a moment seeming to register what she was getting at. Oh. Right. Walls and humans don't really mix all too well huh? "Now don't you go doin' that again."

"Uh....Sure."

.....She gave a small smile again. "There. That wasn't too hard was it? Now whatcha going on about paintings for?"

"The painting room?" Hattie struggled out of the small pile her and Bow were in with protests from Bow but managed to squeeze out of there and up towards her dusting herself off and up to them. "I can show you! It's right by the engine room through the green do-"

"Whoa! Hey! That's MY thunder you're stealing kid!" A giant purple claw gently grabbed Hattie around the waist and pulled her back as the giant ghost leaned down to give her a look. "You have you're fun and now it's my shot. Don't be a rude little lady." Hattie gave a small pout and huff but didn't say anything else much to his delight as he put her down and patted the top of her hat before turning back to Poppy. "Well that seals that deal! Why don't we just go see those paintings?" he pointed towards the engine room door. "Trust me when I say this is the best part of the breaking experience."

"I reckon I don't have a say so to your looney persistance don't I?," she asked smiling at him but slowly followed behind none the less.

"NOPE!!"

A feeling of excitement welled up in him again as he smiled and shot through the wall faster than a bullet in one dark purple blur. Making her blink and shake her head. Well....She really ought to see the entirety of this ship then shouldn't she? One last room wasn't gonna hurt her. Leaving the girls to bicker over whatever little girls bickered over she followed right after the ghost through the tunnels. A moment later she saw himself sticking out of the walls of grinding gears above a green doorway and gestured for her to follow as he ducked back into the wall. And of course, she followed, side stepping Rumbi who was still sweeping around, wanting to see what he was so excited over. The hallway there was a little darker than the others but there was enough light for her to see that it also was littered with excellent gear designs but this time it was a very dark green. These aliens must be very rich to afford a weaver to make such excellent carpets. When the door opened on the other side oh boy she was in for another surprise.

"There you are!," Snatcher called from the ceiling below with a smile. That ghostly hair n fluff of his hanging down towards the floor as he grinned. "Took you long enough! Get in here and see what you've been missing!''

She did so and was thankful the room despite being small was big enough for her to stand in, it had red flooring and a green plain carpet running it's length. At one corner of the small room she saw yet another metal table thing with these 'relics' as Hattie had called them. This one was a UFO mobile and under it attached by strings were three cows that looked the same but were different. One wore glasses and a tin foil hat, one wore just green sunglasses, and the other one didn't wear anything and looked totally normal. But it wasn't that that caught the attention of the red head. PAINTINGS!! There were paintings of different sizes, lengths, and styles that she had never seen before. She gawked at the meer sight of them all looking at each wall slowly taking it all in. At the very back wall was the fist thing she saw when she crawled in and her eyes lazer pointed on the largest of the six paintings that were on it. Why..It was Hattie herself! She looked might sweet standing in a field holding her umbrella open, her yellow cap and hair blowing in the breeze. If she hadn't known better she thought the painting would've giggled at her funny expression. Next to that one was a city shrouded by night, the only lights coming from the windows on the tail buildings and the cresent moon painted under it. The one directly under it was a bit strange. It was the face of a gold tribal man on a grey background and he wore pure black glasses. How odd. The other three were realitively small compared to those three. One being a close up of a plant's green leaves, a baby crow leaning against a wall next to toy blocks, and a pretty forest landscape. She could see a few trees and mountains in the distance of it. Turning her head to the right, Poppy noticed the right wall had only five. The tiny rectangle one in the top corner of the right wall was a burly looking man riding on top of a ...giant slab of meat? Below that was a picture of Hattie's face. Well, four pictures of Hattie all looking alike but with different color pastels. The entire square painting was divided into four smaller squares and each one had a Hattie of a different color tone. How strange. Then there was a giant portrait of a man with a mustache and beard. He wore a red suit that looked quite expensive. And next to that was two others, one was a black background with nothing but red thorny vines painted on it, and the other was a bit more stranges. It was divided into three background colors (red, green, and yellow) and had a bubble with different items in each. One was a heart, another a giant green diamond, and what looked to be a small king's crown.

"What do you think of work?," Snatcher asked proudly crossing his arms and looking pleased with himself.

Poppy leaned to the right wall and gently laid her hand on the frame of the red suited man in wide eyed wonder....before turning to him. "YOU painted all of these?" she asked gawking at him.

His smile widened more smug if that was possible. "Yep. And those." He pointed to the left wall wear there was five giant paintings behind the space cow mobile. He then pointed behind her. "And the ones right behind you."

Poppy looked behind her and took a few steps back from the doorway she had crawled in from to look at the six painting hanging above the doorway. Two were big. One was of two burly men who looked exactly alike and they looked to be farming folk like her parents were, the other one was of the famous Snatcher himself, with some king of background she didn't recognize. Maybe a bridge? He was in the middle holding his face in what looked like a very shocked expression. The others weren't grand scale but interesting anyways. Three of them were again Hattie but one looked more like a sketch that had her with double arms and legs. How bizarre. The one of Hattie next to it was her from her shoulders up but wearing a strange mask. It was green and red with black polka dots. The one of Hattie above those two was a much more normal one. It was of Hattie sitting down with her hands in her lap and behind her was a BEAUTIFUL background of mountains, a wide lake, and forest. The last one in the corner was another strange one. It was the man in the red suit again sitting on a throne, and a whole bunch of the burly men who looked a like bowing to him as if he was a king.

"These are...A-AMAZING!!"

She looked over to the last wall which had the biggest paintings on it. The strangest one was also the biggest. What looked like some desert landscape with a single dead tree and melting hour glasses all over it. Above that was another one of you guessed it, Hattie. In outerspace wearing an astronaut suit and connected to her spaceship. She looked so cartoony and adorable! A red boat sailing alone on a stormy sea, she could almost smell the sea air. One of the smaller large ones was just a beige background and just Hattie umbrella painted on it. And the the very last one was an abstract orange portrait of some man wearing sunglasses and a flower shirt. Snatcher however was looking VERY pleased at all the praise he was getting stroking his already huge ego as the smiling red read looked back to him with a wide smile.

"I can't believe you painted all of these!"

"Well you better, Red. Because I'm taking full credit for what you see." He 'polished' his claws against his neck fluff and examined them. "I don't usually do it, but sometimes if I'm bored and don't have a new supply of books to read I'll start on one and work on it a bit at a time. One of my lesser known talents." He then pointed at the room around him. "Couldn't really have these in the forest. Too many ways they could be damaged, so here was more ideal."

"I can see why." She turned her gaze around the room again before giggling and giving him an almost smug look. "Ya'll must really adore that little girl. There's six paintins' with her sweet lil face on 'em. But strangely I see none with the other one."

He paused for a moment looking at her...before coughing and looking away embarrased. "Well. Yes. I'm proud of them. In a way.....But we learnt the hard way the kiddo was allergic to paint and she wasn't too fond of the idea of her being painted."

Poppy guessed he was referring to Bow and hummed. "Poor thing. I can understand how that feels. But still." Her smile became all the more loving to him. "You have acceptional talent for this king of stuff. I reckon now I can say I was abducted by aliens and saw paintings by ghost. Hehe!"

He felt a warm feeling bubble up at the giggle but he cleared his throat and looked away again crossing his arms. "A-Alright! W-Well I think your legal fifthteen minute break is over, Red. Didn't you have something else to do today?"

"OH RIGHT!! The attic. I wonder if that girl has a hammer and nails?"

"Pretty sure she does since she literally has everything around her-......" He stopped midway through his rant and stared at her. Or more acturrately the bottom of her dress with all the rips and hole in it and pointed it out to her. "What the peck happened to you?"

She blinked and looked down to where he was pointing. "Oh. This? I think I got it all ripped up crashlandin' through those trees."

"You look like a homeless maid wearing that." He grunt and rolled his eyes. "Guess I'll have to fix that too."

Her red brow rose in surprise. "You sew too?"

"Of course I can! I made the kids all those clothes and my minions their highly durable bodies." His hand proudly pointed to himself. "I happen to be a powerful being with unlimited hidden talents." ..........Poppy's face suddenly turned into one of amuzement and she snorted again hand shooting to her mouth while the other went to her gut to try and hide the laughter. Which Snatcher flabbergasterdly got angry at. "WHAT'S WITH THAT LAUGHING!? WHAT?! YOU DON'T THINK MEN CAN SEW!? THAT'S LOW COMING FROM YOU!!" She snorted again sounding like a pig doubling over a bit and smiling wider behind her hand making Snatcher give a small growl. "HEY!! DON'T LAUGH AT ME YOU DOTTED FACE!! IM THE SNATCHER!! KING OF SUBCON AND TAKER OF SOULS!!"

She snorted again and in a strained voice said. "Oh yes. *Wheeze* T-The great and horrible monster ghost. Daddy of aliens, Painter of...HMHM! HAHA!! D-Daughters. And tailor of dresses."

Snatcher let out the biggest flustered peacock sqawk she'd ever heard and she lost it. Doubling over onto her knees, both hands gripping her sides as she leaned over and laughed hard, snorting a few times. Snatcher's cheeks lit up with a bright yellow flush and his fluff floofed out of embarrassment as he just kinda sputtered and stared at the laughing woman on the floor at a loss for words. Eventually forcing something out.

"OH YEAH!! W-WELL YOU LOOK LIKE A POOR MAID!! JUST-.....GO CHANGE OUTTA THAT RUINED DRESS BY THE TIME I LEAVE IF YOU WANT IT FIXED!! A-AND GO FIX THAT STUPID ATTIC AS PUNISHMENT!!"

He dissappeared back up into the ceiling leaving the wheezing and laughing woman hugging her sides through her laughing fit. Coughing when she couldn't get enough air. Oh boy. Was he gonna be sour for a while.

#Snatcher #a hat in time snatcher #a hat in time florist #A hat in time the florist #The Florist #florist #florist x snatcher #snatcher x florist #Snatcher x the florist #the florist x snatcher #ABloomInTime #flowercrown

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch23 Poppy’s Day Out

"Last stop Express Town. Thank you for choosing PenCo Metro for all your space travels. We at PenCo value your time as customers and hope to see your lovely faces again soon. And hope you enjoyed your space traveling experiences with us." The few penguins that were on the metro along with Poppy, Cookie, and the girls excited the space train as it sat still in the giant tower like structure funnel that would take it back upwards to the moon. Passing a few other penguins and maybe an owl or two heading back towards it. "Attention boarding passengers. The Evening Express back to the moon will leaving within fifthteen minutes. Please be sure to have your luggage in hand when you board."

"Does he always have to say the same thing every time we use it?," Mu asked earning a slight frown from Cookie.

"That's his JOB. It's what he's supposed to do. Don't complain about him doing his job correctly."

Whelp. Here they were. Down on the planet finally and had real dirt under her feet.....Or sand. Really, REALLY hot sand. Blue eyes gazed around her at the scorching desert surroundings and the decently sized town of owls walking around. It looked as if she just walked into a western movie and stopped. There must've been at least a hundred and twenty different buildings if she was estimating it good enough from their spot on the hill. It was a decent sized town all right. Not too big. Not too small. But absolutely hot with the afternoon sun beating down on them and such. One gigantic building stood in the dead center of the town and it had a decent sized parking lot too. She was certainly more at ease and comforted at least. Express Town certainly looked more her time than the flashy neon lights of Moon City that's for sure. Smiling she followed along Cookie as the girls ran ahead of them a few feet giggling and playfully shoving at one another kicking up sand.

"This place looks pretty rustic," Poppy commented smiling. From the hill she could also see a set of train tracks leading into and away from the town and beside that was a train station. Everything just looked as it was in a western like town in her day. Not that she's ever been to one, but she did have relitives who did.

Cookie nodded in front of her watching the girls with a smile. "That there big building is the Dead Bird Studios. Most of the owls who live here work there or in the small shops around town. You see Conductor may be a little.....loud but he loves supportin' local shops here. He gets all his costumes from the famous clothing store nearby, and his coffee from Jukebox Cafe'. They have a delicious bird seed chocolate cappuccino...If you don't mind birdseed that is. My own little resturaunt is right across the street from the studios. I always wanted one, and thanks to the directors' generosity I finally did."

".....I think I actually saw one of this Mr. Grooves's picture shows now that I think about it." Her memory went to two night before while cleaning the attic and kitchen. She still couldn't sleep after a while and stayed up a bit watching something she couldn't remember fully on the television the girls left on.

"Oh really? Well Mr. Grooves certainly has a more flashier taste than Conductor but his are just as nice if you ask me," Cookie replied unbiased before looking over her shoulder at her. "The first place we'll stop by is Hawk's Eye Pawn shop."

".....Pawn shop?"

"It's kinda like a trading post. You trade things there for pons or bye somethin' they have on the store shelves."

Oh. So a trading post. She knew what those were alright, had one on the edge of the town she lived in. Where she got most of her furniture and goods actually. Following Cookie, they all went into the town of owls. And she got a good look at everyday life in a town of owls and birds. As soon they stepped foot in there she could see that everything was made a little taller thank goodness, she didn't feel like crawling through any more doorways and tunnels feeling awkward and big and clumsy. Funnily enough most of the houses they passed seemed to be nothing more than homes, if the stores didn't have open signs or display cases in their windows, she would've thought all of these were just more homes for these owls. And speaking of the owls, most were just walking around minding their own business, walking in or out of buildings, and Poppy even saw a few elderly owls in the comfy seats of rocking chairs on shady porches watching the world go by. The girls giggled and ran past them in a game of tag with Bow reaching her hand out trying to catch Hattie or Mu. And some of the old birds smiled at the energetic children. Poppy would admit they were definately a cute bunch as well. Still following the cat, Poppy lifted her arm up to wipe at her long bangs and forehead. It sure was hot, not surprising since it was a desert, but she hoped they'd get to this 'pawn shop' soon. And hoped it was cooler inside. The girls never got too far from them as they ran around kicking up dust and sand in their game as Poppy switched between watching them and looking around fanning herself. Where did they all get that energy? It was too hot to play in her opinion, and the weight of the gold in her apron was starting to hurt her neck and shoulders a bit. That was soon all solved when Cookie turned in front of an all brown wooden building and started up the steps leading into it. Of course Poppy and the girls following behind and running in. A small bell above the door rang out as the door was opened and Poppy sighed at the wave of cool air hitting them as they waltzed in. But was surprised at the stuff she saw. Calm guitar music played from a small radio in the corner as an owl held his head in his wing looking boredly at them from the desk, to his right was a register. All around the place was cluttered items jammed everywhere. From beds, to pots and pans lining the walls, to random objects she'd never seen before.

With a sigh the owl spoke. "Welcome to Hawk's Eye Pawn Shop, where we have a hawk's eye view for priceless and useful objects. Feel free to ask if you need any help.....or not, " he said in a flat tone. Giving Poppy the feeling of slight annoyance in her as she raised a brow. Luckily Cookie stepped in before anyone else could as the girls ran around looking at things like normal children their age did. Walking right up to the desk as the owl followed along lazily with his eyes as he stared at Cookie before rolling his eyes. "Hello, Ma'am. How may I assist you this fine evening?"

"Glad you asked." Cookie pointed over at Poppy. "My friend here has a lot of gold she'd like to trade in today."

"..Gold?" Immediately the owl's interest peeked as he chuckled and finally smiled at them, "Oh w-well this IS a surprise! Please come, come! You've come to the right place, Miss." He gestured for Poppy to come over and reluctantly she did as the owl rubbed his hands-....uh..Wings together and smiled widely at her. "Just allow me to measure it a-and we can get you your pons, Ma'am."

"Uh...Ok." She reached down to the larger pocket of the two and pulled out the heavy gold cheese wheel, it must've been fifteen pounds at least. She set it with a small thump on the table and the owl hooted in surprise at the large item she placed down. Blinking and gawking in surprise at the large thing. ....Which was followed by the trophy, and the potion bottle out of her large pocket. And then the Mafia statue, pencil, candle, gear, and cheese slice. The owl gawking at all the things laid out before him in pure gold glory. "There ya go. That's the lot of it."

The owl sputtered blinking at them all....Before reaching up to pull out a small magnifying device out of his breast pocket and picked up the golden candle. "T-T-This is!...INCREDIBLE!! I've never seen such fine craftsmanship in my life! AND IN PURE GOLD!! It's unmistakable! Pure. Solid. Twenty four carrot GOLD!!" He could almost FEEL the heat radiating off the candle, it almost looked like it could've been real at one point. He looked back at Poppy unbelieving. "W-Where did you ever aquire such beautiful items?!"

"Oh...I- Uh..." She had to think fast. She wasn't about to tell some stranger some magic alien potion turned these things into gold by some king roach. They'd think she was crazy. So why not tell the truth but a different truth. "My g-great granddaddy on my mama's side was a blacksmith. He worked with metal's all the time." Which was true. Her Great Granddaddy Silver Copper-field on her mother's side was a blacksmith.

"But we found them in the attic," Bow innocently chimed in tilting her head confused.

Mild panick flashed on Poppy's face. "Uh...W-Well people find all sorts of old things in their attics all t-the time!"

Which was another truth. But the owl seemed too enchanted by the items he rolled over his his hold to care about her nervous tone at all. "Well he must've been a fine crafter in his day. I've NEVER seen such beauty." He snapped up to her suddenly slamming his hands on the counter and leaning over making her jump in surprise and lean back. "I MUST have them! Won't you part with them! It'll make me the talk of the town for once besides those ratty directors!! I'll be the only bird in the world to have them!!"

Now Poppy could sense pretty well when some one was gonna fight being raised around a bunch of rowdy country folk that often fought over land and territory. And BOY! The way the two little girls and Cookie bristled at the comment the owl made sure did look like they were about to argue, but that was NOT what she came here to do. She wanted to get out and have a relaxing day seeing this new place, so thinking quickly she got between them and the owl smiling more than a greedy pirate. "Deal. But on the condition ya give me what I'm owed for it all, and the promise ya won't say a word about where ya got it from." She didn't need someone asking around in case.

He quickly agreed grabbed the gold one by one. "Oh I promise. I very, very promise. Hmhmhmhmhm!! Not one word out of me. After all I don't want anyone else to have one but me."

Poppy sighed and watched as with great difficulty the owl man just gathered up all the gold in his arms teetering and wobbling about as he went towards the left side of the counter. They all watched as he wobbled his way towards a large scale against the wall that reminded Poppy of the large scale the local banker used to have to measure her pons in whenever she went to put her savings in the bank, only much bigger. A few large clanging noises rang out as he dumped the gold into it and watched as the red arrow of the scale tipped until it measured-

"F-F-Fifty two pounds!," the owl gawked at the scales before giving a thoughtful look. "Let's see. Minus tax on gold fifty two equals up too about....." His eyes widened and he suddenly let out a hoot gripping the feathers on his head. "F-F-Five thousand pons!!"

"Oh....Do you not have that m-many pons?"

"Uh..." The owl nervously looked between her and the statues. "N-No. J-Just a little over half of it. B-B-BUT I-I C-CAN OFFER A TRADE!!" He quickly pointed around the cluttered place, as if nervous to lose the precious gold he so desperately wanted. "I-I can pay half and trade for the other! W-Whatcha say?"

Poppy stopped for a minute. Looking around the cluttered place with a raised brow, and gazing over everything slowly. That wasn't a bad idea actually. Since she could use some knew things once she gets settled on her own again and didn't need anymore help. And getting stuff for free? Now they were talking! Maybe this was the universe paying her back for all her troubles and hard work finally! Smiling she happily agreed to the deal much to the Owl's delight and he quickly scrambled about to grab all the pons he needed for the trade from a giant vault in the back and they began searching. Well, the girls found lots of little knickknacks like small toys and for Bow a large sunhat with a pretty blue bow on it and how could Poppy say no to that? Well, the red head wasn't going for any random fancy stuff like antique clocks or any other fancy thing right now. But considering $2600) was a lot of pons to trade for, she could spare them to choose a bunch of things for themselves. But looking among some used exercize bikes she found a few things she was really looking forward to see again. What else but some good old fashioned farming tools? A rake, gardon hoe, pitchfork, shovel combo! She hit the giant jackpot!! Smiling as she dragged the old things out of the dusty corner and examined them. They looked to be in good condition. Rusty and dusty, but a mighty fine condition if ya asked her.

"Uh. Ma'am, are you sure you want those?," the owl said leaning back over the counter staring, "T-Those are antique farming tools that were just dumped in the corner. No one would want them.

"I sure do!," She said smiling back at his confused face, "They're just what I needed.

"Well...Y-Yes, t-t-they're in great condition for three hundred year old tools. That's why they're here, they could run in the thousands. Are you sure you want to waste your time with them?"

"Yep!" She Heaved all of them over one of her shoulders with a smile. "I got a plan for these babies. You just keep counting the pons."

"Ok. If that's what you want. It'll be nice to get them out at least," he mumbled to himself ducking back behind the counter.

Continuing looking around a little bit, Poppy managed to find a gold club bag along with her search and stuck her new tools into it, slinging it over herself and able to carry about her new beauties easier. Turns out those tools and the old antique stove Cookie kept looking at. Poppy saw the way she kept longingly staring at it every few minutes of looking around and gladly said she'd take that for her friend here. Cookie insisted she didn't have to but Poppy's mind was already made up anyways, as stated she didn't need that much pons leftover to trade back here again anyways. And she deserved it for all the kindness she had shown Poppy a complete and utter stranger. Well it turns out the knick knacks Hattie stuffed in her hat, (just random things like a few teddy bears, jewelry, a grappling hook, and anything else a girl like her would enjoy) combined with the old stove and it's set, along with those old tools were just enough to cover the other half but she did have to fork over another 100 pons to cover the extra 100 pons the tax came out to be. The bag she was handed wasn't really big, about maybe a small decent sized pumpkin and weighed about as much as a large house cat did. And that went into her large apron pocket for safe keeping while slipping the gold back of farming tools over her. She still had $2,500 to spend. And that was quite a lot of pons especially. Luckily the things weren't as expensive as made out to be. But that did leave another question, what were they supposed to do now? Luckily Cookie had a fantastic idea after seeing the way the uh....tacky dress Poppy was wearing and had the idea for them to stop by the local clothing store much to the children's protest about how boring it was going to be. So they once again found themselves leaving the greedy owl to fond over his new prized possesions and left back out into the hot sun. Resuming their routine of Poppy following behind Cookie as she lead them down the street to wards the far side of the town as the kids ran around again chasing one another. The only difference was Bow was using one hand to keep that giant sun hat on her head now as she went around running after the first two. Poppy still couldn't figure out how Hattie kept all those things in her hat. Alien magic?

"You'll adore this lil shoppe," Cookie happily told her giving a bright grin, "They're real experts at fancy sewing. You see they make most of the costumes for the studio and the directors' movies."

"It sounds like this whole town thrives on that place huh?," Poppy stated giving a look around the old buildings and many owls walking by.

"Oh, this town has been here for quite a long time with the studios," Cookie corrected, "It's only until recently that business really thrived for lacol birds. In the less hotter winter seasons, people come from all over to get a glimpse at the two kooky canaries running those studios. Means Conductor gets some extra business running his train too, he likes to say more budget for his movies come from it."

"Wow. Really?" So this place was some kind of famous spot because of this Mr. Grooves and Conductor, whoever they might be. From what she's heard of them so far, they seemed really nice supporting local business and bringing in so many customers. And she had no reason to not trust Cookie so far. A smile graced her face when he spotted the girls run a little ways ahead of them and caught an earful of their giggles. That was until one fell over. It was just a small rock hidden in the sand that she didn't see, but that didn't stop Bow from tripping over it and faceplanting the sand, knocking up some sand in her crash. Poppy and Cookie both gave a small gasp of surprise and Poppy instantly ran over to her, metal tools clanking together on her back. Hattie and Mu had stopped hearing the thump in the sand from behind them at Bow's faceplant and watched as the curly haired girl pushed herself up. Bow laid there unmoving for a few seconds but by the time Poppy got over there to kneel next to her, she had pushed herself up crying a bit with her eyes shut and spitting out more sand from her mouth. Sun hat falling off her head as she did. Two hands grabbed her and turned her around to face the worried face of the red head as she looked her over. "What happened? Are you alright, Sweetheart?"

"My eyes burn!," Bow cried reaching her balled fists up to wipe at her face but was stopped by Poppy pulling them away.

She sighed. "Well don't rub them, you probably just got some dirt in your eyes needin' ta be flushed out." Looking around she spotted an outside water pump fountain like the one her old home hand and without another thought picked up the tiny girl and stood back up. Bow still crying at the stinging and wrapping herself around Poppy's shoulder as she walked. "Oh hush now. All you need is to rinse it out with a lil water and you'll be right as rain!" She carried Bow over to the small pump across the street and pried her off to set the small gal down in front of the Nozzle. "Now I'm going to pump some water out, and I want you to start rinsing out those eyes and mouth of yers. Ok?" Bow sniffed still crying small tears down her face and Poppy grabbed a hold of the pump handle. Pushing n pulling it up and down to summon the water underneath. A garbling sound came from the pipe's inside and with a pop sound, cold water burst out from the pipe and sprayed the small child in the face. Bow jumped in surprise at the sudden cold water on her but sputtered and swiped at her face and the stream of water hitting her. After a few more seconds of it, Poppy stopped and allowed the strong stream to trickle slowly before stopping completely. She watched as Bow turned her cheek the other way and spat out a mouthful of water, coughing and wiping at her face. Now all soaking wet. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before blinking her eyes open and looking up with red eyes. There we go. Now that she could see, her eyes would be irritated for a lil bit, but it wouldn't be worse than just someone suffering from a bit of hay fever. "There we go. All better."

....Bow sniffed and blinked. Wiping one eye with her hand and looking down at herself, her other hand grabbing her white jacket. "Now I'm all soaked and cold."

"Uh...Yeah." Poppy rubbed her head. "Kinda figured the sun would dry ya out, but I guess I can buy ya a new dress while we're at this here clothin' store.''

"...*sniff* Really?"

"Absolutely." Walking back over, Poppy bent down and repicked Bow up into her arms letting the little girl grab onto her. "We'll get ya a nice pretty dress that'll make you look like a darlin' lil princess!...Well more of a princess than you are already."

Bow smiled again sniffing and Poppy smiled at her...But paused when she heard someone else awing at them from behind and when she turned around there was a pair of old birds on a shady porch right behind them. The old birds were smiling at them from their rocking chairs like what they were seeing was the most precious thing in the world. "It's so nice to see such a responsible and caring young mother these days," one of them spoke smiling widely, "Your daughter looks like a darling little one."

......Poppy blinked. "Mother? Who me?" She pointed at herself with her free hand before shaking her head. "O-Oh! No, no! I'm not her mother! I'm just watching her for someone I know!"

"Oh, that's too bad. You would make a lovely mother for the dear."

Poppy chuckled nervously but Bow seemed to be looking at her with a strange look. "My...Mother?"

Giving a small thanks Poppy quickly excused herself from the watching eyes of the old birds and back over to Cookie who was waiting for them with the other two children. Wiping dust from the pretty sunhat and looking up at the soaked child in her arms. "Well. I can see we'll be needing to take care of that while we're in there too."

Poppy gave another nervous chuckle but grabbed the sun hat, handing it back to Bow who gladly plopped it back onto her head. Well, guess they weren't going to wait on getting this lil gal some dry clothing. Following Cookie the rest of the way there, they all came across possibly the girliest lookin' store Poppy had ever seen. It was all painted pink and white and had flowers in window pots. Well seeing those cute lil things made her smile at least, she always loved flowers. Above a sign was nailed above the door reading Mrs. Talon's Fabric Shoppe. Guess they were going in when Cookie walked right on up without a second thought so naturally Poppy and the children followed suit. A bell above the door rang like before and thank PECK it was another building big enough she didn't have to crawl through to get there. Upon entering it was the same pink and white themed as the outside. Along the walls was shelves upon shelves of fabric, balls of yarn and threads of all colors, sewing machines for sail along with smaller kits, and anything else one would need for making clothes. Such as buttons, sequins, patches, and books of patterns or techniques. Poppy noticed there was also a giant pink curtain in the back and next to that was a rack of already made dresses with a sign that said 'discount bin half off'. In the very front of the store was a white counter, and a lady owl wearing a floral dress with glasses that made her eyes look too big for her face, but unlike the first owl this cashier welcomed them all with a smile and friendly voice.

"Good Evening, Customers! Welcome to Mrs. Talons! Here we tailor to creatures large and small," she replied in a high pitched tone, "How may I-...I-I..." Her impossibly large eyes went wide seeing the crew of five girls waltz in as Poppy closed the door shut with her foot. "I-....I DON'T BELEIVE IT!!" She suddenly squealed startling the red head woman into almost dropping Bow and blinking at the pig like squeal before the owl lady leaned over the counter looking at Cookie. "I DON'T PECKING BELIEVE IT!! THE COOKING CAT IS IN MY BOSS'S STORE!! M-Ma'am I'm your b-biggest fans! My owlets love your deep fried worm and rice recipe!" Cookie didn't even seem fazed as she chuckled and waved. Making the more owl all the more nervous at having the cat celebity in her store. "H-How may I help you, Ms. Cat?"

"Please. Call me Cookie." Cookie pointed at Poppy still holding Bow in her arms. "We got a youngin' who's in need of some dry clothes and a fashion emergency if I say so myself."

The owl looked up at the two humans adjusting her glasses and frowning at Bow's soaked clothes and the absolutely ghastly amount of tacky lace and fake rubies studded to the collar of Poppy's dark blue dress. Not a good mix, it looked like she was a desperate rich lady trying to play the part of princess. "Oh...I certainly see why. Well, unfortunately with my boss away currently working on a large order for Mr. Grooves, I can't offer anything except for the designs left out from last year's tourism season." She gestured a wing over towards the bargain bin and Cookie slightly frowned at the limited suppy.

"Are you sure you can't make one?"

The owl shook her head. "Sorry, Ma'am. For you I would in a heartbeat, but I'm just the cashier. I ring people out and offer assistance if the customer has questions. The only tailors are my boss and her assistant and they're already away on a giant order call. But if you're interested we do provide everything you need to sew yourself."

"That won't be needed," Poppy cut in slowly lowering Bow to the ground and standing back up and walking to the bargain rack, "I ain't the kind of picky prissy gal a lot of folks I knew was." Walking up right to the rack she skimmed through the options of dresses available and to be honest most were plain day to day dresses without any patterns, but that suited her just fine. She wasn't real picky when it came to clothing as long as it fit ok and it didn't look like the ghastly thing she was wearing so she just grabbed a few random dresses off the bargain pile that was the same size she was wearing. A plain all pink and green one. One that was all white with purple flowers all over it. Another green one with a picture of a kitty cat in the middle of it. And just a purple one with some kind of black vine pattern. Looking back up, she noticed Cookie writing on a piece of paper as the owl excitedly watched, and she gave another small squeal when Cookie handed whatever it was over to her. How strange. Two of the girls were boredly bouncing some yarn balls...Where was- She got her answer when Bow pushed past her and reached up to rummage of her own accord, after a moment pulling out the only thing they seemed to have in a child's size. A bright orange dress with a single daisy on it's front. Her cringe made Poppy chuckle a bit and reach down to pat her head. "Hey. May not be the most pretty, but it's just til we get back an' then you can wear anything ya want. Alright?"

She didn't look happy but relented. "Fine."

"That's my girl!" She gave bow a smile as the little girl blinked and gave Poppy a confused look as she walked to the counter dresses in her arms.

"Your girl?"

Well, the clothes were bought. Which equaled up to about fourty six pons for all of the dresses including Bow's which she changed into behind the curtain. She was dry now but she didn't look like it stomping out and staring at her clothes in disgust. Well with two more bags in hand, one for her new dresses and one for Bow's, they excited the store and the girls were glad to not be coped up in there anymore except for Bow who followed the first two with crossed arms as the adults followed out.

"Come back anytime! Thank you for your purchase!," the cashier called out behind them and Cookie waved back.

"Ya seem to be well known, Huh?," Poppy asked the cat and Cookie shrugged.

"Lots of folks enjoy my work. Who am I to complain?"

"Touche." Poppy sucked in a deep breath and looked out into the world around them with a smile. "Man it's good to see ground that ain't littered with ghosts! But I wish it wasn't so hot!"

"Well this is a desert." Cookie smiled at Hattie chasing Mu around the two using Bow in the middle as a barrier from each other. "But they don't seem to have a problem with playin' anyhwere."

Poppy shrugged. "Doesn't surprise me with what I've seen. But I am surprised they aren't thirsty."

Cookie turned to her. "Why? Are you?"

"Well. A lil bit. When's the next ride back to the moon again?"

"Uh...Well I believe it's just a lil bit past noon, ya'll have to wait for the night train at ten o' clock."

Poppy snapped her head to her with a surprised face. "Wha- THAT LATE?"

"Well it IS the night train for a reason Sugar. But tell ya what, I'll treat ya'll to some real good food at the Jukebox cafe while ya wait." She started stepping towards somewhere else and Poppy slowly followed after.

"Oh no. You don't have to. It's alright."

"And let you eat nothing but a cheese wheel and apples?," Cookie shook her head, "Oh no, no. That wouldn't do at all."

"Ain't there a market or tradin' post with food in these here parts?," Poppy asked back making Cookie chuckle nervously.

"Well....Yes. B-But since everyone in town are actually birds, they don't really sell food catering to humans or many other species except for coffee and what's served in the cafe's since those places get to see more of a diversity especially when tourism comes a callin'. Otherwise it's bird seed, worms, insects, some fruit, and anything else birds eat. Most of what else they get is ordered from the city a couple miles away or mafia town. "

"Oh great. Guess it's cheese and apples for supper tonight then." Her stomach growled and she placed a hand to it shyly making Cookie chuckle.

"Don't worry. I'll send ya'll home with some left overs from mah kitchen set at the-...." Poppy suddenly stopped mid step body completely frozen as if she was paused in the middle of a movie and Poppy almost stepped on her tail stopping just in time. Cookie suddenly grabbed her fuzzy cheeks with a frown. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I left my handbag at my set in the studios! My bird passport and wallet's in there, it let's me get free supplies from the cafe with the reward points."

"So...That means?"

"We're going to have to make a pit stop at the studios before anyone eats."

#ABloomInTime #a bloom in time #flowercrown #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #A hat in time florist x snatcher #The Florist #A hat in time the florist #a hat in time snatcher #a hat in time florist #Snatcher x the florist #the florist x snatcher #florist #florist x snatcher #snatcher x florist #Snatcher

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch27 Welcome To Mafia Town

You know. It feels a lot better sleeping on something soft than it was sleeping on a hard cold wooden floor. Also much better to wake up with having sore muscles for a third time. Slowly waking up, blue eyes peered out awake to the world, blinking away the blurry vision that came with it. Where was she again? The first thing she saw was a very dark purple and she blinked. Was it still dark? Well, yes. It was still dark and other than a blue light filling up the attic making it clearer to see for her.  ......And slowly she started to remember what happened last night. Groaning, the grown woman slowly sat up on the bed and reached a hand up to push the long bangs out of her face, she felt so tired even after sleeping. But strangely relieved in a way. The memories of last night poked through the morning fog and Poppy groaned, rubbing her face more remembering the nightmare and talk the two had last night. Man. And here she thought her new life adventure wouldn't get any weirder than what it already was. Poppy paused feeling something soft bump against her hand and a grumble that was deeper than her own voice. Pulling her head away from her hand she blinked over and saw Snatcher of all people laying curled around her like some giant shadow snake, his head resting on his claws as he laid there just a foot or two away from her. He looked rather peaceful. Was Snatcher here the entire night after she drifted off back to sleep? Did he fall asleep too? Could ghosts even sleep? Do they even need it? She thought the whole 'Rest in Peace' thing was always just a nice way of showing respect for those who had passed on, but now she wasn't too sure how literal it might've been at this point. Meeting a ghost like Snatcher was definately an eye opener, he wasn't like the usual descriptions of ghosts at all she had heard. Ghosts were supposed to be white as sheets and yell 'BOO' all the time, or stay invisible and silent. Snatcher wasn't white OR invisible, and with his loud mouth he definately wasn't silent either most of the time. But she felt an odd gratitude upon seeing him right there after she still fell asleep. He had cleared up a lot of the mess for her and she couldn't have been happier. Yellow eyes opened up once he felt the floor shifting next to him and he stared right at her.

"Oh. You're awake," he said pushing himself up with his arms and stretching his long body out similar to a bushcat before his body as usual floated up into the air, looking at her. "It looks like you had a nice nap."

"Uh. Yeah.'' She gave a small tired smile yawning again and stretching her body out, stretching her arms out and looking behind her. A part of Snatcher's tail was behind her and she guessed that must've been the super soft thing she was sleeping against. She had no idea ghosts could be solid or so soft, another surprise she guessed. Poppy slowly pushed herself to her feet. Weird dark blue dress still on her and the fake rubies around her collar shining in the dim blue light, her long braid already messy from her sleep. Smiling, Poppy looked back up to him. "Were you really with me all night?"

Snatcher stared at her for a moment before frowning a bit. "Well didn't you ask me to? I'm not completely heartless you know. I make sure all my employees are situated well. "

"I did kinda ask that didn't I?" She yawned and walked over to one of the shopping bags when she saw it. Oh yeah. She still had a few things to put away from yesterday didn't she? "You mind leavin'?"

"What for?"

"So I can put on somethin' else besides this dress reject." She gestured to her dress.

"Oh." Of course she would want to do that. With a cough he turned away and started to melt through the floor. "Right. You get on that."

***********************************************************************************************

Poppy was feeling great! Better than she had been feeling in a whole while! After a brief moment of switching clothing and putting her newly aquired tools and clothes away, Poppy appeared in the control room riding the orange platform down from the attic. Hair retied back in a neat long braid and her wearing one of the new dresses she had bought for herself. The white one with purple flowers, she felt good enough to wear one of her favorite things today. FLOWERS!! And of course the glittering gold bracelet on her wrist. Oh. And the heavy duty leather apron around her shoudlers, she never left home without it. The small bag of pons sitting in the larger of the two pockets of it. When she rode down she found Snatcher frowning, arms crossed, listening to the two children babbling on about something and stuffing their faces with those take out things Cookie ordered for them to go, she thought Cookie said they were called 'Hamburgers' if she remembered right. Like some kind of fancy greasy sandwhiches. But he looked up when he saw a blur coming towards them from the corner of his eye, said eyes blinked in surprise a bit in the cute purple flower printed dress she wore. Well this was different from her usual blue attire he was used to her wearing, but he had no right to judge someone's clothing.

"Fancy new clothes. It-...I-It looks nice on you,'' he complimented.

She smiled in thanks making her way down the ramp heading towards the two children and Snatcher. Both were now staring at her silently eating. "Thanks! I bought it just yesterday. And I see ya two are already up and ready to cause trouble ah presume." Both nodded with big smiles and she noticed they were wearing the same kind of outfits again but with different patterns again. Hattie's whole outfit and hat were a pink minus the pants she wore which was a beige color, and bow was wearing a light blue dress with a white jacket with purple buttons, light blue cat pockets, and a pink bow on the back, another pink bow in her hair, and purple boots. These kids must really like the same style of clothes. "You two look hungry huh?"

"Better than apples!," Hattie mumbled holding up what looked like one or two bites remaining of her burger.

Poppy chuckled. "Well lucky for all of us I aim to change that today! Cookie mentioned how they sell a lot of human food in ..Mafia Town right? Well, that's where I'm headin' today!"

"What?!," Snatcher asked bewildered, "You want to go there?! Bad idea! Very, very bad idea! That place is full of foul men who'll rob you for a single corn chip! I thought you already had enough excitement yesterday!"

Poppy just smiled triumphantly back. "Well, yeah. I did have a rough start, but now I'm all fired up and ready to see where the day takes me. And right now it's tellin' me ta get these girls and myself some food!" Both girls happily threw their hands up with a loud cheer at the mention of yet another trip out together for the three of them, but Snatcher looked slightly worried.

"Now? Don't you even know what kind of people live in a town like that?!," he argued back shaking his head, "It's asking for trouble to happen AGAIN if you go there. Aren't you dealing with enough stuff?"

"We can protect her!," Bow happily said before tossing the rest of the burger she ate for breakfast into her mouth.

Snatcher didn't look the slightest bit convinced. "Yeah because that worked so well last time."

This time Poppy frown one hand on her hip the other pointing at him. "Ok purple onion. If you have a problem with mahself goin' out and gettin' food for YOUR kids and taking care of them while yer galavanting off haunting whatever forest ya want, then please. Feel free ta get off ya rump and go buy them food yerself if you have a problem with ME taking care of their needs like YOU wanted. If not shut her trap! I'm not a pet bird you can just keep in a cage. I'm a human and we need food!" Snatcher stared at her silently for a moment, stunned at the sudden berauge of sass thrown his way...but he frowned at the children who giggled at him being put in his place.Poppy waved a hand. "If you're so worried 'bout what happened yesterday, you're more than welcome to join us. I'd appreciate the company and help you'd provide, but otherwise ya'll can go back to your fore-"

"OH ALRIGHT!!" He scowled and recrossed his arms like a pouting child. "I might as well since someone has to keep you out of trouble!" Actually it was because he was worried about her. The kids can hold their own against the mafia, and to him they were nothing but pesty mice. But he LOATHED the idea of Poppy being around so many men especially ones like the mafia. So it would be better to do, besides. His head minion could handle things without him for a little while longer.

Poppy nodded smiling again and waved a hand at the girls. "Go wash off those greasy hands of yours and we'll leave ok?" Both nodded and ran off towards the kitchen, Hattie shoving the rest of her food into her mouth as she did.

"Shouldn't you eat something too before we head out?," Snatcher asked her raising a brow.

"Nah. I'll be fine. Not the first time I'd skip breakfast-" She was cut short when Snatcher literally grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her towards the kitchen. "Hey! What gives!?"

"Fat chance. You go eat something before you leave right now. I'm not going to be following a growling stomach all day."

She protested but relented after Snatcher said he wouldn't teleport them easily to this Mafia Town, and she STILL wasn't fond of the kids' version of travel, and it'd be easier with Snatcher teleporting them. So reluctantly she agreed but just grabbed an apple out of the small basket in the fridge. Taking notice that there was only a few eggs left in the carton after Cookie's omlets, only a few apples left, and half a wheel of cheese. How could these kids just eat these all the time? Following the children out of the kitchen back to the waiting Snatcher, while also carrying a giant woven basket she found as it'd be easier to carry the food in, he sighed again and held out his hands to the small giggling girls, who both grabbed onto his large clawed hand with ease, and he held out the other claw to her.

"When someone hangs onto me it's easier to teleport them and saves energy for me. Since I'm teleporting long distance I suggest you hold on so we're not seperated in town."

Well that was certainly something she didn't want happening so she grabbed onto his hand and he curled his claws gently around her before summoning the magic to transport them all down there.  The teleporting worked as quickly as any other time he did it. Purple energy completely took over the world around them like the many times he's done this before and swallowed them all whole. He's done this plenty of times before teleporting himself places or taking the girls home against his will when they fell asleep in his forest. Poppy closed her eyes when purple invaded her vision out of habit. One moment of dark black-purple later the four of them ended up somewhere much more warmer by how Poppy felt the air suddenly shift.

"You can open your eyes now."

And she did. And blinked at WHAT she saw now. They were on a beach! A literally sunny beach with the sun beating down on them and in front of them was a small lot of sand, filled with palm trees and picnic table with umbrellas sticking out from the top of them. A blue and white striped tent was set up to the far right end of the sand lot and a giant stone building of some sort in front of them. Snapping her head behind her, the sparkling reflection of the vast ocean met her confused gaze with the gorgeous view of the morning sun making the soft waves sparkle as they rolled by. Directly in front of them all was a giant pair of red doors and two men standing guard on either side of them. In fact there was a lot of men in fancy blue suits and aprons walking around where they were, most gawking at them from the sudden apearence of a grown woman and two children in a flash of purple.

"Wow." Poppy said breathlessly staring out at the ocean. She could see some kind of land in the distance, a bouey, and some kind of ship slowly passing by. "Look at that view! I've never been to the ocean before!"

"Yes, yes. Very pretty," came the annoyed voice of Snatcher making her snap outta it. "Don't we have something to do?"

She blinked. "OH! Right I-" She paused...looking around but not seeing the giant sixteen foot ghost anywhere. "Hey. Where are you?"

"Look at your shadow."

She did and humped a few steps back seeing two yellow eyes from her shadow staring back up at her. "Snatcher??"

"Who else?," he asked and she saw his glowing yellow mouth as he spoke from her shadow. "You think it's easy to be walking around in the open for someone like me? It'll be easier for both of us if I remain in the shadows unless nessasary."

Well...It might be easier for her to walk around freely without drawing a bunch of attention to her being followed by by a giant ghosts babysitting her like she was a little girl herself, and if this place was as dangerous as he said, she's appreciate the extra help. He had a couple good points.

Nodding she looked around, basket in hand. "Ok. Now let's see. Where do we go from here?"

"This way!," Bow called from over by the blue and white tent before running up a large pair of stairs behind it.

Poppy followed across the sand lot with Hattie running past her and joining Bow up the stair case and waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Around the tent she went looking around and up the stone stairs she went. At the top was a cobblestone floor and more tables. The two continued to lead Poppy down a cobblestone pathway and all the while gave her a wonderful view of the ocean, seeing a couple boats and rocks sticking out of the water. A couple times they would pass another blue suited man and they would either walk past or gave them a passing look but nothing else. Didn't seem so bad so far. But she was curious about all the contruction and spray painted walls as they passed. When she asked, Hattie said 'This place is always being rebuilt' and explained the graffiti was done by Mu before Cookie took her to live with her away from this place. She saw a bunch of 'Down With The Mafia' sprayed on walls, some kind of man with a giant mustache and red hat, and few of MU herself. Guess Hattie was telling the truth about all that.

"So where are we supposed to buy food around this ..Uh.. Rebuilt place?" She asked them glancing at all the incomplete buildings they passed.

"Past the docks," Bow answered slowly down her pace from in front of her to walk next to Poppy. Gazing up at her with a neutral gaze before staring at her free hand not carrying the basket before reaching up and grabbing it. Poppy without giving it much thought curled her hand back to hold hers making the small girl light up light a firework as they both followed Hattie skipping a few yards in front of them. Snatcher smiled with glee at the sight between Bow and Poppy.

They continued along the cobblestone pathway until it collided with an actual docks. A large building that looked like a giant seafood resteraunt was on the left side of the docks with blue tables was there and on the right side was a pair of docks, with a few more strong looking men there  unloading fish from a ship stationed on one side of the docks as they passed, passing then some kind of giant barrels on their sides and then back up yet another cobblestone path leading up to what looked like a town square to Poppy. Cobblestone everywhere. With three Green, red, and orange-tan giant buildings on the right side of the water fountain that was smack dab in the middle of the square. The green building had a giant sign saying 'Blooming' but looked dark inside, the red building had a hamburger with the words 'Spicey Buns' on the signs but was blocked off by yellow rope, and the only one that seemed open was the tan building who was currently being manned by a single man with the sign reading 'Juice'. The left sight of the square was just a giant brick wall and clock tower, showing it was nine thirty four in the morning. Still an early day. She continued to follow Hattie until she stopped in front of another pair of stairs leading up to another level of the stone wall and she pointed. Of course Poppy followed her holding Bow's hand and up the slightly bigger steps they went until meeting another cobblestone floor and the first thing she saw was a stand with another one of those blue suited men behind it.

"Here it is!," Hattie said standing next to her and pointing down the left where it turned into a street like market.

Guess this was the market of human food Cookie spoke about and Poppy smiled. Well at least now she could be able to get what she needed now. The only stand to the right seemed empty so Poppy went right up to the first stand in front of her already catching the man's attention as he sat behind it and looked at her as she approuched. Looking at the products on the shelves behind him and next to him was a bunch of cheese wheels. The entire area was kinda dark being in a closed in area and torches ran down the length of the market area. Poppy stopped in front of the stand as the man looked at her.

"Mafia sell finest cheese aged by Mafia. Would red haired lady like to buy?," the man spoke in a deep voice as she looked around.

Eventually stopping at one cheese wheel that looked pretty good and pointed at it. "Yeah. That one there please."

The man smiled and grabbed it. "Mafia enjoys sells. Mafia will sell it to red haired lady for fifthteen pons."

Poppy blinked at him for a moment raising a brow. "Fifthteen pons for one cheese wheel?"

"Mafia make good pure chedder. Take it or leave."

"....." Well considering things were a lot more expensive than when she was alive that she remembered, then she guessed it was a fair price and she had over twenty five thousand of the small things. Reaching into the front pocket of the apron she pulled out a handful of those small green emeralds and counted out fifteen before dropping them into the man's outstretched hand. She also noticed that he was wearing an apron, that said 'Kiss The Cook' with a small red lipstick kiss mark. How odd.

The man took the pons and counted the ones in his hand with his eyes for a moment before smiling. "Mafia thanks lady for purchase. Here is cheese." He held out the cheese to her and Poppy happily took it from him.

"Thank you." Placing it into the giant basket she carried and started off towards the other stands, children following.

"You know you shouldn't have paid that fool such a large amount." Snatcher whispered out from her shadow that barely showed in the dim torch light. "I can be very persausive."

"The last thing  need is you scarin' off the people I'm trying to buy from," Poppy shot back tossing a quick frown over her shoulder at him before she continued. "As a fellow storekeeper let me do my own business and hush up." Snatcher grumbled but hushed up much to her pleasure. She didn't want to explain why she was talking to the ground behind her to strangers. The next stand was just a couple yards from the first and this one looked like it was selling fruit, mostly bananas and apples. Poppy breifly wondered if this is where the girls originally got their apples back on the ship before stopping in front of it and admiring the bananas. She had only seen a couple of them once. When the royal food wagon was making it's way to the Queen's summer home she visited whenever the prince did. They were tropical plants and as her father said tropical plants and fruits were impossible to grow where they were due to the fall and winter seasons. So seeing the oppertunity to obtain some she happily smiled and pointed at a couple bunches that looked ripe to her. "How much for three bundles?"

"Mafia sells Mafia island bananas for pens pons each,'' the man explained and Poppy blinked at him for a moment looking exactly like the other men she'd seen but shrugged it off.

"And those apples?"

"Mafia sell those same prince as Mafia Island bananas."

"Oh." So about thirty or forty pons. Seemed a little expensive for bananas but she wasn't going to complain about getting food she could actually eat. To cut losses she decided to only buy two bundles of bananas and one bundle of apples instead of the three bundles of bananas and into the basket they went. The kids giving dirty looks to the mafia men around them as they went. And FINALLY she found something she was hoping to find around here. A meat market...Or a stand what sold fish in this market. A bunch of fish were hung along the stands wall and the man manning the stand had his sleeves rolled up currently deboning a fish but looked up when Poppy stopped in front of him gazing up at the fish hung around. "Hello. Can you tell me how old the fish are?"

"Mafia caught fish from ocean this morning,'' the man explained pulling his hands away from work and wiping them down with a damp towel next to him. "Straight from docks. Super fresh."

She smiled at that glancing around and setting her eyes on two very nice looking bass on the right hand side and pointing. "How about those two bass there? Those looking mighty juicy."

"Mafia needs thirty five pons for fish."

.....She blinked. "Hold up. You want thirty five pons PER fish?" He nodded and she frowned. "Back in my day in was ten per fish! That's ludacris!''

"Mafia want paid is what mafia is owed. If lady won't pay price, lady no gets fish," she stated back firm,

Poppy could feel her eye twitch as her annoyance spiked a bit but took a breath to cool herself down. Just remember. This wasn't her time. Things were different now. No use getting upset over a thousand year difference she couldn't control. "Ok, I'll pay. Just please get me those two fish."  Reluctantly and much to Snatcher's silent annoyance she did end up paying another seventy ones for two fish. Poppy was starting to think her choice to accept Mr. Grooves offer was the right one after all. She needed the pons for this definately. They all watched as the man took some kind of paper from under the stand and pull the fish down to wrap them all in....after he carefully counted all the pons she gave him of course. And she took them with a 'thanks' tho it did come off a bit annoyed as she moved along the last few stands now in just a slightly more sour mood. And slowly the basket filled up with just a few more things. Some eggs one man claimed to be taken from the birds that morning, she found someone trying to sell what looked like slightly spoiled milk but managed to find a whole bottle of it that was pretty fresh, and bacon stri-......Bacon? How the peck did that get there? .....Snatcher snatching bacon from Cookie's dishes suddenly flashed across her mind and she shot a look over her shoulder to Snatcher who still remained hidden as the girls boredly/curiously walked around near them and looked around. By the time they got to the end of the stands(where the market ended in a dead end meaning they'd have to turn around and go back the way they came to exit), the basket was heavy with a giant cheese wheel, a glass bottle of milk, one carton of eggs, two bundles of banansa, a bag of apples, two large fish, and a mysterious pound of bacon that just appeared out of no where. Usually the basket would've been heavy for someone but considering her less than normal strength, it was pretty easy to carry without tiring. The last stand didn't look like it sold any kind of food items like the others but a man sitting there noticed her curious look at it and he pointed behind him at the white shirts Saying 'Mafia #1' hung up near him.

"You like Mafia? Buy clothes supporting Mafia! Mafia is number one!," he gladly stated.

Oh. He was selling clothing? Well she already saw what everything else had to offer, might as well see what this had to offer her too. And too Snatcher's protests of lightly tugging her dress to get her to stop, she walked over to him. The stand on closer inspection sold the same blue suits and aprons all the men here wore along with OBVIOUSLY spray painted gold statues of said men and those white t shirts. ......Not really things she was really interested in or needed....Except maaaybe that one thing right there-

"I can't BELEIVE you actually wasted ten pons on that!," Snatcher's rasped out as they walked along the cobblestone back towards the town square.

"Oh shush. I could use one of these for regular house work," Poppy muttered placing the newly aquired 'Kiss the Cook' apron neatly into her larger leather apron pocket to keep it off the food. She could use an apron just for cooking and other things besides her work apron. "Besides, why are you complaining about me buying an apron? You couldn't even pay for the bacon ya'll snuck into mah basket."

"Hey! You have no proof it was me firstly! Secondly even if I did do that, what purpose would I have to do it? I'm DEAD. It's not like I could eat it if I wanted too anyways. I can't even taste anything if I wanted to," He argued back from her shadow as Poppy walked back down the steps towards the square holding Bow's hand again as the child happily smiled at her. "I bet it was one of those two."

"No it wasn't!," Hattie retorted back sticking her tongue out at Snatcher.

"Guys. Please, ya'll are out in public. Act like civilized people will ya-....." Poppy stopped at the last step down before stepping back onto the cobblestone streets of the square she had passed before, Hattie running into her leg and falling onto her behind on one step, her hat falling over her face. Shaking her head, Hattie pushed the hat back up from her face and asked Poppy what was her big deal but the grown woman just stared at something. Beinf on the flat ground, Snatcher couldn't see what was going on either and was about to bark at Poppy demanding what she was staring at when the red head suddenly scowled. "HEY!" Her eyes narrowed at the sight of two of those big burly men corning a poor little old man back against a brick wall, but she had shouted when one of them pushed him down gaining their attention and began stomping her way over to them. Bow grabbing and pulling back on her hand to try and get Poppy to stop.

"Wait, Poppy! Don't!"

Poppy didn't listen to Bow's words and instead pulled her hand away before placing and big basket into her arms. "Hold this for a sec." And then stomping her way back over to the men and stood before them, hands curled into fists on her hips and deep scowl present on their and her faces. "HEY! What the bloody PECK do ya think yer doin' to that poor old man!?" Old man? Huh. Well compared to Poppy's age that old man was probably a baby, but never mind that now.

"Shoo! Mafia can't have lady witness while Mafia teaching lesson!," one of the two men sternly said back but Poppy remained unbudging.

"You'll got one chance and I'm only askin' nicely once. Please leave that man alone," she spoke as calmly as she could despite the annoyed tone on her face and in her voice.

"What do we do with eye witness?," the mafia man asked the other mafia man.

The other man looked at Poppy like she was a harmless flower raging at them. "Teach lesson to those who interfere with Mafia!" He reached a hand out but it was quickly smacked away with a loud WHACK sound making the man recoil and cradle his hand to his chest.

"Do. NOT. Touch me!," Poppy warned in a low and slow voice. "I'm only going to warn you once."

"Mafia won't bow to small lady!!," the other one suddenly bellowed looking at her with anger but Poppy just rose a bored brow when he raised a hand to punch.

"POPPY!! LOOK OUT!!"

"Prepare to feel Mafia's Wrat- GAH!!"

That was it. How it all ended. As soon as the bigger man went to punch her, Poppy grabbed a hold of his arm and in an impressive desplay of speed, turned on her heel and literally threw him over her body by his arm and slammed him quite hard to the ground with a very loud thud. Everyone stood there for a moment quietly stunned from what just happened, except for the man who was laying on the stone ground groaning with the face of Poppy looming over him scowling as if she had the fury of a thousand burning suns....Before blowing the bangs from her face and snapping her scowl over her shoulder back to the other man who flinched at the sudden blue eyes flashing at him.

"Ya'll got somethin' to say 'bout this?" The man still cradling his hand shook his head no furiously with a look of fear on his face and Poppy nodded still scowling. "Good. Now take your buddy here and scram!" The mafia man had just run off without another word as his pal just remained unconcious on the ground. Not that she really cared and turned around to the little old man who through all of this just flat out leaned against the wall slack jawed. But Poppy gave him a soft smile down at him. "Hey there, Mister. Are you alright?"

"Uh-...I-..Y-Yes! I am!," he answered back in an old but happy sounding voice. Smiling behind that white mustache of his, he slowly got up and reached a hand up to readjust his glasses. He couldn't have been a foot or two taller than the girls. Such bullies for picking on a poor defenseless old man like this. Dusting himself off he smiled at Poppy. "Thank you very much young lady. You won't believe how many times a month this happens."

"What did they want?"

The old man sighed. "Money. I've been saving all my pons to move out of this pecking town to go live in a nice quiet neighborhood, but every week they harass me for 'protection' money. But I never give in."

"Oh wow. That sounds aweful." She thought she heard Snatcher give a small 'mmhm' like he was right all along, but didn't comment on it. "I'm very sorry for that."

He waved her off. "No. Don't be. Just two more weeks and I should have enough to get out of here for good." He looked her over again and frowned. "You're a young  one. If I were you I'd get out of town while the getting's good. You don't want to get caught up in a place like this."

Poppy nodded in understanding. "Well, I'm glad you're ok." She held out her hand. "Do you need any help?"

He shook his head. "No, no. I'll be alright getting my way home. Not the first time this has happened and probably won't be the last before I leave."

"Alright. Be careful on your journey now.''

Hattie looked at the long shadow pertruding from Poppy and the yellow eyes blinking up from the ground. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"You ever heard the metaphor hell have no fury like a woman's scorn?" The raspy voice of Snatcher asked the child and Hattie shook her head. "Well it means a woman's anger is something you don't want to get the reveiving end of, Kid. And that saying happens to apply to this situation."

Poppy continued to stand there and waved the little old man good bye with a smile on her face sighing as a wave of calm came over her and she turned back around to look for the basket. She found it on the ground by Bow, who had been standing there watching the whole thing with one hand on the basket's handle patiently waiting for her. Poppy still smiling walked over and reached down to pick up the basket from Bow and pat her on the head...When another shadow fell over her. Poppy paused seeing the long shadow come over her. The head of the shadow was pointy and had a wide brim obviously some kind of hat and Poppy looked up towards the maker of the shadow over her, blinking at the sun's gleam blocking her veiw of the smiling pink wearing woman right in front of her.

"Well, well. Is THIS the famous woman he spoke of?," asked an obviously female voice.

"HAZELLE!?", Snatcher suddenly blurted out in shock blinking his yellow eyes out from the shadows....And immediately wanted to punch himself when the witch's copper orange eyes shifted their gaze over to the ghost attached to Poppy's shadow laying on the ground. But it was too late to stop the smug look on the witch's face as she seemed to quickly putt two and two together right in front of him.

"Well, I guess so! Hello, Snatchy.~ Fancy seeing you out here in broad daylight. Was the forest finally too gloomy for your tastes?," she asked in a calm manor that made the ghost growl.

"YOU WISH, WITCH!! WHAT THE PECK ARE YOU DOING HERE-" His question was answered immediately.

"TIMMY!!"

Hattie and Bow had run up to a small boy who looked maybe one or two years older than them in a hug and Poppy slowly stood up staring at the new comers to the party, the boy(Timmy as she heard) hugged his friends back and gave Hattie a friendly shove to her shoulder which she giggled and pushed back playfully. But Poppy still stared at the witch as she went back and forth with the ghost like she did it every day.......A witch?....A REAL WITCH?! Like the kind who rode on brooms, cooked up potions, had black cats, and did magic willy nilly!? HOLY PECK!! And there was one right here right in front of her. Poppy couldn't help but stared wide eyed at her. She didn't look like a typical witch like the tales she was told about. No green skin. No warts or black robes. Nothing. In fact she looked like a regular person. The only way one could really tell she was a witch was the pointy witch hat on her head which was a pink and white color, along with the rest of her clothes. Really bright  girly clothing if she said so herself.

"Can't a respectable witch and her apprentice go out and about practicing our trickery spells on all these meatheads?", she replied calmly back. "How was I supposed to know you all would be here too?"

"HMPH! Strange coincidence." Snatcher narrowed his eyes in annoyance with a scowl from her shadow.

"I'm sorry...Who are you?,'' Poppy asked confused to Hazelle.

The witch looked over at her and Poppy had to admit, she was very pretty for a witch. She thought they were all supposed to be ugly old ladies. The witch bowed tipping her hat at Poppy politely. "Oh sorry. How rude of me. My name is Hazel but with an extra L E at the end. Exactly how it's pronounced too! Nice to finally meet the lady behind my dear old friend's-...." She paused giving the scowling ghost a sly smirk. "...'New helper' he spoke about."

"Hazel?....You mean like Witch Hazel?"

Hazelle waved a hand. "Yes, Yes. The famous Witch Hazel. Yada yada. It's an old family name passed down to every man in the family in one form or another, but since the next generation was a girl they just decided to slap an extra L E at the end to add that feminine variation. It's complicated I know."

"Oh wow! I've never met a real witch before!" Poppy gawked wide eyed like a puppy. "Can you really do magic?!"

"Absolutely. But I don't think you've told me your name, Miss."

.....Poppy blinked. "OH!! Oh. How rude of me!" She smiled and stuck out a hand in polite greeting. "Howdy! Mah name's Poppy. Poppy Rose Bloomington! Nice ta meet ya!"

Hazelle smiled and shook her head besides Snatcher's grumbles before turning her head over and to the ground and the groaning mafia man on the ground raising a brow. "Well I must say, Ms. Bloomington, you really did a number on those goons. I like your style."

Poppy chuckled nervously and reached her free hand to rub her neck. "Well...I couldn't just let stand by and let them push around that poor old man could I?"

"What a coincidence! Timmy and I were just about to try out his new slime rain summoning on them! But then he noticed his little friends over there and stopped to watch the fireworks." She nodded her head over towards the children moving towards them.

"Timmy?," Poppy asked looking down to the little boy with strange blue markings on his face and a brown cap on his head. "Oh. Is this your son?" She flinched when Hazelle suddenly released a few high pitched giggles.

"Him? Oh no! It may look like it at first glance, but in reality I'm more of a teacher. He IS my apprentice after all. Gotta make sure those magical powers of his develope properly."

"Oh." Poppy looked down to the young boy smiling up at her and she smiled back. "Hello, there lil guy!"

He reached over to her and she blinked in surprise when he grabbed her hand and pulling his hat off his head before kissing the back of her hand like a gentlemen. Before smiling back up at her again. "Hello, Ma'am. A pleasure to make your aquiantance."

SNatcher all but bristled in sudden anger behind her and Poppy giggled at the adorable sight. "Well aren't ya a lil gentleman? Such nice manners!"

"Yes, Ma'am. My father taught me everything I know," Timmy said proudly letting go of her hand and placing his hat back on his head.

"Well he must be quite the gentlemen too raising such a polite young man."

Hazelle smirked again. "OH! Moonjumper's quite the nice and friendly guy. I'm sure he'd just LOVE to meet you too-'

"DON'T YOU HAVE PECKING HOCUS POCUS TO FILL YOUR HEADS WITH?!," Snatcher demanded in an angry voice already sick and tired of this ridiculous encounter.

"Oh. I guess you're right," Hazelle smiled down at Snatcher with a wink and turned. "Then I'll chat with you later, Snatchy dear.~ See you back in the forest." Throwing a look over her shoulder she tossed Poppy a smile and motioned for Timmy to follow her. "And I'll definately be seeing YOU later too, Red head. "

Snatcher growled as she left with Timmy trotting after her, and could feel anger oozing off of him like a building volcano would. He WOULD talk with Hazelle later, and she was NOT about to go flapping her gums to Moonboy and blow his cover!!!!

"You have a witch friend?," Poppy asked looking down to the shadow curiously waving bye and he growled.

"Unfortunately!.....She has her uses with her magic and potions, but she has absolute foolish behavior when it comes to personal boundaries," he huffed, "Are we done here? We better leave."

Poppy just rolled her eyes but agreed with Snatcher it was probably better to go before they all got in more trouble. Considering what she saw  with the poor old man and the unreasonable prices in her opinion, She figured it was better to leave while the getting was good. Beckoning the girls behind her, Poppy turned and started walking off back towards the way they came, leaving the man she flipped who was just now starting to push himself up. It'd be easier if Snatcher took them back the way they came right? While walking she thought she saw some of the men looking over at her when they passed but they quickly looked away when she snapped them a glare that could crack a diamond. She guessed the fella who ran off gossiped about what just happened to his pal by the water fountain, ok. Not that she cared. Let it serve as a warning to anyone else if they tried any funny business now. The small group went back the way they came. Back down the cobblestone path onto the docks and slowly making their way across it, some men on the docks still unloading some shipment from the ships there. Poppy took a glance or two at the ocean and admired the pretty blue scene. One mafia man walked out of the seafood cafe with a frowning face and turned in their direction. Absolutely freezing once he saw Poppy calmly walking along admiring the ocean, and his eyes became wide with fear.

"B-BOSS!! SCARY LADY IS AFTER MAFIA!! HELP!!," The man yelled at the top of his lungs before running back through the open doors of said resteraunt slamming it behind him with a bang.

......

.......

"So. We meet again Kid With The Hat!"

#ABloomInTime #snatcher x florist #Snatcher x the florist #the florist x snatcher #florist x snatcher #A hat in time the florist #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #a hat in time florist #A hat in time florist x snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #a hat in time snatcher #Snatcher #The Florist #florist #flowercrown

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch34 DJ Grooves’s Play

(If you're wondering what dress Poppy's wearing towards the end and her hairdo, let's just say it looks a lot similar to the dress from Jim Henson's Labrinyth. Like the one shown in the video.)

The audience got silent as soft fairy tale like music drifted through the place and the first thing everyone saw on screen was a pair of bright red curtains. And slowly they opened. The other side of them was an expertly drawn and put together cottage and forest background. The two people on stage was Mr. Timophy and Poppy!! Both wearing a very nice blue suit and frilly dress of a time era from a thousand years ago when Snatcher was alive.

"O-Once upon a time far away in the milky way galaxy, there lived a kind man and his daughter." The deep voice of the narrator voiced out loud and from somewhere off stage so no one could see him. Poppy and Mr. Timophy looked at each other and bowed/curtzed. Like a proper gentlemen and lady. "The man was a very wealthy business man and his daughter was one of the most magnificent people of heart and beauty in the land. With a firey passion and flare like fire, and kindness that shone brighter than the very sun. Because of such bright straits people often referred to her as a star among the people. So she was named, Starella."

SNATCHER'S!! EYES!! WIDENED!!! WAS-...WAS THAT THE SAME POPPY!? The woman on screen had bright beautiful fluffy hair that was curled all the way down to her waist and her bangs was curled around her soft face that looked so soft from the blush. Big beautiful blue eyes blinked at him from the screen with cherry lips and freckles like rose petals being laid delicately on her soft vanilla skin. Her hair adorned with a sparkly blue bow and the dress complementing her well built but curvy body like a-....Like a perfect princess from those fairytales. Snatcher's jaw dropped and he guessed Hazelle must've noticed his expression because she smirked at him. To which when he finally noticed, scowled at her from the shadows. The two on stage suddenly stopped bowing to one another and Mr. Timophy held out his hand towards someone off stage but quickly was answered when a lady mafia in a ugly green dress and the two joined hands and gave each other lovey dovey looks. Behind her strolled out Hazelle in a similar green styled dress. Guess these were the step mother and sister.

"One day Starella's father fell in love with a beautiful widow who had a daughter close to Starella's age. But the woman's beauty hid a cruel heart of greed that would ultimately reveal itself."

The light turned off before popping back up with a fake Hazelle, the mafia woman, and Poppy standing in front of the cottage and waving at Mr. Timophy as he sat within a fake carriage waving back to the three ladies.

"One day her father's rich work came to a point where he had to leave for a year long business trip and left poor Starella in the care of her Stepmother, which is where the trouble began," the Narrator continued. Just as the carriage prop was pulled towards the other side of the stage with Mr. Timophy on it and the lights dimmed again, this time for a little longer before they came back on. It was Poppy again, but with a quick costume change. She was wearing a brown dress with patches, her hair looked messy, and there was fake dirt patches on her face. The scenery had changed from the outside cottage to one that looked like a classic old fashioned kitchen with a shelf, table and everything to complete a kitchen. Poppy was looking down pretending to do dishes as Hazelle and the mafia lady laughed at her from behind. "Starella's Stepmother and stepsister were cruel to her. Taking away all her fine clothing and treasures and making her dress and work as a maid in her own home. Despite this she never lost that shiny kindness she was named for." The lights blacked out again before the lights came back up yet again. This time a grand sparkly scene of a throne room appeared before them with two gold spray painted thrones, a stone wall background, and a mini red carpet running between them. Two mafia men sat on the thrones and it was Thor! Wearing the most ridiculous stereotypical prince costume Snatcher had ever seen. Making him grimace as he continued to watch. One mafia man a light blue suit and the other a dark red suit. "One day the Prince of the land had finally become eligible to be married and his parents wanted nothing more than to know he found the right soul mate for him. So one day one of his fathers asked his son a question."

''My son,'' the mafia man in the red suit and fake crown spoke in that mafia accent, "Your father and I are growing more old in age and one day you shall take responsibility over the kingdom and all who live in it. We must know, have you picked who will rule by your side?''

Thor with his back to the camera bowed his head sadly and shook it no. "Alas for I have not. For no one has caught my attention and no one has wanted anything more to do with me than my throne. I wish to meet someone I can love as much as they truly love me in return, but no one I have ever met had showed me such a thing.''

The red suited mafia man had stood up and was now pointing at Thor who was wearing dark blue. "I have a grand idea! One that shall solve this problem. We shall invite all the eligible people in the land no matter commoner or noble. From them you can choose who you shall wed!"

Thor nodded before the stage went black again and the narrator's voice came back. The cottage scene from the beginning was back and a mafia wearing a yellow suit and a mailman's bag and hat was standing on stage, a few penguins in dresses or suits walked past and he handed them each an envelope before they continued to walk off stage. "The prince happily agreed. So a message was sent out to every young eligible man and woman no matter commoner or wealthy noble." The mafia man in the suit then turned around as the door to the fake cottage opened and out came the mafia woman, Hazelle, and Poppy still in that patchwork dress and he also handed them a letter before turning and walking off stage also. Hazelle and the step mother then proceeded to pretend to gush over the letter. "One day a letter arrived at Starella's home. Offically inviting Starella and her step sister to the grand ball. The Stepmother and Stepsister were overjoyed."

''This is your chance!,'' the Stepmother said to her Hazelle in the same accent as the mafia men, ''You are the most beautiful young lady in the land! You must make the prince fall in love with you and you shall become the queen! Then we shall both live the rest of our lives in peace.''

Poppy made a gesture behind them as if saying something but neither of them looked at her as they continued to fake gush over the letter. "Starella politely asked if she could go but the stepmother ignored her in favor of showering her own daughter in praise and telling her what needed to be done for their goal." The lights dimmed again and they were back in the kitchen scenery with Poppy clutching the fancy blue dress she had been wearing at the beginning of the play and both were glaring at one another. "Days passed and the day of the ball came to be. Defying her Stepmother's wishes she stole back one of her fancy dresses and said to her stepmother."

"I don't care what you say anymore. I will be going to the ball and my father shall hear of your ways!," Poppy yelled loudly still with her country accent but it sounded like she was trying to hide it before turning away from Hazelle's glaring and marching towards a doorway. Opening it and marching up fake stairs out of sight.

" With that Starella marched up the stairs to get herself ready for the ball that night. Enraged by Starella's actions the stepmother and stepsister decided to seek revenge." The lights dimmed and when they came back on it was the outside cottage scene again with the fake carriage that took Mr. Timpohy away. Hazelle and the mafia lady ran out of the front door pretending to sneak around on stage and climbed onto it. Before it started to pull them off stage. "Without Starella knowing the carriage to take them to the ball arrived. As quickly and quietly as mice, the two slipped away and made off into the night. By the time Starella noticed, it was too late." It showed Poppy all prettied up and cute looking like in the beginning running out the door just as the exited the stage....before putting her face in her hands and running back into the door and inside the cottage. And the lights dimmed once again only to light up back into the kitchen scene with Poppy sitting on her knees with her hands still in her hands pretending to cry as she did. "Distraught. Starella sat by the kitchen fire to warm herself and weep her sorrows away."

''Do not be sad'', cried a woman's voice and a moment later a very well made duck puppet ascended from somewhere above stage suspended by strings and Snatcher rose a brow.

Poppy looked up and blinked in surprise. "Startled, Starella turned her face up towards the sound of the voice and saw a tiny duck perched in her window."

''Who are you?," Poppy asked the floating Puppet.

''I am the great Mother Goose.,' the lady who voiced the duck puppet replied, ''Do not weep. Dry those tears. You saved me when those two wicked women wanted to fry me for dinner, and now I shall repay your kindness in full. Bring me one chess knight that's snow white, a nutcracker, and one apple from the pantry. Now hurry. We haven't got much time.''

It then showed Poppy stand up and quickly go through the door connected to the kitchen scene. The Pantry he supposed it was supposed to be, she came back with a few knick knacks in her hands. "She quickly did as the duck asked and brought what she needed."

''Lay them upon the ground and stand aside,'' the duck said.

The lights dimmed again as the narrator took over. "Starella quickly did as she was told as the duck waved her wing over the items." The lights came back on and there was the same carraige from the first two scene and Poppy sitting in it as the duck puppet stayed next to her. "Before her very eyes the items turned into a magnificent couch with a horse and driver to navigate it. As Starella climbed into the couch, Mother Goose perched upon the door to give one final warning."

''I hope you find the happiness you seek, but remember this,'' the duck warned, ''You must leave by Midnight for that is when my magic will fade away and you shall be stranded.''

Poppy nodded before the duck puppet was pulled up and the carriage pulled off stage. "Starella promised the Mother Goose she'd remember the warning and bid the goose good bye as it flew into the sky, and the couch slowly made it way towards the castle." The lights dimmed again and this time there was a scene of the outside of a castle with stone walls and fake stairs that Thor sat upon boredly but looked up when the carraige with Poppy came back on it and stopped in front of him and Poppy got off. Thor stood up and approuched her and the two pretended to start talking. "Unknownst to her the prince was awaiting within the entrance to the grand castle, tired from the large gathering of crowded people inside and not having the desire to having others and so many seeking him out at once. But suddenly he saw the most unusual sight. The most radiant of red couches he had ever seen appeared pulled by the most purest of white horses. Surely this must've been someone important. As Starella emerged from the couch, the prince was entranced by her beauty as she stepped towards him. Taken by her stunning beauty, the prince stood to greet the fair maiden and welcome her to the castle. Moved by the handsome strangest politeness she asked what he was doing out here all alone, and he replied."

''It is because it became too crowded for my liking. I wished to come out here and take a break and talk to someone. But you look new around to the castle. My I offer to show you around the castle?'', Thor asked before holding out his arm to Poppy who took it and both began to walk off stage.

"Starella agreed and took the arm the man offered her. Leading her into the castle above." The lights dimmed again and when they came back on Snatcher's eyes widened...before scowling at Thor on screen. He and Poppy were back in that throne room scene without the thrones this time dancing around in a circle along with a bunch of penguin couples as the narrator spoke. "Starella and the prince spent the entire ball together sharing each other's interests and experiences, getting along so very lovely enraptured by each others' personalities. As time went on Starella forgot all about Mother Goose's warnings as they talked, laughed, and danced the night away. But that all changed in a blink of an eye." Suddenly there was a loud noise of a clock chiming and Poppy suddenly broke off from Thor looking in the direction of the clock chimes with dread. "The clock struck midnight and everything the Mother Goose had ever said came rushing back to her. In an instant full of dread, Starella fled from the Prince and to the exit but it was too late. The couch had transformed back into an apple. The horse to a chess knight. And the handsome couchman back into the nutcracker. Having no other choice, Starella fled down the road into the night back towards her home." Poppy then ran off stage as all the dancers stopped and looked at Thor as he extended his arm out towards her as she ran and suddenly Hazelle and the mafia woman came back to the stage. Thor suddenly holding up his arm. "Determined the prince announced that same night that he would love nothing more than to again meet this mystery lady and he was determined to meet her again. Because the castle was so crowded Starella's Stepmother and Stepsister had not seen her at all, and so paid no attention to her upon arriving home. Only caring about the Prince's proclaim." The lights dimmed and again the lights came back on. This time back in the kitchen scene with Poppy still in the blue dress with Hazelle and the mafia woman behind her. Thor suddenly came on scene and Poppy looked surprised as the other two ladies glared angrily as he came over and took a knee. Taking Poppy's hand and Snatcher's eyes narrowed further. "For days the prince searched far and white for the maiden with bright kindness and hair that shown brighter than any star. No one could tell him who this mysterious maiden was and he was beginning to lose hope when he finally reached the home of Starella and her step family. Where he finally found what he seeked."

''At last I have found you,'' Thor said with glee, ''Starella, I have searched far and wide because before no one had ever showed me the kindess you have. With your permission I would love nothing more than to learn more about you. "

"Starella happily agreed and her father returned." Poppy nodded to Thor before the lights dimmed again and it came back on a moment later with Hazelle, the mafia lady, Poppy, and Thor with one arm around Poppy's shoulders were standing in the outside cottage scene again as the carriage prop returned with Mr. Timophy in it. Snatcher narrowed his eyes even more at Thor. Mr. Timpopy got off as the carraige prompt was pulled off stage and Poppy pretended to say say something to him, as he then turned to Hazelle and the mafia woman with a glare. "Upon hearing what her Stepmother and Stepsister had done while he was away, he banished them from his home never to return again." Mr. Timophy pointed off stage and with glares, Hazelle and the mafia woman fled from the stage as the lights dimmed once again. When the lights came back on Snatcher's eyes went wide once again at the sight. Poppy was wearing a bright white ballgown with her hair done up in a beautiful hairstyle and she was holding hands with Thor smiling. All the penguins, mafia men, and Mr. Timophy was around them smiling and clapping, and throwing white petals and glitter around them. Snatcher's yellow orbs widened at the very obvious wedding dress as the petals and glitter shimmered around her smiling face making her shimmer and glow. "After a few years of letting their love and fondness for each other grow, Starella and the prince were finally married. The End."

The red curtains slowly closed on them and then the end credits rolled. And that's when the audience cheered from before like with Comductor's movie as they all clapped and whisteled and cheered. Again spilling some popcorn and other food on the theater floors. The end credits saying the names of the ones resposible like- Starella by Poppy Rose Bloomington. Step Sister by Witch Hazelle. Prince by Thor. Director DJ Grooves. And so on and so forth. Poppy was still frozen to her seat, feeling anxiety as she had watched the whole thing questions running through her mind. Had she done a good job? Would anyone like it? Did she mess up anywhere? Would she betray Mr. Grooves expectations? But those anxieties mostly went away as she saw the absolute happy smiles of the crowd clapping and cheering for the screen as the credits kept rolling, which made her give a sigh of relief.

"YOU WERE GREAT, POPPY!!," Hattie shouted over the crowd and Bow nodded as both girls smiled wide eyed at the red head. "You too, Hazelle!!"

"Yeah!! You were the most evil step sister ever!!", Bow added.

Hazelle chuckled and waved them off. "Well of course I am. I AM a witch after all.~"

The crowd's cheering died down as the lights lit up the stage again and the same lady owl came back on as the screen went back to it's regular white. "Wow! Wasn't that lovely? Who'd have thought we'd get a forbiddon love story and a play straight out of a fairytale all in one night? Let's have a round of applause for Mr. DJ Grooves and his wonderful staff for bringing us that lovely treat, eh?" A small round of clapping ensued. "Thank you to all the contestants today for such a lovely performance by both teams, but as we know there can only be one winner of the Annual Bird Movie Awards this year. While the judges go over their notes and decide who shall be this year's pick, please exit back into the main lobby to your right as they do where we'll be doing some live interviews with the cast and people behind this year's movies and see what they have to say. Please throw away any wrappings and leftover garbage into the trashbins on your way out."

The crowd of birds stood up and began to make their way toward the door way that opened up again letting light flood right in. The girls and Hazelle stood too but waited as most of the crowd went past them to avoid getting crowded and seperated again with Poppy did NOT want. The lady owl on stage too off stage followed by the two camera Penguins/owls and towards where ever she was going Poppy guessed. When it finally thinned out, the girls and Snatcher walked out back into the floor and were greeted with the sight of birds throwing Popcorn buckets, candy wrappers, and empty soda cups into an overflowing trashbin before departing into different places onto the floor. Poppy and the girls made their way over to the food desk handing out even more food to the birds who was still hungry or wanted more food. After that little scare she was starting to feel hungry, some solid food in her stomach would be nice for once. As they got in the surprsingly long line they saw a familiar face in front of them.

Hattie gasped. "COOKIE!!" She and bow took off running towards the orange cat in line with Muriel right next to her but turned around hearing the girl call her name. When she realized who it was, she smiled and held out her arms to hug the two girls as they ran up to her. "We missed you!"

Cookie chuckled as the two grown women walked up to her. "Oh, I missed you too! I'm so sorry I couldn't visit for a while, but Conductor asked me to help him with his movie. And who am I to say no to him?" She looked up as the two women came up to her. "Ah! Sugercube, I saw ya'll in Mr. Grooves's play! You looked mighty stunnin' in that dress of yours!"

Poppy chuckled awkwardly. "Uh...T-Thanks! Ya looked really purty too! And ya acted so well! It was a mighty fine movie ya did!"

The cat chuckled and waved her paw. "Oh it was nothing a lil practice couldn't help! Say! Why don't ya'll join us and we can catch up a bit? Been a while since we had a chat."

"That sounds like a great idea!"

So the group of girls (and Snatcher) all got together by Poppy and Muriel who was already in line. It was nice to catch up a bit since it'd be a while with like twenty birds in front of them still. They found out Cookie and Muriel had been asked by COnductor to help out with his movie as they were perfect for the roles to which Poppy compliment Muriel on. MU looked proud as she did, she was a good mayor. Currently Cookie was being introduced to Hazelle and the two were complimenting each others roles as Catrina and the evil step sister while Poppy looked around. She noticed the owl lady from the stage in front of Conductor who had his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face camera crew pointing the camera on him. She asked something into the mic before holding it out to Conductor. The owl(bird thing-) cackled and said something back she couldn't make out as he had the interview.

"WOW!! IT'S COOKING CAT!! ANS SOME GIRLS!!" Poppy jumped when a bright light flashed and an owl holding a camera. Looking at Cookie and the two girls. "I s-saw you all on TV!! C-Can I have your autographs?!"

Cookie and the girls being nice and polite agreed and soon small crowds of penguins and owls came up to them all asking for pictures and their autographs, and eventually some attention went to Hazelle, Poppy, and Muriel too. MU seemed proud to be taking pictures and signing papers when they realized she was the mayor actor, and the same with Hazelle as she was recognized as the step sister. Poppy was pretty overwhelmed-...Being swept up straining a smile for the camera and sighing her name with shaking hands when they asked, feeling her anxiety spike up as she smiled and bared it. Snatcher watching from the floor and yellow orbs blinked out from her shadow. He-.....He couldn't believe that was Poppy back there. She looked....so different from what she looks like now. Just a plan white dress with purple flowers and long hair in a braid like usual. She barely looked anything like the make up caked self on the screen wearing those beautiful gowns or all messied up and patchwork dress. And he couldn't help but wonder....Would that have been what Poppy had looked like if she had been a noble? Would she have been that beautiful in a wedding dress if they ever did get married? Would she have been that beautiful as his princess if he had ever gotten the chance to tell her how he felt long ago and if she felt the same? Guess he would never know- He grunted when an owl stepped on his face and blocked his veiw of her as the group slowly continued to move. The line continued to get smaller as the group slowly moved in between the signing and pictures. Poppy didn't know how long it took until they finally got to the stand still signing and taking pictures, but by the time they moved away she was too preoccupied to even get anything, so when they left, she was still hungry, straining a smile, and still signing and taking pictures through it as a few others came up to them for them.

"Are you ok there?," Hazelle asked after she just finished signing a penguin's notepad.

Poppy nodded. "I-I-It's just....s-so much...I d-don't like bein' the center of attention."

"Don't worry. We can leave as soon as those silly birds finish judging and announce the winner already." Hazelle suddenly smiled as an owl took her picture.

"I certainly hope so." And she really did.

"DARLINGS!!!" They all looked up as a certain dancing Penguin came rushing towards them with a few penguin body guards behind him and a whole slew of cameras and birds behind him...and Poppy gulped...Uh oh. The Penguin came right up the the group of girls with a bright and cheery smile. "THERE YOU ARE!! Darlings, darlings, darlings!! This is the happiest day in my life!! And it's thanks to you all that made it all possible! I have a good feeling about tonight! A VERY good feeling!! I can not thank you both enough!!"

Hazelle waved a hand. "It's not a problem."

Poppy smiled nervously more. "N-No need ta thank me. Shucks. Ah only helped."

"Oh NO!! You all brought it together marvelously!! Don't be so bashful, Darling! You were beautiful out there!" Poppy flushed an embarrased pink at his compliment before he turned his attention to Cookie. "Cookie, Dearest! Look at you! You looked positively ravishing out there! Really stole the thunder away from the ol' Conductor now."

Cookie giggled as Muriel rolled her eyes behind her. "Oh you charmer.~"

Poppy sighed as they continued to talk up and even more people asked for the groups autographs and pictures. Some even throwing questions at her. Are you the Starella Actress? What made you audition for the part? How long have you been working with Dead Bird Studios? Peck. She just wanted to go home already. PLEASE LET THIS END SOON!!!

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!!" A loud voice boomed out and everyone looked over to the same owl lady that was previously talking to Conductor a little while ago. She stood in the middle of the room with both cameras on her, the judges behind her, and an owl holding a shiny gold trophy gleaming in their arms. "The judges have decided after much careful planning and the winner is about to be announced!" The room clambered with happy excitement as well as the small group and Mr. Grooves immediately laser focused on her as she looked to one of the judges. This was it. Oh boy this was it. Her heart beat picked up as did her breathing, her forehead sweating a bit as the owl lady was handed a piece of paper by one of the judges. She brought it to her face to read it. "And the winner of the 500th Annual Bird Movie Awards Ceremony is-........" She smiled and suddenly pointed somewhere away from her. "CONDUCTOR!!" Poppy could feel her mind shatter and her stomach drop upon hearing those words leave the owls mouth. The cackling bird walked walked up to the owl lady as the took the trophy from the other owl and handed it to Conductor who happily took it with a wide smile and shook her hand when she offered her wing. The crowd around them cheering as they did. "Congratulations, Mr. Conductor on your fabulous win!! Is there anything you'd like to say to the folks watching this success?" She offered the mic to him.

"Ahehehe!! Aye couldn't have done it without me lassie!! Not that I didn't think I wouldn't win, cuz who didn't?", he said smugly to the camera and she nodded before turning back to the cameras.

"Well this has been a rather exciting and eventful evening with lots of wonderful acting and talent. While the winner celebrates his victory, we'll go for a small commercial break. Stay tuned because it's not over yet. Later we'll have live interviews with the staff and actors behind the scenes of the movies tonight along with the judges and Mr. Grooves about how he's taking the loss of this year. Stay tuned for all the exciting bonus behind the scenes content as well. Expect a word from our sponser and even a secret interview with our special guest judge about their books and upcoming series. See you all back after the break." She made a cutting motion with her hand and the cameras were lowered from her.

Poppy slowly turned to the penguin in front of her. He looked....upset. Frowning and head lightly staring at his feet. ...And she swallowed the lump in her throat. "M-Mr. G-G-Grooves?? A-AH-.....I-I'm s-s-s-so sorry-"

He waved her off with a flipper giving a small smile and looking up to her. "No. No, Darling. I knew this might've happened and It's alright. It's not your fault. Everyone gave it there all and I couldn't have asked for a better crew. Besides....There's always next year."

Poppy felt bad. I mean she was absolutely relieved he didn't seem to be mad at her or think she owed him anything, but seeing him so sad after all the hard work that everyone had put in it was so sad. She still felt bad, but guess she couldn't change anything about it. No one noticed the penguin with no hat waddling up to them until he cleared his throat and Mr. Grooves gasped.

"*ahem* Mr. Grooves?"

"*GASP* M-M-M-MR. GWEN!!!"

".....Who?," Poppy asked looking between them.

"WHO?! DARLING THIS IS THE PENGUIN BEHIND THE STORY WE BASED THE PLAY OFF!! AND WINNER OF THE BIRD WIRITING AWARDS ELEVEN YEARS RUNNING!! THE MOST FAMOUS WRITER ON THE PLANET!!!" Eleven years winner AND famous? Wow. That's pretty impressive. Mr. Grooves smiled nervously and stammered out. "W-W-What are you doing here, Sir?"

".....I thought the dedication you put into staying true to the source material was.....masterful."

"W-Why thank you, Sir!!"

"And I wanted to discuss a possible series of movies of my other older classics with you."

Mr. Grooves's beak dropped!! And the two penguins stared at each other for the longest time before he managed to speak again. "A-A-Are you serious?!"

"Of course I am. You're the most famous movie director in penguin history. It'd be an honor to work with someone in your field knowing you'll stay true to what I write. So what do you say we do lunch within a week from next Tuesday? Yes?"

"I-I-I- YES!!" His smile came back BIGGER than before. "ABSOLUTELY YESS!! I-I-I look forward to it!!"

"Then I'll see you then. I look forward to doing business with you." He held out a flipper and Mr. Grooves happily shook it.

Poppy's face lit up like a star when seeing this. Mr. Grooves may have not won, but he got a great deal out of it as he seemed thrilled by it. After maybe another hour of Poppy congratulating everyone, and smiling and signing autographs and smiling for taking pictures-......She was absolutely mentally exhausted and tired. She guessed Snatcher must've noticed because he (demanded) told them all they were all leaving no so Poppy could rest her anxiety. After finding Cookie so the girls could say good bye, and then Finding Mr. Grooves so Poppy could congratulate him and say good bye, they exited with Hazelle through the back door to avoid the big crowds and parted ways with her in the alley as both her and Snatcher decided to teleport back home. So Snatcher was finally able to come out of their shadows grumpily. He was SO tired of being stepped on by everyone for a few hours, and soon they were whisked away back to the ship with that familiar dark purple surrounding them. The ship was just as they left it. Quiet and peaceful.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!!," Hattie shouted throwing her arms up. "Cookie was so pretty and cool! And then Conductor pulled the thing out like POP!! And then you were so pretty, Poppy!! And then you danced around and there was the milky way prince just like in the story and-"

"AND it's bed time," Poppy interjected making both girls awe in protest. "It's been a long night. But tell ya what. Ya'll go and get in pajamas by the time I get there and ah'll read ya that Starella book again before ya sleep. Deal?"

They had already run off towards the bedroom that opened and closed behind the two rushing children and she chuckled watching them go. Ah. To have that kind of energy. But she paused and looked behind her hearing Snatcher clear his throat, almost forgetting Snatcher was still there behind her. The two stared at each other for a little while before he looked away and spoke.

"Uh......I know you already heard this, but you did a decent job back there. Not that I enjoyed it or anything. ....And you looked....really nice...N-Not that I noticed or anything either."

Poppy stared at him for a moment, before smiling. "Thanks! And I never got ta thank ya for helpin' me when I got lost back there."

Snatcher scratched at his fluff. "Yeah. Well someone had to keep an eye on you to keep you out of trouble."

She giggled before patting his side. "I mean it. I appreciated your support back there."

He looked at her for a while. ".....Your welcome."

She smiled at him one last time before yawning and turning around. "W-Well...I better go and read them that story. They'll never sleep without it."

"Heh. Don't I know it."

She smiled before turning away. "Well. G'night."

"Good night, Poppy."

He watched her walk towards the girls' bedroom door for a moment, before turning around and surrounding himself in purple to take him back to the forest. He still had work that needed finishing.

#a hat in time snatcher #a hat in time florist #A hat in time the florist #A hat in time florist x snatcher #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #The Florist #flowercrown #florist #snatcher #florist x snatcher #snatcher x florist #the florist x snatcher #Snatcher x the florist #ABloomInTime

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch32 Time To Make Up

(Warning: Nightmares. Also if you look through the The Tale Of Queen Vanessa storybook, on the fifth page when the Prince pays for the flowers as it shows Vanessa running away, it looks like he paid with a gold bracelet which is what the Florist is holding. So that's where the golden bracelet headcannon came from. Kudos to anyone who spots the Steaven Universe reference.)

Cold. Darkness. All of it came rushed over so suddenly. No- NO!! THIS COULDN'T BE HAPPENING!! SHE DIDN'T WANT THE NIGHTNARE TO RETURN AGAIN!! SHE DIDN'T WANT ANOTHER RUN IN WITH VANESSA AGAIN!! Well to give the poor lady credit it wasn't about Vanessa but a different red eyed ghosts that twitched and smiled like a maniac in a giant black filled void surrounded by red ropes dangling dangerously around himself. Laughing like a crazy man who just got turned loose and was given free reign to wreck havoc on the world as he saw fit. It was a living night mare as she relived the events that just took place the previous day before.

He just nodded smiling. ''Im glad to have been so helpful to you. ...But there IS one more important thing you must know about.~"

She looked back to him with a raised brow. "And what is that?"

"This." He held up one of his hands and snapped his fingers. The sound echoing out eerily and Poppy flinched at the sound. After a few seconds a bright red string dropped from out of nowhere and stopped right beside his head.

She stared at it for a moment. "...What is that thing?"

"It's how I make contracts. You see Snatcher isn't the only one who can make those, the only difference is that the person HAS to willingly agree to sign the paper or he can't do anything...While MINE can be forced upon." His smile widened more. "And frankly I don't think he deserves someone as special as you!!"

His wrist that he still had held up suddenly went down in a slashing motion and in an instant the thing sprung to life on his command. Poppy yelped as it went straight towards her and on instinct brought her arm up to shield her face, the red string wrapped around her arm like a snake and proceeded to tighten like one Poppy was pulled forward by it and she yelped before digging her heels into the ground and pulling back, her otherhand clasping over the string. Moonjumper smiled and simply motioned his finger forward as it painfully tightened around her more.

"WHAT THE PECK DO YA THINK YER DOING?!," She angrily snarled at his smile.

"DAD!! What are you doing?!," Timmy asked just as horrified as the other two children. Obviously he wasn't expecting this to happen.

"Don't worry. They all fight at first but soon you'll forget any pain and be eternally happy." Moonjumper said in a reassurring voice. "Won't that be better? You'll never be in danger again, and be here with me."

"YOU'RE MORE CRAZY THAN SNATCHER!!" She stumbled forward a foot at a sudden yank, The red string glowing a bright red and her blue eyes widened at it.

"Don't worry. I promise it doesn't hur-"

At that very moment a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of her body. Temparaily knocking the wind outta her. Poppy gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within her. Her body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of her chest and she stayed there gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation leaving goosebumps across the pale flesh and her shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and gasping for air like a drowning sailor, the red string absolutely disintagrated from the purple magic that glowed in a heart shape right in the middle of her chest. Moonjumper froze, staring at the woman on her hands and knees in absolute shock like the time he first saw her. Poppy's red hair went around framing her face as she coughed and faced the floor....Before slowly looking up through her bangs with the angriest more visious snarl on a mortal woman one could have.

"You can-...NO!" Moonjumper snarled back. "NO!! This can not be it! Y-You-....YOU DONT POSESS ANY MAGIC STRONG ENOUGH TO COUNTER MINE!! I-I-...THAT SHOULD'VE WORKED!!"

"Is THAT what that was?," she hissed out.

"How did you do that?! How you you have possibly have- No! Your will against it just must be stronger than the normal mortal!" He held both hands out and Poppy's face went back to panicked when near ten strings came from the dark and towards her. Timmy yelled at Moonjumper to stop but he either didn't notice him or didn't listen when Poppy was painfully suspended into the air. Most of the strings too tightly wrapped around her arms but some wrapped around her legs too and one around her neck, she cursed and struggled like a mad women being sent to the looney bin. Fighting and fighting before that still glowing purple heart sent out another energy burst and in an instant all the strings were destroyed. Leaving her to fall on the ground and start coughing and breathing again for air like a dying man. Moonjumper once again stood there stunned too shocked for words. Eyes going to the purple throbbing of her body....and suddenly absolutely fear wracked his face and form. "......N-No.....N-NONONONO!!!" His hands suddenly went over his mouth and he floated a few feet away. "N-No.." His red eyes snapped to her face when she weakly pushed it up. "Y-You signed it didn't you? Y-YOU SIGNED THAT CONTRACT WITH SNATCHER!?"

You signed a contract with Snatcher??? .....Yes. Yes she did. Is that what made Moonjumper so scared? Why? Was he scared his plan would fail if she was already in servitude to another powerful spirit? None of it made any sense. Not that it needed to in the first place for Poppy to be scared and start thrashing around again fighting against the madness of the ghosts in her life. This was it! She had enough! No more ghosts! No more red eyes!! No more traps!! No more prisons!! She just wanted it. ALL. TO.

"STOP!! STOP ITSTOPITSTOPIT!! LET ME GO!! STOP!!.....SNATCHER!! SNATCHER PECKIN' HELP ME!!"

Something grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. All she could see was red eyes and feel the tightening grip on her arms all red from strings from the darkness. Screeching that sounded like bloody murder echoed out through the child's bedroom and blue eyes opened in a sudden blurry black vision. Someone stared at her and more screams were hollered out at two glowing yellow orbs that scattered away from the source of the sounds as whoever was cutting his ears with piercing screams moved back away from him. Blanket uncovering their body and a pillow tossed in the direction of the ghost of nightmares coming back for her. .....Well it most certainly WAS a ghost. But NOT the one she just had a nightmare about. This ghost yelped when his face was suddenly wacked by a pillow and as it fell to the floor he shook his head and watched as the panicked woman stared up at him frazzled and breathing heavily. Heart pounding against her chest as she stared up at him and he stared down at her. Blinking her head whipped around her surroundings and saw nothing but cute harmless things you'd normally find in a child's bedroom. Toys. Animal themed wall paper. Book shelf of fairy tales. And that familiar giant pillow pile. It was.....Not the dark void of the Horizon Moonjumper was in. That gave her some peace of mind as her breathing began to slow and her eyes closed but she still asked.

"W-Where....Where am I?"

"The kid's bedroom." The raspy voice of Snatcher's came. That beautiful annoying voice she would GLADLY take over Vanessa's or (now) Phi-....Moonjumper's. Said ghost lowered until he was eye level with the startled woman and gently placed his hands on the bedside next to her. "You passed out and I thought this would be better than the attic floor. ...Hazelle said you were exhausted by the overflow of magic but you'd be alright."

So that was it. Well at least she was gonna be alright....But now-......Moonjumper's voice was still fresh in his mind, as well as Snatcher's and as well as both of their actions-

FIRST!! THERE WAS EVERYTHING ABOUT SNATCHER UP TO THIS POINT!!

When she first glimpsed him at the manor. The brown hair was...P-Philip's. It was like everyone's voices and actions were being replayed back through her head with every moment of foreshadowing, hints, and puzzle pieces finally being put back together-

"Hey! I know who can help! Snatcher can!! He's really, REALLY old too and he should what to do!! Come on! He had to deal with being frozen and Vanessa just like you!" Hattie had given her the first major clue to it all. He had to deal with being froze to death AND Vanessa because he was the one who took the brunt of Vanessa's rage. "Hey! I know what can help a little bit. Y-You like flowers right?" He had a flash of panic fly over his face for a moment before he coughed and shrugged. "You said you had a flower stand before Vanessa sent her goons to take you right? O-Obviously you must've liked growing things then. Or at least flowers." That....THAT PECKING PECKNECK KNEW ALL ALONG SHE LOVED FLOWERS!! HE PECKING KNEW!! "We're all that's left and you should accept that's how it is now before you get hurt. Believe me the sooner you do the sooner everything starts to get better for you." "Hey. I can understand that. Believe it or not you're not the only one who's gone through that kind of thing....I'm certainly no stranger to feeling like that. In fact it took me forever literally just to realize my place after I got lost," "Ok. To make it in mushier terms..I DO want to help you ok. Believe it or not I do and I have my reasons. But you gotta know I can't change the past no matter what. Trust me I have TRIED and look where that got me. Stuck fused with a mushy corpse and having to lead a whole bunch of strangers through the forest like a tour guide." he glanced at her confusion again. "Uh..B-But that's not important. The important thing is that I can't change or fix anything that's already happened alright? I can't send you back. I can't give you anything from your old life......And I can't change what happened to you." Her face dropped and eyes widened even more- "But, I can help make the future easier and help you with whatever you need to settle down with alright? But you got to understand that it's NOT just going to be with a snap of my fingers. I know, I've experienced it for hundreds of years. Just know that...You're not going to be alone in any of this alright?" "No. You were right the first time. She was always a monster, it just took her a while to show everyone what was really inside. So don't give her any credit. She was never a queen, just a spider wearing a pretty mask." "I-I...I know exactly how you feel." He scowled. "Yeah. I know EXACTLY how that feels. Vanessa took everything from me too when she froze everything!" He growled and his grip on her became a bit tighter if he was being a lil protective. "I pecking didn't see it coming until it froze me right before my very eyes! I died before my life even took off the ground and now I'm stuck like this....But you aren't." He ...attempted a smile. "Listen, Poppy. I'm not good at this speaking from the heart stuff, but Im pretty good at speaking from experience stuff. So trust me when I saw you still got your whole life plus more ahead of you. It's....probably going to take a while for you to process this properly and start to move on like I did." "Look. I ....can't change the past no matter how badly I want to. But I can change the future, and so can you. Think of all the things you can do now without anyone to hold you back!" He might've been speaking from what he perceived as a positive but she gave him a funny look. "Uh...By that I mean vanessa of course. She's not holding you prisoner anymore." "I stumbled across him a few times coming up here to visit. Hmph! He's very rude and always steals any dish I make with bacon when he's around me cooking. Quite the oddball out if ya'll ask me." P-Philip ....LOVED bacon. And Vanessa banned bacon from their kingdom around the time she died. "Of course I can! I made the kids all those clothes and my minions their highly durable bodies." ""YOU painted all of these?" she asked gawking at him His smile widened more smug if that was possible. "Yep. And those." He pointed to the left wall wear there was five giant paintings behind the space cow mobile. He then pointed behind her. "And the ones right behind you." Now that Poppy thought about it hard, she faintly recalled Philip learning embroidery from his mother and taking a liking to hobbies like painting and reading books. Both of which he did and you can CERTAINLY learn to sew along with embroidery. "How do you know that?," she asked genuinely confused. "UH....I- Um-....I-I-I was there when he was killed." He still eyed her for a moment before looking to the floor unable to look her in the eyes anymore. ".......Vanessa killed him. Just like she did to everyone else....a-a-and y-y-you...." "Just like you. She locked him away until everything froze over. Vane-.....That MONSTER!'', he spat hand slightly tightening as he scowled at the floor, "She was pecking crazy. Thought he was....cheating on her behind her back when he was nothing but patient with her. She didn't deserve anything." "Because she was nuts! Always have been and always WILL be! She would've snapped sooner or later with the way she was back then, always so paranoid and thinking I-.....I THINK he belonged to her." His other hand was quick to shoot out and grab her shoulders accidentally making her jolt at the sudden grab but it was enough to get her to look at him. "Now you listen to me and you listen good." A claw poked her chest as he pointed it at her crying face with a deep frown of his own. "I have dealt with too many years of pecking guilt over whether or not it was my fault or if I could've stopped it! And I'm sick of it all! You. Are. Not. At fault!! Do you hear me?! Vanessa was always going to snap and it was HER fault for being so batpecking crazy, she couldn't tell the difference between fantasy and reality! There was no reason in her! We should've expected nothing less of her for anything! But I'll be just as bad if I didn't it now, and I'm saying it's not your fault. Least of all people you. All you did was sell flowers. Big deal. It would've been the same if she saw m-....him buying a necklace from a jeweler or a ham from the butcher. BANG!!" She flinched at the loud yell he made at 'BANG'. Tears running down her face as he spoke. "Ice. Death. Lots of ghosts. You get the picture. The point is, it's ABSOLUTELY! NOBODY'S PECKING FAULT!! BUT VANESSA'S!! .......You and me didn't do anything wrong." "So-...I take it this..'prince' friend of yours was a nice person? Not that I knew him, but it seems you two were close. Not that it's any of my business." He had an anxious feeling saying all of this as a stranger but he couldn't help but feel the need to get all this anxiety off himself by asking. "It just sounds like you cared about him a whole lot." "Yeah.....Hey. This might sound out of no where but do you blame him, your friend, for what happened between him and Vanessa?" "How did you die?," she found herself blurting out before she could stop but she instantly regretted it. "WHAT?!" Snatcher whipped his face to her wide eyed. "S-Sorry." She held up her hands worriedly. "Is it rude to ask a dead person that? I d-didn't know honest. It's just that.....You're doin' an aweful lot for me and I don't know a lot about ya, since you already know alot 'bout me from my rambling. I figured ya would return the favor." "Sorry. NO can do, Red. That's private information." She scowled again. "OH come on! Purple onion. Your contract paper thingy said I could ask for anything I wanted in return for helping ya!" "Within REASON!," Snatcher stressed, "Asking a ghost about their past is like asking a poor person how much money they spent on their shoes!" "Same as you. I died during the Great Subcon Freeze." "Oh. Well you said you saw what happened when Philip....p-p-passed away, right? Does that mean you were employed by the Queen?'' "Sorta. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." Which wasn't really a lie. He couldn't have ever been in a more wrong place or time. "Another innocent bystander to a crazy curse." "Oh right. Dumb question. Then who wer-" "Next question!," "Ok! Well ya technically did, but I mean what made ya decide to help me? I just don't get it.". "Because I recognized you from the village." "I-...Sometimes saw you selling flowers in the square, and-.....I guess I was simpathetic to someone else in a similar situation as I was."

That.....Night....The night she had her nightmare. THERE WAS SO MANY HINTS HITTING HER IN THE FACE AND SHE WAS STILL BLIND TO THEM ALL!!

"So....does that mean Philip is a g-ghost too?" "A ghost? Well that's not exactly easy to answer. Any ghost I know if they even became ghosts would be in the forest .....or another plain of existance. A-And like I said BARELY any of my minions remember who they were before they died."

He LIED!!....No. Not exactly lied. He did tell the truth but...BENT IT!! Without actually answering anything!! Or telling Poppy anything!! WHY?! What reason would he have to keep his identity hidden from her?! They were friends....Weren't they? ALL OF IT!! Everything he or anyone else had said lined up perfectly with what Moonjumper-....Or second Philip had told her.

"And you know I could always scare you out of any debt you got yourself into with those pecknecks down there." He offered genuinely. "I may not look like it, but I'm very good at legal technicalities. I did want to be a lawyer at once upon a time!" Philip studied laws to better his future kingdom one day. He always said he wanted to be a good king. And mentioned if he wasn't destined to be prince he would've liked to become a lawyer. And there was a bush cat in his home...Philip mentioned having a pet bush cat. A gift from his father. Moonjumper's echoing voice still rang around in her head with everything he said. "HA! That's rich coming from him! That halfling is lying right to your face!" "Why? Didn't dear Snatcher tell you?" He chuckled and gave a smile similar to Snatcher's smug one. "We're two halves of the same person.~ Split at death and now wondering through death two halves of the same person.~" "Oh! He didn't tell you did he?" He smiled and gestured to himself with a smile. "Well allow me to elaborate for you, my dear.~ Snatcher and I are both Prince Philip Snider Of the Kingdom of Subconette.~ When we died in the frozen celler we split personalities resulting in us becoming two very different ghosts. How I have no idea, but it's quite the sight isn't it?~"

"Are you sure about that?"

AND THEN-.....THEN THERE WAS MOONJUMPER!!!

"Poppy, it's ME!!," Moonjumper pleaded to the red head looking guilty and holding up his hands in a non threatening gesture. "PHILIP!!" He admitted it the second he saw her. "Y-Yes. Philip Snider. Y-You remember me right?" he leaned down more until he was eyes level still smiling despite her shuffling back a lil bit against the nightstand. "I bought flowers from you all the time for my Darling Vanessa. You remember don't you?" He lifted a hand towards her smiling steadily and as a friendly gesture. "D-Do you remember the last batch of flowers I bought from you?" "Daises.." They both answered at the same time and Poppy paused. Of course he knew...he was Philip. .....Poppy shook her head. "N-No. No! Y-Y-You can't be Philip. " She pointed at him-....It-....The thing! "Ya'll look nothin' like him! He wasn't some....twitchy mess of ...What are y-ya exactly?" He regarded Poppy for a long moment before sighing and reaching a hand up to rub at his head. Well...It was too late to back out now, and he'd come this far hasn't he. He turned fully to Poppy. "Well, yes. I admit I look nothing like I did when I was alive, but neither does my other half or any other ghost for that matter. Some of the one I've seen look very stranger....And you wouldn't be too far off on me not being the same Philip as you remember. I-...I-I actually go by Moonjumper now. " .....Was it normal for ghosts to look completely different from when they were alive?? She guessed so. Moonjumper huffed making Poppy flinch at the sound. "HA! That's rich coming from him! That halfling is lying right to your face!" .....Poppy blinked. "W-What?" Moonjumper smiled sweetly. "Why? Didn't dear Snatcher tell you?" He chuckled and gave a smile similar to Snatcher's smug one. "We're two halves of the same person.~ Split at death and now wondering through death two halves of the same person.~" Poppy's eyes widened big and in shock not processing the words he said right. "W-What?" "Oh! He didn't tell you did he?" He smiled and gestured to himself with a smile. "Well allow me to elaborate for you, my dear.~ Snatcher and I are both Prince Philip Snider Of the Kingdom of Subconette.~ When we died in the frozen celler we split personalities resulting in us becoming two very different ghosts. How I have no idea, but it's quite the sight isn't it?~"

Snatcher didn't tell her ANY of that information, but Moonjumper was all too willing to throw his half under the bus like that and exploit everything within a minute of meeting. Then there's what he said to her in the Horizon before he attacked her.

He looked her over for a moment before sighing and holding up his hands. "Alright. Allow me to tell you a story that will clear EVERYTHING up and help you catch up with recent events. Once upon a time a thousand years ago, there was two Kingdoms." He closed his hands behind his back again as he gave her a neutral look as he slowly started floating to her left. "The Kingdom of Subcon and the Kingdom of Subconette. The rulers of these kingdoms decided their children would get married and unite both these kingdoms in harmony. Their names were PRINCE Snider of Subconette and Princess Vanessa of Subcon. The princess was the most beautiful woman any where and the prince in my opinion was more better looking.~ But for some unknown reason the princess CRACKED!" He vanished behind her and Poppy had to turn her head the other way as he continued to slowly float in a circle around her. "She slowly descended into madness and became nothing but a controlling dictator that put me-..The prince through NOTHING but misery, and yet the prince still foolishly loved her and tried his best to make her happy! His only saving grace was when he had to leave for his studies and when he met YOU!!" Poppy blinked as he now smiled. "Poppy Rose Bloomington. A small time country girl who grew up on a farm and moved to town to sell her pretty flowers.~ Catching the eye of a prince with your understanding and very kind nature. Basically being everything to him that Vanessa wasn't or ever will be. But THEN." His smile turned back into a snarl. Like the kind of snarl Snatcher gave the Mafia Boss but she wasn't sure where his anger lied with now as he stopped in front of her. "Vanessa turned on me! Over nothing but a few measly flowers all for her!! After everything I sacrificed for her! All those years of pandering to every single one of her demands no matter how ridiculous and impossible they were! I gave her the best dam bloody years of my life and she repaid me for my loyalty and love to her by chaining myself in the dark abyss of the cellar and ending myself up trapped here for over a thousand years! Watching while others got to frollic free and Snatcher get to rein over our kingdoms!!" They. Were. Stunned. Not just her but the kids too. Even Timmy who lived her with Moonjumper seemed in shock from the sudden tantrum. But as soon as it came it left when he exhaled and leaned back holding up his hands. "F-Forgive me. My death...i-is a sensative topic. I just find it so unbareable when the old memories from how unfair it was was brought up....But that's the story mostly. I don't know how or why we ended up splitting on death but each of us are half of what made up our personality and thinking process." He held a hand to his chest. "I am, if I do say so myself, the much better half. The part with the actual manners and dignity and the proper way to actually behave. Meanwhile Snatcher is full of anger and resentment, stubborn an an Express Owl, gloomier than a graveyard, AND he lacks any empathy or positive qualities other than his own motives!!......I hope that answers your questions, my dear."

......Her fists balled up some of the rocketship printed blanket in her hands from it all overwhelming her brain and her body tensed. Catching Snatcher's attention. ....Philip..Her Philip...Her Prince..Her..Her best friend..Had not become not one but two terrible people. One who was willing to give her nothing but the truth but had her lured to a place away from his other half who he KNEW wouldn't let him do it and attacked her for some reason lost to her. And the other....While much more nicer and docile where she and others she'd seen were concerned, had deliberately LIED to her face and made her sign a contract of servitude. What other things was he willing to lie to her face about and for how long...SHE WASNT A TOY TO BE PASSED AROUND!!!

Snatcher sensed her distress and saw the trembling she did and feared for a moment she was going to cry. "Poppy? What's wrong?"

".....Why did you lie to me, Philip?"

Snatcher. FROZE. Any thoughts in his head haulting and fizzling into thin air as that one word left her mouth. Anything he was about to say dying on his tongue as those yellow glowing eyes continued to stare dead at the woman who went to absolute burningly staring back at him with that absolute seething expression. It was over. Done. He was absolutely finished. The end of the line for him after only a week. This was how he was going down in flames. THIS was TRUELY how things were unraveled.

"That was your name. Prince Philip Snider from the south Kingdom of Subconia, and was engaged to Queen Vanessa." Her blue eyes bore into his absolutely SCARED yellow ones. She sat straight up and looked at him like a woman. Oh hoho! He was NOT going to get away with this. She was more than glad to throw. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. She knew back at him. "Ya'll loved to paint and read! Yer favorite food was bacon! Ya'll studied law ta make yerself a better KING and wanted to be a lawyer secretly. And your mum taught ya how ta sew! That lil bushcat in your comfy home down there was ALWAYS yours! I KNOW VANESSA MANIPULATED AND ABUSED YOU IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP AND THEN SHE THOUGHT YALL WAS CHEATIN' ON HER WISH ME AND THEN THREW YA'LL IN THE CELLER WHERE YA'LL FROZE LIKE A SNOWBALL LIKE ME AND THEN SOMEHOW YOU BECAME SNATCHER AND MOONJUMPER!! AND I WAS LOCKED AWAY TOO UNTIL THIS WHOLE MAGICAL MESS HAPPENED!!" Something suddenly grabbed his arm closest to her and yanked him down until he was directly in from of her snarling form and he gasped....GASPED. In fear of her as the mortal woman grabbed a hold of the fluff around his neck. "AND YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND!! I TRUSTED YALL AND YA LIED TA ME AND YOUR LIL HALF TRIED TO HOGTIE ME LIKE MY PAPA'S CATTLE!! SO YA BETTER PIPE UP ON WHY YA LIED TO ME!! AND DONT DENY IT!! MOONJUMPER! TOLD!! ME!! EVERYTHING, PHILIP!!!"

Absolute. Silence. Seriously. You could hear a piece of dust from the ceiling float in the air it was that quiet. Poppy was seeing red throughout her entire rant. Panting and gripping his soft floof in her hands like he would get away if she didn't. But as she breathed and the red slowly went away, she blinked and actually got to look at his face once ..most of the anger and built of rage left her veins. He. Looked. Scared. Like a mouse backed into a corner by a cat knowing they were about to be eaten. And her hands shook with remaining rage-...Or so she thought at first. Upon further inspection she realized it was actually SNATCHER who was shaking up her hold, her hands were just trembling from her holding the shaking ghost. Could...Could ghosts actually get scared? Or was he about to cry? A brief wave of guilt came and left her before she shook her head and looked back at him with a scowl...and slowly released him. Despite her not deathgripping him anymore Snatcher dared not make a move. Only stared at the scowl on her face as she still silently stared back at him. His mind a complete blank. His insides feeling like they were doing backflips. He felt like he was about to toss ectoplasm. ...Could a ghost even vomit? He jumped hard at Poppy's next words.

"Ah'm waitin' for an answer, Philip." Her eyes narrowed more.

He made heavy breathing noises(ironic because he didn't have lungs or needed to even breath) and stared at her. What should he do?! Answer her?! She looked like she wanted an answer but nothing came out of his mouth except a small weird sound she rose a brow at. But soon he managed to force something ...ANYTHING out of his mouth to satisfy her.

"Why?"

Smart choice right? Real brain power there.

"WHY?! YOU tell ME!!" She crossed her arms and while her voice wasn't as harsh as her rant she was still stern. "You LIED to me and I wanna know why ya did so. So cough it up if ya gotta but I better hear an answer outta ya, Philip....Or would you prefer me ta call ya Snatcher still?"

"Snatcher s-s-sounds good." He squeaked out....before he blinked. "Hey! W-W-Wait a minute!" Oh peck. Was HE of all people really stuttering in front of her right now? Nice. "I-...I-I never lied to you!," he pushed still kinda feeling dizzy sick.

"Oh REALLY!? What about that time in the attic?," Poppy insisted thinking back to that moment where he had comforted her during her first mega nightmare. "Ya said ya'll was there when 'Philip' died!"

"W-Well Im pretty sure I was there experiencing my own death! I didn't lie about that!" He crossed his arms but didn't look mad....Ashamed and guilt all over his slumped over form.

"What about when you told me ya died in the frost!? Or that ya'll worked for her?! 'Wrong place at the wrong time' thing!!," she pushed voice raising a bit.

"THAT WAS SO LIE!! She made me work as her slave! I was definately at the wrong place for all my living life and I DID die from her deciding to play mother nature! I froze to death chained to a pecking wall!! Worried about how badly I messed up and beat myself over how pecking badly I messed up!!" His face frowned in a mixture of anger. Guilt. Shame. Fear. Anxiety. The ghost's arms shook as he just stared down this woman. Yellow eyes wide and many many memories suddenly slapping him in the face as those yellow eyes saw the seen play before him as a downward spiral for him in panic and fear. A seen in a dungeon, a sobbing prince hanging from shackles as the cold crept in, one last promise escaping his lips to a Princess of Flowers. Sharp as a thorn. Hair red as roses. Blue eyes like hydrangeas. Skin as soft as petals. And always surrounded by a scent better than any lily. A final promise and good bye he made long ago with his final dying breath- 'I-Im s-so sorry, Poppy. I-...love-...you ..w-with all my heart and soul....may my soul...never....forget...that..' ......Snatcher instantly trembled and shook those thoughts from his head before back to her and pointing at himself. "I N-NEVER LIED!! "

"Then WHY didn't you tell me YOU were Philip when I asked where he was?!"

"DO YOU THINK I WANTED YOU TO SEE ME LIKE THIS?!" It was Poppy's turn to blink and lean back when Snatcher's face contorted into what she could only describe as pained rage after all this time coming out. Giving her a desperate look as he rose up to kinda tower over her and hold up his hands for questioning. "WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO SAY WHEN I FIRST MET YOU!? WHAT COULD I SAY TO YOU THAT WOULDN'T MAKE YOU SEE ME DIFFERENTLY?! I-....I-I'm not...." His hands balled into fists and his eyes closed as he snarled at nothing but himself. A chorus of 'Your fault! Your fault! Your fault!' rang into him and this time...he gave in. There wasn't any more tiptoeing. This whole situation with her from past to present has always been his fault and now he had to face it in death too. "I'M NOT PHILIP!! IM THE SNATCHER!! THE MOST POWERFUL GHOSTS ON THIS PITIFUL PLANET AND I DON'T TOLERATE FOOLS TRESSPASSING IN MY FOREST BUT TO SERVE ME!! WHAT I WAS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO D-D-DIED OFF WITH ME!! ILL NEVER BE THAT SAME PATHETIC PERSON AGAIN!!"

".....Then my friend completely died when Philip did." He absolutely stopped when he opened his eyes and stared down at her as she just...blankly stared up at him. Blank as paper. She regarded him for a moment before looking down to the shiny gold sparkling on her wrist. To Snatcher's absolute horror, she slowly took it off. Looking at her reflection in the sparkly gold color and the scared darker reflection of the ghost behind her. What remained of Philip was literally and figuratively dead. And so was any good about him too she guessed. She hand trembled and before either knew it the bracelet was launched right past his head in a gold streak like a shooting star until it hit the wall behind him and fell to the floor with a thud. Snatcher snapped his head towards it as it sparkled on the ground.....before ever so slowly turning his head back towards the lady. And jumped when he found tears sparkling like diamonds running down her cheeks. "W-W-Well then whoever you are...GET. OUT!! JUST GET OUT!!" She screamed and pointed to the door. "IF YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND THEN I NO LONGER WANT YA'LL AROUND MAHSELF OR ANYWHERE NEAR ME!! YOU'RE JUST AS BAD IF YOU THINK I'LL ACCEPT ANY OF THIS!!"

Snatcher bristled and once again went back to holding his hands out pleading pathetically like a beggar. "N-NO!! T-THAT'S N-NOT WHAT I MEANT I PROMISE YOU, POPPY!!"

"I DONT GIVE A FLYING PECK!! JUST GET OUT!!"

"I-...You-....." He trembled for a while his eyes starting to vibrate slightly as something within him happened. Sad and fearful auras all around suffocating him to his last shread of sanity as he blurted out the last possible thing he thought he was capable of saying at this moment. "N-NO!!"

Poppy looked at him and he paused momentarily surprised that came out of his mouth. "NO!? ARE YA D-DEAF?! I CAN SEE YA GOT NO EARS!! GET!! OUT OF HERE!!"

"I SAID NO!!" His eyes slammed shut as he balled his hands back into fists and forced himself to let out whatever it was that was flowing out from his mouth. "N-NO!! IT'S MY FAULT ALL THIS HAPPENED!! YOU WERE KILLED BECAUSE OF MY STUPID PECKING SELF!! BECAUSE I COULDNT SEE THAT I WAS PUTTING A MONSTER BEFORE MYSELF!!" A choke escaped him and he felt something in his body tighten like a screw. "I COULDN'T STOP IT!! I COULDN'T PROTECT ANYONE!! I-I-I C-C-COULDN'T PROTECT YOU!! THE ONE PERSON WHO I TRUSTED MORE T-T-THAN ANYONE IN THE WORLD AND I GOT YOU KILLED!! *hic*" He took a long raspy gasp for breath like he needed air in his none existing body and he didn't notice that his hands came up to grip his forearms or that his form leaned over until his head almost touched the bed. Was he having a break down? Could a ghost have a break down? "YOU GOT HURT B-BECAUSE OF ME!! AND I THOUGHT THIS TIME WOULD BE DIFFERENT!! I WANTED IT TO B-B-BE DIFFERENT BELEIVE ME I DID!! T-THAT'S WHY I-...I....I lied...but only one time. *hic* I promise it was for your own good."

"For mah-..." She blinked scowling again. Honestly she had been in a small pause of shock at the over confident ghosts breaking down in front of her but all of that was dashed at the one line in the chorus of the shocking confessions. "Then do tell WHEN did you tell me this 'one' time for 'mah own good'?!"

he choked again dipping into himself more. "....T-T-The contract! I-..." He made another gasping sound. "I n-never took your soul out...I-I-I promise you that's something I would n-never d-do t-t-t-to you.''

The contract!? He had...HE LIED TO HER ABOUT THAT CONTRACT!! "YA LIED AND TRICKED ME INTO SIGNING A CONTRACT WITH YOU?! WHY THE PECK WOULD YOU THINK THAT WAS OK TA DO?!"

"It's not a slave contract!! B-Believe me it's n-not!" He opened his eyes half way seeing nothing but yellow and feeling something strange boiling in his eyes but his mind wasn't there to question it. "T-Think of *hic* it as a s-symbiotic relationship l-l-like b-b-bees and flowers if you have to! Y-Y-You're n-n-not trapped to me a-a-and I can't force you t-to do anything you don't want, but I would still make sure you were getting the t-t-things you need."

She just stared at him too exhausted to be mad and screaming anymore...shaking her head. "Ya STILL haven't told me WHY ya did it!? Why would you do something like this, Philip? Expecially when you knew I didn't blame ya?"

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WOULDNT BLAME ME!!" The strange feeling in his eyes became too much and he snapped then shut again as his hands dug into his shaking body. "I THOUGHT YOU WOULD H-H-...*HIC* HATE ME F-FOR WHAT I HAD CAUSED!! PLEASE!!.....JUST PLEASE UNDERSTAND!! I WAS ONLY TRYING TO PROTECT YOU BECAUSE I D-DIDNT WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!! I COULDN'T RISK IT!! I JUST WANTED TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT I-I-I'VE LET HAPPENED TO YOU!!" Poppy's frown lightened when another horrible choke noise came from him and she had FINALLY come to the shocking realization that Snatcher....Was CRYING?! Brightly colored yellow tears were rolling down his face landing into his fluff or staining the bed sheets his head was now touching. Claws now clutching his head as he sobbed. Not cry. Not tear up. SOBBED into the bed sheets and wailed like a wounded animal. The noises sounding broken and shattered. "PLEASE!! D-D-DONT-...*hic* DONT HATE ME!! MORE THAN ANYTHING I N-NEVER WANTED YOU TO HATE ME!! I WAS JUST TRYING TO HELP!! I KNOW I PECKED UP!!! B-B-BUT PLEASE!! DONT HATE ME!!"

".....Then answer mah question. Why didn't you tell me?," she insisted though her throat tightened real bad at her words.

"B-BECAUSE I WAS SCARED!! ALRIGHT!! A-A-A-ARE- *HIC* IS EVERYONE HAPPY NOW?! I DIDNT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO?! I COULDNT T-TELL YOU AFTER THINGS WERE GOING FINE!! I-IF YOU JUST LIKED ME HOW I AM NOW I DIDNT WANT TO RUIN IT!! I DIDN'T-...." Another small series of chokes and sobs wracked his trembling form as he shook his head no against the sheets. "I didn't want to add to your p-p-p-pain...*hic* to see...what I had become after all this t-t-t-tim-m-m-me. *hic*....I-Im sorry...please..d-don't hate me."

He froze. Something touched the top of his head....He slowly took his gaze away from the blankets and up into the crying face of Poppy's. Tears slowly falling down her cheeks making it look like her ocean eyes was leaking diamond tears that mixed with her red freckles that resembled so much like flower petals. She looked so beautiful. The two stared at each other for a long time as the silence still lingered as well as the tears, the soft hand on his head slowly giving him reassuring pats as she stared at him.

"...I don't hate you."

.....He blinked. "Y-You don't?"

"No...And ah ain't angry. Just.....disappointed."

Disappointed?? Well that's better than being hated wasn't it?.....Well in the long run YES!! YES IT WAS!! ABSOLUTELY PECKING BETTER THAN BEING HATED!! Which brought him some relief, but she was still obviously disappointed him him in some way or form.

"L-Let's get that straight." She sniffed and wiped her tears with her other arm. "I don't hate you, b-but that don't mean Im still not ticked at ya. Especially 'bout tricking me into signing that darn contract."

He hummed and gave a shaking exhale. Yellow eyes comming to rest on her exposed arms. There was light marks where Moonjumper's red strings had gripped her body still and he felt some of the anger from before come back to him, and Poppy jumped when his own gentle hand gently ran across the light marks frowning at them. "....Are you...alright?"

She blinked and sighed. "Y-Yeah. I'll be fine...I just don't get why he done went ahead and did that."

He was pretty sure the THAT she was referring to was Moonboy doing this. And slowly his hand gently wrapped around hers as he shrugged. "With that guy who knows? He's always envied those who weren't stuck in the prison he was in and took what he wanted. He....probably would've tried to take you either way because of the memories we both have of when we were alive when he first found out. Peck. He would've probably tried it sooner if he had found out about you before he did...And I have a pretty good idea about how he did find out too." His eyes narrowed thinking back to Timmy as he soothed a hand over some of the marks. They'll soon fade away with time. No need to worry about them. "Thank peck that fool's blasted strings didn't stick to you."

Poppy froze as a memory suddenly flashed across her face. "That reminds me. How did ya'll find me all the way in that spook's realm?...And how did I not get pecking trapped like a carp in my papa's fishin' net?"

"To answer both questions simple. Your contract." She looked confused for a moment so he sighed. "Maybe I should explain. In case you forgot about the fine print in your contract, I'll repeat two qoutes in the contract that are most important here. Ahem." Expertly he recalled exactly what his contract said word for word. " 'By signing this the signer shall be paid for their service and loyalty with immortality, protection from the Snatcher and those under him, a home, and anything the signer requests within reason. Binding by contract means your soul shall remain bound to the contract which cannot be broken by any means except by will of the employer, a.k.a the Snatcher. By agreeing you shall also be safe from other supernatural entities and their influences whatever they may be, including influences from the employer and other minions."'

She looked slightly amazed. "Ya'll remember all that?"

"I never forget a contract." He smiled at her. "And in case you're wondering what I just said meant, in simple terms it means I can't force my magic or will on you to make you do anything you wanted unless you agreed fully. It also meant it no other ghosts could harm you." he growled with a frown. "Like Vanessa."

"Or Moonjumper." Oh. So that must've been what she had felt back there when the peckneck tried to do whatever magic he was trying to force on her. But still- "How did ya'll find me then?"

"The magic binding your soul with my essence sends out a message whenever you're endangered or needs help badly. Ive already done it once back when you had that nightmare."

OH!....Right. The 'nightmare' who happened to be Moonjumper visiting her for the first time. Guilt over took her for lying to the ghost, but he did lie to her first didn't he? Still tho. It was kinda fair since he done confessed to everything. So she cleared his throat making him look up to her. "I uh-...G-Gotta confession ta make mahself." He rose a brow at her confused and she sighed. "Ah uh.....Ah met Moonjumper and may have lied 'bout havin' that nightmare."

Snatcher Stared at her. ".......WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know how'd ya react and at the time I was too shocked I guess."

"Why didn't you tell me!?" he frowned. "I probably would've stopped him from trying that stunt of his!''

"You knew he would do somethin' like that? Why didn't ya tell me 'bout him?!"

"I didn't know he'd lure you all the way out there in a different dimention! But I know him enough to know he would've tried something if he knew about you. Which is why I DIDN'T risk telling you because I was right!"

"You couldn't have warned me!"

"Because I knew you'd go try and find him! And look what that did!"

"BECAUSE YOU NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING!!"

"I KNOW!!!" Snatcher held up his hands. "I. Know. .....But so did Moonboy, and unlike him, I didn't do anything as remotely as bad as THIS!" He pointed a claw to the almost faded marks on her arms. "And I technically never lied to you except that ONE time. And thanks to that anything he planned was defeated before he even thought of it!"

"...." She crossed her arms. "Snatcher, tell me this. Would he have really tried to do somethin' like this if he find out eariler?"

Snatcher still didn't stop frowning and sighed. "....Most likely yes. Moonboy's always had a nack for this kidnapping scheme for everyone he first meets. Hazelle and the kids being some of his past victims of his events. ....And a few of my minions."

Poppy looked at him for a long moment before looking down again. So....She would've most likely gone through that either way. And he did it to the girls and Hazelle too?? Then that means the only reason she wasn't taken was because Snatcher tricked her into signing that contract which ended up saving her life in the end.

"So..where do we go with this now?" She looked at him. "What do we do now that all of this is out in the open?"

Snatcher just stared at her. He....He never really even thought of that. Now that it was all out, and she wasn't mad (thank peck) and everything was.....now this. What now? Where DID they go from here? Well he did tell her everything-...Except one thing. But no. It'd be wrong of him to even claim he loved her more than his friend now. It....It was still better to be a friend and not a forced love interest. So to her question he shrugged, even if he did tell her it wouldn't make a difference and probably only make things more awkward between the two.

"I...I'm not sure."

A small silence passed.

"I think....we need some time from each other." He looked up surprised as she stared at him. "Ah don't mean that in a mean way. I just...think we both need some space to think 'bout this and to figure out where I wanna go from here. I'll still take care of them while I'm here. Ya don't have ta worry 'bout me repayin' ya for everythin'. Cuz I will. But I really do think it's fer the best right now to clear mah head."

He still stared at her not knowing what to do. But what else could be do but agree? And that's exactly what he did. He agreed. And left a little while after making sure the girls would be ok. Thankfully they weren't scared of what happened with Moonjumper as much as they were worried about Poppy's condition and were like none of that ever happened as soon as they learnt she would be ok. She found the two sitting in front of the TV watching a penguin cartoon when she gained the courage to come out, and was tackled by the two children in a hug relieved to see her again. She was glad to see they were alright too but that was the least of her problems...In fact she didn't have any problems at all anymore. From that day things were...weird. But a normal weird. It was like she went back into her ritual of one of the girls waking her up, shoving something in her mouth quickly for breakfast, getting freshed up, and go back to work off the debt she owed the birds. It wasn't too bad. She wasn't worried or distracted by anything anymore. The more she thought about it, the more Poppy realized that it was probably best if she just focused on repaying back the two debts she was owed. Mr. Grooves for the camera thing, and Snatcher for (even tho causing a whole lotta trouble) did help her out as promised. How she would pay back snatcher in full for what he did concerning Moonjumper yet she wasn't sure, but she should focus on one thing at a time for now. She saw Hazelle when she first went back too. Not Timmy tho. At least not at first. The two didn't interact as much beyond their interactions in the play and it's not like Poppy wanted to at first either. For now she just wanted to focus on her play parts and over the days coming to pass by, since nothing else was distracting her or really bothering her anymore, she was able to focus on her parts and movements, and reread the script and Starella storybook for practice when she wasn't cooking something for the girls or spending sometime with them. Sometimes they'd go around the Express Owl Town surround the studious or Moon City with all the Moon Penguins running around and the flashy stores she's have to lean down to walk in too. It was a nice change of pace even if it's just a few places. Or sometimes very often after her work for the studios, they would go to Cookie's resturaunt to have dinner. Which was free since Cookie was asscociated with the Studios and so the resturaunt provided all the staff and actors free food for their lunches, which worked out well for her. She was having fun trying all the new foods. As days past, she sometimes thought of how Snatcher was doing or what the others were up to now. She was very tempted to ask Hazelle quite a few times but decided against it all the time. But soon all of that was dashed away by one simple day back on the ship. One of the rare days off Mr. grooves gave everyone due to the tight scheduale they were all on to finish by the deadline for the Award Ceremony. It was just as average day rereading through the script while the girls watched Tv. Hattie happened to look up at Poppy who had her bangs angled just the right way to cast a shadow over her blue eyes and Hattie's eyes suddenly went wide.

"YOU'RE HER!!" She jumped and pointed at Poppy all of all sudden startling the other two girls as they also jumped and looked at her. "THE LADY FROM THE STORY BOOK!!"

....Poppy blinked. "Yeah? I know I'm playing your favorite fairytale charactor. I have ta for Mr. Grooves."

Hattie shook her head. "Not that book! Hang on! I'll show you!" Before any of them could say anything else Hattie was already dashing away from them and ran through the door that lead to her bedroom. .....Poppy and Bow exchanged glances and Bow shrugged. A second later Hattie returned and had something in her hand which she shoved into Poppy's face, causing the older woman to blink and drop her own book in the process. "HERE!! LOOK IN THIS BOOK!!"

"What in tarnation has gotten inta ya?" She blinked again and looked towards the book Hattie was holding in front of her face. She reached up to grab it and hold it away from her face to see the cover more clearly. The hard cover of the thin book was all black and on the front was a red heart with a slash through it. A white swirl mark was beneath the slashed heart and above the heart was what she guessed was the title of the book in white letter. "The Tale Of Queen-...." Her blue eyes widened as she stared at the name. Then to Hattie. "Vanessa....What is this?"

"It's Snatcher's story. You're in it." She pointed to the book. "I got it from a time rift I fixed."

Snatcher's.....story? Poppy's eyes went wide and looked back down to the book in her hands. It didn't look like a thick book, just as thin as a regular child's book. But the cover....Poppy's hand shook as she held it up and slowly grabbed the cover....before opening it. And her eyes widened. Despite the dark, ominous cover the first page of the book showed a very happy sight that made her jaw drop. IT. WAS. THEM!! Moonjumper-..I mean Snatcher-...Both?? PHILIP!! Was there on the first page holding hands with who clearly used to be Vanessa!! She would recognize Philip anywhere. In cartoon book form both looking so in love with their eyes covered by shadows, the background a cute pink with hearts showing how in love they ar-...They were once upon a time. Poppy just...Stared at it. What was this? She looked back to Hattie with wide confusion. She didn't say anything so she just slowly looked back down to the book and shakily turned the next page. The next page was obviously the Queen walking through her village surrounded by some of the townsfolk's children who wore their silly disguises to play games. They all looked so happy. The next page after that made her stomach DROP. It.....It was HER!! She was standing right there. And Philip right in front of her, they looked to be holding hands and they were surrounded by her flower stand in the corner of the town square. It..It even had a close up picture of the two holding hands. And there was Vanessa, looking to be wearing a shocked face. No! Blue eyes widened at the events unfolding before her in this nightmare of a picture book. NO!! THIS COULDNT BE WHAT SHE THOUGHT IT WAS!! The book trembled in her hold as she stared at it, her heart and breath picking up pace. This couldn't be- She quickly flipped to the next page. Vanessa again. She was crying with a black background behind her and a picture of a broken heart in the middle of her chest. NO!! NONONONO!!! THIS ISNT IT!! She flipped a page again-.....HER. STOMACH. DROPPED!! It was the three of them again. A very familiar scene played in front of her in one picture. Her flower stand again with her standing there smile on her face and a gold bracelet in her hand, Philip looking up in the direction of Vanessa who's form was running down an alley way. The memories came flooding back to her.

He jumped almost dropping the flowers he was just handed. "Vanessa!?" The florist looked to where he was looking but didn't see the woman that dashed into the alleyway as he stared in confusion. "Vanessa?.....Why did she run away so suddenly?"

...The florist shrugged lightly with a smile. "Maybe she was embarrassed she walked in on you getting her flowers?", she suggested.

....He gave a smile. "OH! Of course! She's considerate l-like that." He gave an almost nervous smile and turned back to her before bowing. "T-Thank you for your help once again...Ms. Poppy."

She waved her hand. "Oh, don't mention it! It's always to see just a nice man be so considerate and give the gal he loves so many flowers."

This.....T-This was that fateful day. The day which they were all frozen. And she wasn't even done with the storybook. Which meant there was more. She didn't even realize she turned another page until she was met with another horrible sight. It was Philip and Vanessa again. Playing another part in the story she didn't witness but heard about a few times from both Philips. The fated meeting of Vanessa before he was locked away. It showed Philip and Vanessa in what looked to be the Queen's Summer home away from her castle, a painting of the couple behind them slashed apart. With Philip holding the rainbow daisies he bought from her and Vanessa looking enraged surrounded by a dark aura and still crying. New page and new heart rate and new horrror. Vanessa was mid twisted into some form of shadow amalgamation and it...IT WAS THEM!! The guards that had marched into the town square and kidnapped her away when she was closing her stand all those years ago. Before she was locked in that room! They had a hold of Philip who was desperately reaching out to her flowers falling to join some kind of ice on the floor. Poppy just stared wide eyed silent as the page breathing heavy enough to be heard by the children who were watching her intently ignoring the cartoons on TV in favor of just seeing her expressions. Another page turn by a very shaky hand- She gasped and a hand shot up to cover her mouth. It was Snatcher!! IT WAS SNATCHER!! IT!! WAS!!! SNATCHER!!! There in the dark chained to a wall and crown discarded on the floor of some dark cell!! Her mind completely went blank!! It was true. He was killed by her greed and jealousy!! But that's not what made her throw a hand to her mouth. It was the tears running down from the yellow golden eyes like the ones she had seen so many days ago when he distressed everything to her. How so scared and sad he looked-

THUMP!!

Both girls jumped when Poppy jumped up and away from the book with a bigger gasp at the last page and made both girls jump too at her frightened reaction to the very last picture in the book. A picture. Of Vanessa. The monster. The murderor. The twisted form of hate, jealousy, greed and pain she really was. The monster that caused so many deaths and so much pain. The book fell open wide on that page with the monster staring up at them all and Poppy still stared at it all. Suddenly feeling like she would cry from the heavy emotions filling her.

"W-What is this?," she demanded when Hattie picked the book up and closed it. But she already knew the answer so it was a stupid question.

"Snatcher's story made from the time rift. Time rifts made them when they fell down in a place with a lot of magic or memories, and then it makes a book with the strongest memories." She rose a brow. "I don't know why."

"Why did you show me this?"

She looked right at her. "Because you're the Flower Princess! It took me a real long time to figure out Snatcher was talking about you! Why didn't I use my Detective Hat!?"

"H-Hold on now there!" Poppy looked even more confused. "You said Imma what?!"

She frowned looking frustrated, " The Flower Princess!! From Snatcher's story he told me!"

".....And what 'story' did that purple onion tell ya?"

Hattie paued for a minute. Her face scrunched up in thought thinking back all that time ago before Poppy was even brought back to life with the time piece. "....Once upon a time." Hattie sat down as she tried to think back to what she was told. "There was a beautiful flower Princess named Poppy." Hattie looked at Poppy's slacked jawed, wide eyed look as Bow listened curiously. " An evil witch named Veronica. And a stupid, stupid King. WAY, WAY back before your great granny was even born there was these three." Hattie went back to that thoughtful face. "The Flower Princess was very beautiful. Her hair was a rose red and her skin was as soft as their petals. She had the most wonderful patience listening to her friend The Stupid King, and his p-problems. But..she didn't know the king was in love with her. You see. He was too cowardly to tell her or anyone else because he was betrothed to the Evil witch Veronica."

Snatcher....told her about them through his own interpritation of the story?? Twisting it into some kind of fairytale for her?? NO!! No it couldn't be....But Veronica?? Really?? Obviously that reminded her of Vanessa and Poppy the flower princess?? No. That HAD!! To be her. Snatcher even used her OWN PECKING NAME for this!! Which meant the stupid king was-...And he was engaged to marry-... but he was secretly in love with-...Moonjumper's voice suddenly rang out to her.

"She slowly descended into madness and became nothing but a controlling dictator that put me-..The prince through NOTHING but misery, and yet the prince still foolishly loved her and tried his best to make her happy! His only saving grace was when he had to leave for his studies and when he met YOU!! Poppy Rose Bloomington. A small time country girl who grew up on a farm and moved to town to sell her pretty flowers.~ Catching the eye of a prince with your understanding and very kind nature. Basically being everything to him that Vanessa wasn't or ever will be."

Did-....Was he suggesting that Snatcher- Or Philip-..or him...They-...IN SOME WAY OR FORM liked her liked her?? Like romantically!? Her face suddenly became hot at even the mention of some man liking her. S-She wasn't that likable!! Back in her day no man wanted a woman who was stronger than them, worked in the mud, got dirty and sweaty working, and had a job of her own that wasn't something 'acceptable' for a lady like a teacher, a maid, nurse, lady in waiting, cook, or-....or SOMETHING femenine across those lines. Which was why her papa was so adament she became a milk maid like her mother! So in his words 'would have a better chance of settling down and givin' me grandchildren. Cuz no man in his right mind would want a woman who snapped back and raised her voice at him.' But...The way the Flower Princess Poppy was described as red hair like a rose and skin as soft as flower petals?!?! Her face became even more red just thinking about it.. Well, Snatcher couldn't be considered a man in his own right mind could he? First cuz he wasn't a man but a ghost. Secondly he was dead so technically had no brain or mind that was right or wrong. And thirdly when was a ghost in a haunted forest with an adopted alien daughter 'right minded'?!?!

Hattie continued not noticing her inner turmoil over there while she tried to remember everything Snatcher said. "But....She was in love with a fairytale. She loved the Stupid King for being like a King from a story. She never loved him for who he really was as long as her fairytale wasn't tampered with." Poppy flinched for a moment before slowly looking back to Hattie. The young girl probably wasn't realizing the gravity of the words she repeated as she just focused on telling it to her. " She was clingy, selfish, nothing was never good enough unless it was expensive, and she demanded all his attention all the time. Until one fateful day the witch saw the King And Flower Princess holding hands. AS JUST FRIENDS." She clarified just as Snatcher did mimicing how he stressed that part. "Nothing romantic. Just two friends holding hands for a little bit. And she got really, really jealous. In fact she got so jealous she blamed him for breaking her heart and locked him away forever. And then she cursed the Stupid King's and Princess's kingdoms. All the plants died, all the animals ran away, and everyone moved on from there. But karma struck her good and The Stupid King managed to escape and get free, but the Witch's spell backfired. She cursed herself too and was trapped forever in her home, the black magic keeping her inside the cave she dug, but it was too late. The Princess was gone and he never saw her again." Hattie's eyes widened at the events of the story she just repeated to herself and everyone else. Suddenly quickly opening the book and flipping through it. Stopping at this page and that and squinting at them taking in the details. Before her blue eyes widened and she looked at Poppy again with a sad expression. "A-And...he never saw you again Poppy."

Poppy stood there STUNNED. What...Wait. Snatcher....LOVED her?? HER?! The one who had dirt on her all the time and came from the poorest farming family you could think of, of fruit farmers and milk maids. Someone who openly critizied the Queen when she banned bacon in her entire kingdom and got angry with all the stunts she pulled on Philip but didn't say anything too badly?? The one who snorted like a pig when she laughed and had an accent thicker than the mud she used to farm flowers!? THAT POOR FARMER'S GIRL?! HER?! Catching the eye of a cute, handsome, talented, polite, selfless, loyal, sweet, rich and famous PRINCE?! The one who always loved to study magic and laws to be a better king for his people one day and was engaged to the most beautiful rich lady and who could literally get any girl he wanted?! THAT PRINCE!? SNATCHER?! No! Oh no! NONONONONO!! There must've been some mistake!!...But then again she thought there was some mistake when she thought Moonjumper was lying about Snatcher and him used to being the same person. UGH!!! WHY DID HER LIFE HAVE TO GET MORE COMPLICATED RIGHT AFTER SHE WAS GETTING OVER SOLVING ANOTHER PROBLEM?!

Wait a minute....

WHY THE PECK DIDNT SNATCHER TELL HER HE PECKING LIKED HER LIKE THAT?! ....Well. O-On second thought. She rubbed her red face. Maybe it would've been the better idea not to tell her when they first met. She would've no idea how to handle that ....BUT HE COULDVE TOLD HER WHEN HE WAS CONFESSING EVERYTHING BACK THERE!!!

Bow tilted her head at Poppy's red face. "Poppy? Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah," she managed to squeak out red faced. "W-Why d-d-don't ya'll go get ready f-for bed?"

Safe to say that sleep didn't come easy for her that night either. She went to bed and was once again awakened in a flustered state and gone to work again with help of the girls. Prince on the mind and being in a play with her as a princess and falling for a Prince only reminded her of the story Hattie revealed to her last night. She once again could only try to go through the play again messing up a few times to which Mr. Grooves called out and had her try again until she corrected until after the day's work that day. She was glad it was over for the day and had half a mind to just eat herself drunk on all the chocolate cake and hot coco at Cookie's resturaunt. When someone stepped in front of her blocking her and the girls way out. The lady blocking her exit was one with brown hair and copper eyes, in her traditional white and pink witch outfit.

Hazelle stared at her for a long moment. ".....We need to talk."

......"Oh DO we?" Poppy narrowed her eyes. She still didn't forget that Hazelle knew about this whole ordeal. "Ah think the talk Snatcher gave me said enough since no one else bothered ta tell me!" She attempted to move around her but Hazelle moved in front of her holding up her hands.

"Yes! Yes, I know!!" Hazelle gave a soft look. "But PLEASE hear me out."

"Ya'll didn't tell me anything!"

"I KNOW!! But I didn't want to get involved because I felt like it wasn't my place." She sighed and let her arm drop as the other came up to rub her face. "I WANTED him to tell you himself and he said he would so I just left him alone."

"Well it sure took ya long enough!"

"Look. I know you're angry about what happened, and BELIEVE me. So. Am. I." She looked back to her. "But when Snatcher opened up a little more that one night I thought he was getting to that point."

Poppy rose a brow. "Where are ya'll goin' with this?"

Hazelle looked at her with genuine concern. "Poppy. I want you to talk to him again." She held up a hand when Poppy opened her mouth to speak. "I know you saw the book, and heard his little story. Hattie informed me on my break backstage. I want you to go and let him know that you know he likes you as more than just a friend and clear up this mess once and for all."

Poppy just stared at her for a little longer.....before she shouted. "ARE YA PECKING INSANE?! I CAN'T DO THAT!?"

"And why not? Preferably tonight would be best-"

"NO!! NO NONONO!!" Poppy's face once again went red with that information. "There's no way in peck ah would do that!!!"

"....." Hazelle sighed again sounding defeated. "Look. Snatcher....Hasn't been himself lately. He still feels really bad about what happened and the longer you two avoid one another and the problem that needs to be discussed the more damage it does. I'm surprised you two haven't learnt that already considering what happened last month." Poppy went to speak but Hazelle beat it to her again. "And it'd be nice considering he did save you. YES!! I know he lied to you. Yes. I KNOW he tricked you. YES I KNOW!! He didn't tell you the whole truth and because of that he put you within harm's way, but at the same time he saved you at least three times."

"....Three??" Poppy rose a brow and crossed her arms. " Oh really? Three times?"

"Well three and a half if you count that the contract indirectly protects you from all kinds of harm, then yes."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh enlighten me. When did he do that three times?"

This time it was Hazelle's turn to look smug. "Well he DID steal a time piece and resurrected you. So that's one. Then the time you blindly ran off into the woods and had to climb a noose to escape one of those cursed statues. And then he had to get you down from it." Poppy's eyes widened and Hazelle's smirk got wider. "Oh yes. He told me about that. And then there's the obvious contract that let you escape Moonjumper. ...He may have tricked you but by doing so saved you in the end, and trust me when I say Moonjumper's strings aren't something to bat an eye at dear. It's just as impossible to escape from them as it is to escape Snatcher's contracts unless they decide to release you."

"What's the point of this?"

"My POINT is that Snatcher's scared alright. It's not exactly easy for him to admit it when things he does are wrong or when there's something he doesn't have control over. The way you might react to his love for you is one of them. So just...please think about it. Because it's obvious he cares about you a lot. And I'm saying this as the noodle's friend."

That was the message Hazelle had given her before she left, and that was the message Poppy had to try and sleep with when she laid in her makeshift bed and stared at the ceiling. GREAT!! Not like she finally got peace or anything. But now whenever she thought about Snatcher or any of the new info she was given her face would turn red and her mind blank. AFter a while of staring up at the dark ceiling flustered she groaned and turned to her side holding up the gold shimmering against her wrist. The bracelet she had previously thrown that day long ago when Snatcher confessed to everything. It had somehow found it's way back into the attic and left on top of the giant desk against one of the walls for the past days after their discussion. But now she found herself placing it near her, as she looked at it and remembered the day her friend insisted he'd take it as payment. She sighed looking at it wrapped around her wrist again, it's always helped her for some reason, as if some of the past peace she felt was obtained by it when she just had a simple life of selling her pretty flowers to people and making them smile instead of dealing with all these complicated feelings of-....She froze when two glowing yellow orbs shined in the dim gold in the dark. She yelped and instantly threw the blankets off of herself twisting her eyes over and up towards the source of those glowing orbs.

"Whoa! It's me!," A raspy voice spoke out as a shadow moved in ths dark and Poppy could see a yellow glowing mouth moving as it spoke.

No. It couldn't be-

"Snatcher?" Poppy was relieved it was just the spook but that begged the question as she sighed and pushed herself up to stand. "What are you doing here?"

"Hazelle.....S-Said you were expecting me?,'' he replied looking and sounding nervous as he did so as he looked at her.

Poppy looked at him. ....Then facepalmed. Of course she'd be doing this after the comment about how they should 'preferably talk tonight'. Snatcher flinched when she facepalmed herself and rose a brow nervously. Was...Was she not wanting to talk to him tonight? PECKING DARNIT!! He knew he should've known better than to take the word of that stupid Moonboy when he popped up outside of his home!! He shoud've chucked him back into that dimension the moment he laid eyes on him! He was just..sitting there minding his own buisness, reading his book on Theories Of The Penguin Mind in his home trying not to think about the amount of time that's passed since Poppy asked to have some space to think about what happened and to process all the information now discovered. He couldn't really blame her for that, after all it was pretty overwhelming for her he was sure. So he was happy to agree and give her as much time as he needed. He wasn't completely heartless you know. He was sitting comfy in his chair day and night in and out. Doing his usually routine of catching fools stumbling into his forest and if he was really bored he went out to swipe new books from somewhere. But after a while he was starting to miss the troublemakers causing trouble in his forest and the red hair and blue eyes of Poppy. He was sure she was taking good care of them but-..... He was just sitting there staring blankly at a page he forgotten which part he left off at when one of his minions came flying in and ran around to dive behind his chair.

"BOSS! HE'S BACK!!", he shouted before diving around the chair.

Snatcher snapped his head over to the cowering minion before looking over towards the entrance to his home...And the book dropped to the floor with a thump. The very recognizable twitching, glitching form of Moonjumper was floating right there in the entrance of his home. Yellow eyes met red ones as Moonjumper looked absolutely worried.

He suddenly flinched and held up his arms. "W-WAIT WAIT WAIT!!"

He was snatched up by a shadowy bullet as Snatcher shot out of his home and grabbed his other half within his claws in their iron grip!! A blur as The two kept shooting out until Moonjumper felt his back slammed into one of the petrified trees and crows cawed out as they took off from the trees, spiders cowered away, and any minions or dwellers under Snatcher's reign watched as their King glared at Moonjumper in his clutches. The mane of hair around his neck spiked up and his face turned into a snarl as he literally growled out. Moonjumper freezing at the sight of him and reminded of just how more powerful he was in and out of the Horizon.

"YOU GOT A LOT OF NERVE SHOWING UP ANYWHERE NEAR ME FOOL!!," he bellowed out and shook the terrified ghost in his clutches a little. "AFTER WHAT YOU PULLED YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE HERE AGAIN?! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?!"

Moonjumper squeaked something out something that sounded like a mouse before he shook his head, eyes wide blown in fear. "P-P-Please S-Snatcher. L-L-Lets be r-reasonab-b-ble now. I-I came to apologize-"

"HA!" Moonjumper froze up again. "YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?! AFTER THE STUNT YOU PULLED BEHIND HER BACK?! GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULD LISTEN TO ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY?!"

"B-B-Because." He swallowed and forced a smile. "H-Hazelle told me to?"

Snatcher stared at him.....Hazelle told him to come apologize? Yeah....That sounds like something she'd make Moonboy do alright. He still frowned but thankfully slowly released him much to Moonjumper's releif. "Im not interested in what you have to say to me." He then pointed to the sky. "GET. OUT. OF. MY. FOREST. And DONT you DARE think about coming near Poppy ever again!!"

He still didn't budge anywhere. "U-Uh...Ab-b-bout that. Uh...H-Hazelle...MayhavetoldPoppyhowyoureallyfeelaboutherandexpectsyoutotalktohertonight!!"

That's what made him freeze. And for a moment his face was blank before his rage came back in full swing again. "W H A T?!" His voice boomed and echoed throughout the forest and Moonjumper held up his hands.

"Trust me i-i-it wasn't my idea a-a-at all! S-S-She just w-w-wanted me to tell you!!"

Snatcher growled out lowly. "When I see that witch she's about to get the royal boot!!"

"B-But w-what about Poppy? S-S-She'll be expecting y-y-you tonight."

A shot of panic and fear quickly zigzagged through his form as his eyes widened at the realization. Hazelle told Poppy he LOVED HER!?!?! Oh peck he felt like he was gonna chuck ectoplasm again! WHAT WAS HAZELLE THINKING!?!? POPPY KNEW HE LIKED HER LIKE THAT?! OHPECKOHPECKOHPECK!!! HE WAS IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!! WHAT WAS POPPY THINKING RIGHT NOW!? SHE PROBABLY THOUGHT HE WAS WEIRD!! OR SOME KIND OF CREEP!! His claws gripped his head as he spiraled down into those thoughts. IF SHE DIDN'T HATE HIM SHE SURE WOULD NOW!! OR AT THE VERY LEAST BE ANNOYED AT HIM FOR NOT TELLING HER!! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO HIM?!?!

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO PECKING DO?!"

"Tell her?" Moonjumper meekly suggested and smiled nervously when Snatcher snapped back to him with a questioning look.

''WHAT?!"

Moonjumper sighed. "Look. I-.....I-I tried to trick her into coming into the Horizon with me."

Snatcher sneered at him, "SO WHAT!? You love her too!"

Moonjumper stared at him a little more calmly now. " You're right...I do. But you love her more." Snatcher stared at him for a while and Moonjumper sighed. "When we split into two upon death, so was our personality." He explained pointing to himself. "Took me a while and Hazelle explaining. But I am the embodiment of the prim and proper prince we always were...And the one who still feels for who Vanessa once was. I am the person We WERE. The sadness, the proper manners, the very lonely calm past us...That's me. I-...I miss my Queen despite everything." Snatcher wanted to gag. "But you..." Moonjumper stared dead at him and spoke with a genuine voice. "You are the part of us that had our buried side. All of our love for her. For Poppy. Your protective ad fierce side Vanessa made us bury in favor of me...or my half."

Snatcher narrowed his eyes and stared at Moonboy long and hard with a suspicious look crossing his arms."....Why are you tell me this?"

"Because Snatcher....I want her to be happy as much as you. Which is why you should do what we always wanted too and tell her what we should have....As you love her more than I ever could." His yellow eyes widened as he eyed his face, but found no traces of Moonjumper lying or hiding anything. And believe me he could tell when this corpse was lying to him, but he seemed actually concerned about this as his face now twisted to a softer tone and he tilted his head. "....You love her still. Don't you?" Snatcher didn't say anything, but his grip on his arms tightened and his frown widened. "Oh! Please. Do not give me that silent treatment old boy. You risked loosing your entire forest for her when I tried to trick her into coming into the Horizon with me."

"THEN WHY THE PECK DID YOU DO THAT IN THE PECKING FIRST PLACE?!," Snatcher snapped back at him.

"Because I missed my FRIEND!!" Moonjumper scowled at him. "And I never saw her as my 'love'! YOU DID! Why else would you even risk that much for Poppy unless you loved her?!"

Snatcher stared at him for a while longer again before he grunted and turned his gaze away from him. ''And why should I even do anything after you went BEHIND MY BACK!?"

"Because Poppy is going to be expecting you tonight. Wouldn't it just cause her more trouble if you don't go? You know how stubborn she is! If you don't go to her she's going to eventually storm in here looking for you demanding answers! Then you'll have to try and explain to her why you didn't go see her. It's very rude to keep a lady waiting."

''OH SHOVE IT MOONSHINE!! It's also rude to attempt to HOLD HER HOSTAGE and TRICK HER like a TRAITOR!!"

Moonjumper stared at him for a moment before he sighed again. "Very well. I know when I've done all I can. But please at least think it over? For Poppy's sake."

And then he left in a puff of scattering glitchy square things. Like he never showed up there. Leaving Snatcher to think, sulk, curse about, freak out over, and get flustered over everything and the situation Hazelle threw him into this time!!.....In that order. And after much continplating figured that Poppy WOULD be stubborn enough to march into Subcon to find him if he didn't show up. And-.....I-It took a lot for him to force himself to teleport himself into the ship. He felt oddly empty inside, like he hadn't been complete. But he didn't want Poppy to have anymore reasons to be disappointed in him. So after searching a bit he popped himself right on into the attic since that's where she most likey be at the moment. He guessed he must've not noticed how much time has passed with him thinking because he popped in on her about to sleep he guessed and accidentally spooked her. But now she sighed and looked up at the darker form's eyes as they blinked at her nervously. Poppy flinched when a snap rang out and a moment later a ball of blue flames popped up in the air next to Snatcher's head as he gazed down at her, lighting up the entire attic and allowed them to see one another. Poppy blinked at the sudden change in lighting, and after a few blinks managed to see the worried frown on the ghosts face as he stared down at her. The silence stretched on for a few moments with each party glancing around and Snatcher gave a small cough to help ease them into this.

"So....I was told you wanted to see me?" He crossed his arms looking at the floor. "I don't suppose it's because of what Hazelle told you."

Poppy awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh.....Actually I-I wasn't plannin' on seeing ya tanight."

Snatcher turned to her with a raised brow. "That's not what I was told.".....he suddenly frowned and growled. "Hazelle. I swear that witch is going to get a piece of my mind after this."

Poppy nodded in agreement that she didn't approve of what Hazelle apparently had planned with either of their consent but-....."Well. S-Since yer here-..." She looked back up at him with a light scowl and Snatcher froze under her eyes. As she crossed her arms. "Would ya mind tellin' me what in tarnation all this mumbo jumbo with that-...t-that darn book of you and me!?"

Snatcher couldn't have snapped at her faster recoiling like he was stung. "Y-YOU SAW WHAT?!"

She scowled further. "I said what's with the book!? And this whole story of you calling me a 'Flower Princess'??"

He looked confused for a moment. "Flower princess? What the peck are you even-...." He stopped mid sentence, yellow orbs suddenly going wide. ".......Oh.....Oh no."

"Oh, yes." Her brow rose as she shifted awkwardly on her feet. Blue eyes shifting away for a moment. ".....OH!! FOR THE LOVE OF PECK!!" She looked at him suddenly. "Everyone says you're in love with me!!"

"W-WHAT?!" Snatcher flabbergasted at the sudden and bold forward approuch from her. Face suddenly glowing a bright yellow to match his wide eyes and open mouth.

Poppy wasn't too far off either. Her face turned a bright pink as she still stared at him. Her mind racing with questions. Was that too straight forward? She didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. Why did he react so badly? Was Everyone just exaggerating and he doesn't? Is he mad he got caught? Why didn't he tell her. Her throat suddenly felt tight and dry as she forced herself to say the next few words. "I-I...Y-YA'LL H-HEARD ME!! W-W-WHY D-DO YOU LIKE ME?!"

"WHO IN THE P-P-PECK TOLD YOU THAT!?"

"HATTE!! A-AND HAZELLE!! A-A-AND EVEN M-M-MOONJ-J-JUMPER D-DID WHEN I MET HIM!!" Her face was as red as her hair now as she fumbled with her fingers. "Did ya.....I-I-I mean-......Are you......A-A-Are t-t-they r-r-right??"

Another silence followed throughout the room as Snatcher couldn't do anything but stare and Poppy figited and stared shyly anywhere but Snatcher after her embarrassing outburst. Wishing she hadn't said that and wishing she could slap herself for the embarrassing situation she put them in now. But jumped when she heard a low sound from Snatcher as the spook sank down to the floor. Sighing lowly and bringing a hand to rub his face where one's temples would be on his face if he still had a normal human face. She watched as the brightly yellow blushing ghost sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the wall in front of her. Sitting there and just rubbing his face. Seriously?! Why was his whole existance, life and death, have to be so complicated? Seriously, it was one situation after another for him now a days. More silence rang out and he assumed Poppy was doing to do the same thing he was. Trying to figure out how the peck he was supposed to explain this new situation to her- He looked up when he heard something shift and sit down next to him, looking to see Poppy sitting crosslegged right next to him looking up at the bigger ghost. Still red faced a fair amount but not saying anything as they did.

".........A-Are uh-....Y-You ok?," she asked. It might've been a dumb question but it was the only ice breaker she could think of at the moment.

He huffed in return. "Peachy. Real pecking peachy." He grumbled and looked to his own lap. "How do I keep getting into these things?"

"You tell me when ya find o-out cuz I'd like that question answered too." Another small bit of silence passed before she spoke again looking at him from the corners of her eyes. "I-....h-hate to be pushy but.....Is that..all they said.....True?"

Snatcher didn't say anything at first. suddenly finding his claws very interesting. "IF it was what would you say about it? Not that I'm admitting to anything."

Poppy rose a brow but decided to answer anyways. "W-W-Well-...I uh-" ...Actually what WOULD she say if Philip had confessed to loving her all those years ago or Snatcher liking her now the same way? The thought of anyone telling her they liked her. A woman who had already come to terms with the idea that she'd never get into a relationship, covered in mud or dirt 87% of the time, and had a mouth and attitude that could make a sailor blush. Why would any self respecting man, let alone a prince, love someone like her? She'd probably ask them if they were drunk or crazy!...But to be honest, she WOULD ask that wouldn't she? So she turned up to him fully. "Well.....IF someone told me they liked me like ...t-that, I would ask why? What would they see in someone like me?...Not pointing any fingers at anyone of course. Just sayin' what if."

He stared at her for a moment before looking back to his lap. "Well....IF someone liked you, they'd probably tell you-....T-That you were the most understanding person in the world....If someone liked you that is."

OH! She saw what game he was coming at her this time. More beating around the bush for him but to her it was just a case of reverse phycology again. So she hummed and looked at him. "That's a very nice compliment someone would give mahself. But ah ain't too convinced anyone would like me like that." Snatcher tilted his head slightly to her indicating she had his attention. "Let's just say that YOU liked me, not sayin' that ya do, just y'know as an example. And ya'll wanted to confess ta me. What would YOU tell me?...If you were interested that is."

.....He sighed again. "Well...I definately wouldn't say it was love at first sight."

"Why not?"

"B-Because-...." He scowled and softly glared at his claws. "Love at first sight doesn't exist. Love takes time and love takes work. And at the very least you have to know the other person." His claws shook as they slowly balled into fists. "And Vanessa literally had no idea of who or what I was." .......After a few seconds of tense posture, Snatcher sighed and slowly allowed himself to relax un balling the fists and looked at Poppy. Who was staring back at him wide eyed. "I know I said I wasn't good at this emotional talk, but I'm good at talking from experience. We-....W-We're all told fairytales about how the prince sees his princess and immediately falls for her, but...How could that happen? How could love at first sight truly exist? You don't know them. You don't know who they really are. Being blinded by someone's outward beauty can blind you to what's inside. A person can be beautiful....but have an ugly heart." His eyes lowered themselves from her own as he just....gazed off. "Vanessa wasn't actually in love with me. She was in love with the idea of me or what her twisted version of me should've been. She never allowed me to be me, but wanted me to fill a role she desired. And that's not love." He looked back at her. "That's selfishness." Yellow eyes scanned her face. ".....I think if I were to fall in love with you it'd be for all the opposite reasons Vanessa gave me, or other ladies. You weren't kind to me just because I was a prince, or because I was handsome, which I do claim.~ " Poppy rolled her eyes. "I could tell because you were so genuinely nice to everyone you meet. Even now. But even when you do fight with other people you were never.....cruel. Maybe a well deserved punch but you never really liked to fight with anyone. You treated me no different from the common man, and when we became friends you-....You were always so honest and open with me like I wasn't your future ruler or had this massive duty, or some fake fantasy. You treated me not as your superior, but as your equal. You listened to me even when I didn't listen to myself and....A-And you even AGREED with me when that pecking blonde demon did those pecked up things to me! You..you were the first person to really tell me what she was doing wasn't right. B-But ....I didn't listen. And...A-And my ignorance cost you and millions of others their lives probably...." He looked over at her again. "You were the most kind, fun, honest, down to earth person I had ever MET. Poppy, everytime I was around you, you made me smile when I was going through the worst part of my life! And you're the m-m-most forgiving person too....E-Even when I lied and I tricked you, and after everything that happened...You forgave me. I didn't to. You're the m-most beautiful person I've ever met. Inside and out." Her blue eyes were wide with an expression he couldn't place. Like a child seeing a toy for the first time in their life. He didn't notice it, but his body was likely shaking again. "A-A-And...I-I will never be able to make up for what I've caused. I'm...I'm s-so sorry."

"......Why?" She asked hands trembling within her lap as she just...looked at him. Blue eyes wide as she just..didn't know how to accept this new information. "....W-Why would you l-love someone like me l-l-like that?!"

"Why?! I just told you!" He stared at her and held his hands up. "For the love of peck I just told you why! I love the way you treat others! How kind you are!? That's why I love you!!"

Another moment of silence went by as the two just stared at each other for a long moment as the silence went on for a while longer as Poppy's face reheated with a new shade of red at his words.

"S-So...You admit you love me?"

Snatcher couldn't have turned a brighter yellow faster. "WHAT?! WHEN DID I EVER SAY I DID!?"

"JUST NOW!! YOU SAID 'THAT'S WHY I LOVE YOU'!!"

"NO I DIDN'T!!"

"YES YA DID!! AND DON'T LIE TA ME AGAIN YA PURPLE ONION!!"

"Rrrrrrrr! YOU'RE.......YOU'RE PECKING IMPOSSIBLE!!" He crossed his arms and looked away pouting as he he did so, still very obvious yellow blush running across his face as he did so. Which also confirmed everything he had just said. "FINE!! S-SO WHAT IF I DO!? IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WOULD'VE LIKED ME THAT WAY BACK!!" A silence filled the room as he just stared off.....before he peeked over at her. "R-right?"

She didn't answer at first, just sat there red faced and hummed. "W-Well.....maybe not now or like this....B-But it would've been nice if you didn't keep so much from me all the time."

"H-Hey! I said I was sorry!," he argued.

"And I said it was alright! But ya don't have to keep anymore stuff from me!" Her brow rose a little. "Don't suppose there ain't anything else I should know 'bout?"

Snatcher shook his head. "N-No...No. That's pretty much everything. Blabbered out behind my pecking back!....But all of it none the less."

"....Yer tellin' the truth?"

"Course I am! Pecking-.....*sighs* There's nothing else to lie about anymore."

Once again like in a cliche romance movie, the two looked down in silence. Well....what now? Were they just supposed to move forward like nothing at all happened? yeah right. Nothing would ever be the same now. It'd be awkward to everyone on both sides and in between. Way way too awkward!!

Poppy took a breath and looked back up to Snatcher who perked at her suddenly looking at him again. "W-Well....I'm glad you told me. I know it was...probably really hard for ya'll ta tell me anything considerin' what had happened." He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "For what it's worth, what I said still stands. Ah ain't mad at ya. Not one bit. I-...I'm upset ya didn't tell me but I ain't mad. And I don't hate ya." Her hand reached out and Snatcher blinked when Poppy grabbed one of his hands into hers. "And....I don't think I ever thank ya for what ya did for me. Ya'll saved my life. M-More than once." She looked down at the embarrassing memory of her dangling from the dum rope in the middle of the forest like an idiot. "Ya didn't have ta help me at all..But ya did. And I can't ever say how much I appreciate it. So...how 'bout we jut call it even and be friends again?" She smiled that smile that could put any jewel or flower to shame. "Whatcha say, Snatcher? Care ta make a friend again?"

Snatcher looked at Poppy for a long time. Her beautiful kind smile looking back to him as her hands squeezed his large one, ever patiently waiting for an answer. She was offering him something he lost a long time ago. A friend. Didn't matter that he loved her in a way she might never return and didn't have to. After everything they experienced together. The lies, the fights, the fear, the near death experiences....She was still ready and willing to be his friend. Just like all those years ago when he lost her to the cold dark void of Vanessa. .....A small smile passed over the spook's face and his hand curled around hers.

"I'd like a friend very much."

***********************************************************************************************

Snatcher wasn't bluffing when he said he was going to rip into Hazelle the moment he saw her again for the stunts she pulled. And he did call her out for it the second he saw her, which was when he tagged along one time to Poppy's rehearsal. After that night with the two becoming friends once again, thing's were less tense and awkward around the place now that there wasn't any bad blood or anymore lies between them. Snatcher was like his old self again but a bit better.....If you count Snatcher going back to being how he was better. He was now more at peace when he was sitting in his forest reading and had taken up letting Poppy know the girls could go whereever they wanted without her watching them if that made it easier for her to pay off her debt to Mr. Grooves but Poppy had to decline since they were her ride there and back and she wanted to fix all debts before anything. Snatcher had rose a brow at her and told her as far as he was concerned their contract was upgraded to mutual friends status instead of servant and boss. He literally had in in rewriting to show her. So no more debts were owed to him since he agreed they were even now. Which was fair she supposed. At least it was another thing off her mind to worry less about as the days flew on. They were mostly spent with Snatcher.....Well doing everything he's been doing for the past thousand years which entertained him just fine. And Poppy studying/practicing her route for the play, feeling more and more nervous as the time flew on, taking care of the girls, or going to work paying back Mr. Grooves like she promised. Snatcher would pop up more often to talk with her about this play(which he thought was ridiculous of course) or it was spent with the two catching up with what Snatcher had gotten himself into for the past thousand years. Or sometimes he'd take her and the girls shopping somewhere, him always hidden in her or one of the girls' shadows. In one of those trips the gals were just exploring the other side of the town surrounding the studios before Poppy was rehearsed that day and she couldn't help but stop when she heard there was a plant shop in town. Of course being a plant lover she'd want to go in there and have a look around. The place ended up being smaller than she had thought. Selling small cacti and other desert plants small enough for tourist to take home and decorate their desks with. But there was ONE small pot that stood behind the cashier's desk that caught Poppy's eyes. And her blue eyes widened at the stunning rainbow displayed behind the female owl. Hattie yelped and was nearly run over by the older woman when Poppy ran up to the counter and slammed her hands on it. Startling the owl in front of her.

"WHERE IN THE PECK DID YA GET THOSE FLOWERS?!," she asked pointing to the rainbow roses behind the owl.

The owl just stared at her for a long moment before huffing and crossing her wings. "If you MUST know. I grew them myself." She smiled smugly. "They bring in all my customers during the touring seasons.....They're not for sale." She added coldly eyeing Poppy up.

Poppy's jaw dropped at the sudden bold coldness of her...before shaking her head and scowling. "NO WAY!! Ya'll don't understand! My family made those flowers! They're mah BIRTHRIGHT!! Tell me yer price! I'll buy 'em whatever they cost!! PLEASE!!"

The owl sneered at the human eyeing her up and down. "Let me make this perfectly clear to 'ya'll'. I don't know what pecking filthy human would know about MY flower business but you'd have better luck courting a mushroom into growing than you would taking MY property. Now if you're not going to buy anything, I suggest you leave before I call the Sheriff and his Deputy."

Poppy's anger rose. "Why ya no good filthy son of a peckin' PECKNECK B-"

"POPPY!!" Bow tugged on her dress and pulled towards the door. "We're going to be late! You promised DJ Grooves you'd be back before ten o clock!"

Poppy stared at her...before back at the smug looking Express Owl. "But ...I-...Mah roses!!"

"We don't have time!"

She managed to start pulling Poppy step by step away from the counter and out the door as she still scowled at the smug looking owl who waved goodbye. Not noticing the yellow orbs peeking out from Bow's shadow. Which lead up to what was happening now. After another month or two of their usually routine Snatcher got curious about what Poppy was actually doing for this play ever since he found out she'd be dancing with a man and acting a romantic scenario. And he was (concerned) interested in what they were doing so he decided to tag along and see what was up, the studios were too busy for his liking. Even more so when he had seen Hazelle and yelled at her from Hattie's shadow. Hattie had to shush him when a few other actors looked their way and Hazelle being Hazelle, was just amuzed. Teasing him even about how she reunited the (love birds) friends. Hazelle wore what looked like some rip off rich lady's dress, but somehow it suited the witch greatly as she was playing the evil step sister. Turns out the entire cast was taking a break from rehearsing to do costume fitting so the tailor could do final touch ups to everyone's outfits and make sure they were all fitting well. Poppy was called in not soon long after they arrived and they were bit busy distracted by Hazelle in her costume.

"It's so nice seeing you two getting along again with out you moping around that gloomy tree house."

"I swear you WILL regret this," Snatcher hissed from the shadow running up the wall.

Hazelle rolled her eyes. "Yes. Yes. Revenge and justice. Yadda, yadda, yadda. But since we're on the topic of justice. I don't think this dress's skirt does me any favors."

"HA! Now you look even more like a real witch!"

"Jealous? At least I don't look like an overbearing literal shadow watching over my crush's every move-"

"THAT'S IT!!" Snatcher detached himself from Bow's shadow and glared at her. "Laugh all you want! As soon as she's done, tell Poppy to meet me back on the ship!"

Hazelle rose a brow. "You're leaving before you get to see her in that pretty dress?"

"Yes! I have some business to take care off across town. No if you'll excuse me!"

If Snatcher had stayed a few seconds longer he would've seen Poppy come out to show the others the beautiful gown she was wearing that would've make Snatcher's metaphorical heart skip a beat. But no. The shadow had other business to attend to on the other side of town. In a small plant shop with a sneering owl. No one noticed the shadow skittering around buildings and along the sand towards the shop. Neither did the shop owner until a giant purple hand grabbed her middle and brought her into the air. Making her squawk as she was lifted up, and was gazing into the mad yellow eyes boring into her.

"Unless you want me to eat your soul, you'll give me those flowers and tell me where you got them."

#snatcher x florist #florist x snatcher #Snatcher #a hat in time snatcher #Snatcher x the florist #A hat in time snatcher x florist #a hat in time snatcher x the florist #The Florist #A hat in time the florist #the florist x snatcher #A hat in time the florist x snatcher #flowercrown #florist #a hat in time florist #ABloomInTime

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch31 Meeting The Moonjumper P2

( Hey Guys. Sorry this chapter took so long. It's still my personal headcannon that the Twilight Bell takes you to the Horizon. The song Hattie is the unused song about the Moonjumper.)

How could she have not see all the thing's lining up with what he had said done, and what other's had said about him?! How could Poppy been so blind out what was staring at her before her very eyes?! Sleep didn't come to her that night, and she found herself staring at the dark ceiling. The final pieces of the puzzle fitting together as she remembered all the scenarios that gave away Snatcher's identity.

When she first glimpsed him at the manor. The brown hair was...P-Philip's. It was like everyone's voices and actions were being replayed back through her head with every moment of foreshadowing, hints, and puzzle pieces finally being put back together-

"Hey! I know who can help! Snatcher can!! He's really, REALLY old too and he should what to do!! Come on! He had to deal with being frozen and Vanessa just like you!" Hattie had given her the first major clue to it all. He had to deal with being froze to death AND Vanessa because he was the one who took the brunt of Vanessa's rage. "Hey! I know what can help a little bit. Y-You like flowers right?" He had a flash of panic fly over his face for a moment before he coughed and shrugged. "You said you had a flower stand before Vanessa sent her goons to take you right? O-Obviously you must've liked growing things then. Or at least flowers." That....THAT PECKING PECKNECK KNEW ALL ALONG SHE LOVED FLOWERS!! HE PECKING KNEW!! "We're all that's left and you should accept that's how it is now before you get hurt. Believe me the sooner you do the sooner everything starts to get better for you." "Hey. I can understand that. Believe it or not you're not the only one who's gone through that kind of thing....I'm certainly no stranger to feeling like that. In fact it took me forever literally just to realize my place after I got lost," "Ok. To make it in mushier terms..I DO want to help you ok. Believe it or not I do and I have my reasons. But you gotta know I can't change the past no matter what. Trust me I have TRIED and look where that got me. Stuck fused with a mushy corpse and having to lead a whole bunch of strangers through the forest like a tour guide." he glanced at her confusion again. "Uh..B-But that's not important. The important thing is that I can't change or fix anything that's already happened alright? I can't send you back. I can't give you anything from your old life......And I can't change what happened to you." Her face dropped and eyes widened even more- "But, I can help make the future easier and help you with whatever you need to settle down with alright? But you got to understand that it's NOT just going to be with a snap of my fingers. I know, I've experienced it for hundreds of years. Just know that...You're not going to be alone in any of this alright?" "No. You were right the first time. She was always a monster, it just took her a while to show everyone what was really inside. So don't give her any credit. She was never a queen, just a spider wearing a pretty mask." "I-I...I know exactly how you feel." He scowled. "Yeah. I know EXACTLY how that feels. Vanessa took everything from me too when she froze everything!" He growled and his grip on her became a bit tighter if he was being a lil protective. "I pecking didn't see it coming until it froze me right before my very eyes! I died before my life even took off the ground and now I'm stuck like this....But you aren't." He ...attempted a smile. "Listen, Poppy. I'm not good at this speaking from the heart stuff, but Im pretty good at speaking from experience stuff. So trust me when I saw you still got your whole life plus more ahead of you. It's....probably going to take a while for you to process this properly and start to move on like I did." "Look. I ....can't change the past no matter how badly I want to. But I can change the future, and so can you. Think of all the things you can do now without anyone to hold you back!" He might've been speaking from what he perceived as a positive but she gave him a funny look. "Uh...By that I mean vanessa of course. She's not holding you prisoner anymore." "I stumbled across him a few times coming up here to visit. Hmph! He's very rude and always steals any dish I make with bacon when he's around me cooking. Quite the oddball out if ya'll ask me." P-Philip ....LOVED bacon. And Vanessa banned bacon from their kingdom around the time she died. "Of course I can! I made the kids all those clothes and my minions their highly durable bodies." ""YOU painted all of these?" she asked gawking at him His smile widened more smug if that was possible. "Yep. And those." He pointed to the left wall wear there was five giant paintings behind the space cow mobile. He then pointed behind her. "And the ones right behind you." Now that Poppy thought about it hard, she faintly recalled Philip learning embroidery from his mother and taking a liking to hobbies like painting and reading books. Both of which he did and you can CERTAINLY learn to sew along with embroidery. "How do you know that?," she asked genuinely confused. "UH....I- Um-....I-I-I was there when he was killed." He still eyed her for a moment before looking to the floor unable to look her in the eyes anymore. ".......Vanessa killed him. Just like she did to everyone else....a-a-and y-y-you...." "Just like you. She locked him away until everything froze over. Vane-.....That MONSTER!'', he spat hand slightly tightening as he scowled at the floor, "She was pecking crazy. Thought he was....cheating on her behind her back when he was nothing but patient with her. She didn't deserve anything." "Because she was nuts! Always have been and always WILL be! She would've snapped sooner or later with the way she was back then, always so paranoid and thinking I-.....I THINK he belonged to her." His other hand was quick to shoot out and grab her shoulders accidentally making her jolt at the sudden grab but it was enough to get her to look at him. "Now you listen to me and you listen good." A claw poked her chest as he pointed it at her crying face with a deep frown of his own. "I have dealt with too many years of pecking guilt over whether or not it was my fault or if I could've stopped it! And I'm sick of it all! You. Are. Not. At fault!! Do you hear me?! Vanessa was always going to snap and it was HER fault for being so batpecking crazy, she couldn't tell the difference between fantasy and reality! There was no reason in her! We should've expected nothing less of her for anything! But I'll be just as bad if I didn't it now, and I'm saying it's not your fault. Least of all people you. All you did was sell flowers. Big deal. It would've been the same if she saw m-....him buying a necklace from a jeweler or a ham from the butcher. BANG!!" She flinched at the loud yell he made at 'BANG'. Tears running down her face as he spoke. "Ice. Death. Lots of ghosts. You get the picture. The point is, it's ABSOLUTELY! NOBODY'S PECKING FAULT!! BUT VANESSA'S!! .......You and me didn't do anything wrong." "So-...I take it this..'prince' friend of yours was a nice person? Not that I knew him, but it seems you two were close. Not that it's any of my business." He had an anxious feeling saying all of this as a stranger but he couldn't help but feel the need to get all this anxiety off himself by asking. "It just sounds like you cared about him a whole lot." "Yeah.....Hey. This might sound out of no where but do you blame him, your friend, for what happened between him and Vanessa?" "How did you die?," she found herself blurting out before she could stop but she instantly regretted it. "WHAT?!" Snatcher whipped his face to her wide eyed. "S-Sorry." She held up her hands worriedly. "Is it rude to ask a dead person that? I d-didn't know honest. It's just that.....You're doin' an aweful lot for me and I don't know a lot about ya, since you already know alot 'bout me from my rambling. I figured ya would return the favor." "Sorry. NO can do, Red. That's private information." She scowled again. "OH come on! Purple onion. Your contract paper thingy said I could ask for anything I wanted in return for helping ya!" "Within REASON!," Snatcher stressed, "Asking a ghost about their past is like asking a poor person how much money they spent on their shoes!" "Same as you. I died during the Great Subcon Freeze." "Oh. Well you said you saw what happened when Philip....p-p-passed away, right? Does that mean you were employed by the Queen?'' "Sorta. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time." Which wasn't really a lie. He couldn't have ever been in a more wrong place or time. "Another innocent bystander to a crazy curse." "Oh right. Dumb question. Then who wer-" "Next question!," "Ok! Well ya technically did, but I mean what made ya decide to help me? I just don't get it.". "Because I recognized you from the village." "I-...Sometimes saw you selling flowers in the square, and-.....I guess I was simpathetic to someone else in a similar situation as I was."

That.....Night....The night she had her nightmare. THERE WAS SO MANY HINTS HITTING HER IN THE FACE AND SHE WAS STILL BLIND TO THEM ALL!!

"So....does that mean Philip is a g-ghost too?" "A ghost? Well that's not exactly easy to answer. Any ghost I know if they even became ghosts would be in the forest .....or another plain of existance. A-And like I said BARELY any of my minions remember who they were before they died."

He LIED!!....No. Not exactly lied. He did tell the truth but...BENT IT!! Without actually answering anything!! Or telling Poppy anything!! WHY?! What reason would he have to keep his identity hidden from her?! They were friends....Weren't they? ALL OF IT!! Everything he or anyone else had said lined up perfectly with what Moonjumper-....Or second Philip had told her.

"And you know I could always scare you out of any debt you got yourself into with those pecknecks down there." He offered genuinely. "I may not look like it, but I'm very good at legal technicalities. I did want to be a lawyer at once upon a time!" Philip studied laws to better his future kingdom one day. He always said he wanted to be a good king. And mentioned if he wasn't destined to be prince he would've liked to become a lawyer. And there was a bush cat in his home...Philip mentioned having a pet bush cat. A gift from his father. Moonjumper's echoing voice still rang around in her head with everything he said. "HA! That's rich coming from him! That halfling is lying right to your face!" "Why? Didn't dear Snatcher tell you?" He chuckled and gave a smile similar to Snatcher's smug one. "We're two halves of the same person.~ Split at death and now wondering through death two halves of the same person.~" "Oh! He didn't tell you did he?" He smiled and gestured to himself with a smile. "Well allow me to elaborate for you, my dear.~ Snatcher and I are both Prince Philip Snider Of the Kingdom of Subconette.~ When we died in the frozen celler we split personalities resulting in us becoming two very different ghosts. How I have no idea, but it's quite the sight isn't it?~"

"Are you sure about that?"

No. No she wasn't. She wasn't sure of anything any more than she ever fully did in her entire life. It-....IT DIDNT FEEL REAL!! IT FELT LIKE A BAD DREAM!! ALL OF IT!! THE THREE MONTHS SHE SPENT HERE AND EVERYTHING THAT"S HAPPENED ALL FELT LIKE ONE BAD ROLLAR COASTER RIDE OF A DREAM!! AND ANY MINUTE NOW SHE WAS GONNA WAKE UP IN HER BED, GET UP AS SHE USUALLY DOES, SHAKE OFF THE WEIRD DREAM, AND GO BACK TO WORKING HER STANDS AND SEE PHILIP AGAIN!! HER DEAR FRIEND!!......But it sadly wasn't a dream no matter how much it felt like it. As she stared at the ceiling from her makeshift bed, she was VERY aware of the ghost that happily still read the book about black holes like a dedicated reader. .....Was this really Philip? There was plenty of proof, but how could she know for sure? What was real and what wasn't? It's safe to say sleep didn't come easy to her that night but she guessed at some point she did give in to sleep because when she woke up Poppy was still tired and 'Snatcher was gone. Guess he left sometime after she fell asleep. It was weird after that. It was like Poppy was on numb autopilot for days after that. She still took care of herself and the girls. Still cooked for them, cleaned if needed, made sure herself and the kids were clean, played when they asked her to spend time with them except now they referred to Poppy as Mum. Which she didn't have the heart, focus, or energy at the moment to bother correcting. Her mind kept revolving back around to Mr. Moonjumper (philip 2.0) said and still couldn't figure out why. Why did he say that? Was it even true? Was Snatcher even who he said he was? She barely got any of the script read during that time of course. During that time she busied herself with learning how the new tech worked, mostly the washer, dryer, and the oven. Took a bunch of practice but she got.....decent at working them at least. But she found herself getting through half of the script at least when she got the second call from Mr. Grooves. She was just in the kitchen cooking eggs in a frying pan for her and the two girls waiting when Bow came bounding in and tugging on her dress with that giant innocent smile of hers.

"Mom. There's a call for you from Mr. Grooves."

"Hm what?....OH! R-Right. I'll be right there."

It took a quick turn off on the oven and walk(crawl) to the machine room to actually take the call as she held it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Darling," came the voice of the penguin as happy and calm as she first rememebered. "You're probably wondering why I'm calling you this early morning?"

"Uh...Yeah actually. Is something wrong?"

"Not at all!" She could feel the smile the penguin had on him at that moment. "We actually have fantastic news! All the sets have been set up and secured not to fall over anymore. We're all ready to start the first rehearsals first thing next week!"

".....F-F-First rehearsals?! So SOON!?," she asked feeling a wave of dread coming over her. She hadn't even finished the script!!

"Yes! That's not a problem is it?"

"U-Uh...N-NO! NO!! Not at all! Hehe." She smiled nervously despite being on the other side of the phone where he couldn't see. "N-N-Next week will be just fine! I c-can't wait to rehearse."

"That's great, Darling! Come to the studious first thing Wednesday morning sharp. We'll start the first run through first thing in the morning when you arrive, Darling. Get up bright and early bird. And don't forget that script now. DJ Grooves out."

"Bye..." Poppy said after hanging up before blankly looking back towards the door. Great. She needed to focus on that script and get it read quickly before next Wednesday!! She didn't even notice the burning smell before Hattie rushed in clutching her hat so it wouldn't fall off.

"POPPY!! THE EGGS ARE BURNING!!"

"OH PECK!!"

It was almost like a blink of an eye when Wendesday finally came for them. Poppy had spent so many hours worriedly reading and rereading the thing over and over trying to focus her energy into it instead of worrying about the Philip/Moonjumper/Snatcher situation and just read. She NEEDED to focus on something else besides thinking of that right now, and when the day finally came she got up to the sight of the girls shaking her awake for it, quickly hurrying herself to get her presentable and grab her trusty leather apron, stuffing her script into the breast pocket and an apple into her mouth for a swift breakfast. Nothing on her mind except how nervous she was and how SO NOT READY she probably was for this. Without Cookie to really escort them to the Moon City, the girls would have to teleport her using the two umbrellas and the magic telescope. She really, really wasn't thrilled at the idea of them carrying her through space, but seeing no other option she reluctantly agreed and after the two got their umbrellas, lead her to the machine room where the telescope apparently pointing towards the bird's studios. Needless to say Poppy held her breath and kept her eyes shut the entire way when Hattie confirmed they would about to take off into space. All she could feel after grabbing the little girls' hands was them death gripping her hard with almost inhuman life strength it almost hurt and the sudden lurch forward with the whoosh sound of two umbrellas opening and finally her body being lifted and pulled through the air like a kite. She didn't look the entire way there, just kept her eyes clamped shut the entire way. She would've loved to look upon the beautiful planet or the diamond stars as she passed but she was afraid she might relive the plummet into the swamp and didn't want to relive THAT near death experience again. So for now she would just hang on for the ride, it almost felt like forever just floating in air drifting like a peaceful kite, before suddenly she was whiplashed back and she gasped as she was suddenly suspended by nothing but her arms in the sky. Poppy's blue eyes snapped open and she suddenly blinked at the sight she was taking part in...and frankly almost lost her pecking mind. She thought hanging from that noose once was bad, try hanging about a hundred feet in the air above a desert town and only being held up by two little children holding her hands with an iron grip her hands were almost numb. Her blue eyes shrinking to pinpricks as her stomach flipped seeing the sight of her suspended.

"It's ok!, " Hattie tried to reassure her as they slowly floated down, "We got you!"

To keep herself from feeling anymore sick, Poppy closed her eyes and didn't open them until her feet connected with solid ground and she lightly gasped, for what felt like forever. Popping her eyes open and seeing the old desert town and almost falling to her knees on wobbling legs. Beside her both girls touched down and closed the umbrellas. Giving Poppy a concerned look.

"Are you ok?"

....After a few seconds of breathing and grounding herself, Poppy nodded and leaned back up with an inhale. "Yeah. N-Now...L-Let's get ta that studio, right?"

It was almost the same exact time when Poppy had come in to get measured for her costume, except this time without Snatcher present to tail her, which she was thankful for right now. She did NOT want to be thinking about him right now, but anyways- It was like the last time they came in, with Mr. Grooves pacing in front of the lobby looking worried and anxious but as soon as he saw them he was immediately smiling and racing over to them.

"DARLING!! There you are!!," the moon penguin boomed out happily stopping in front of them, "And not a minute too soon!" And like last time, he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him towards the big doors leading to the penguins' side of the studios. "We have a rehearsal to perform and practice to be had!!"

Like the last time she entered, everything looked the same except it was now less busy and most of the penguins here were calmly carrying something around or checking the clipboards they were holding for something. Still pretty busy but was way better than last time in here opinion. At least she didn't have to worry about ducking under anything this time around. And like last time the two girls followed only, Mr. Grooves quickly lead them past the changing rooms, and down a different hallway further down the way from the last one. Poppy blinked and watched where they were going, this hallway was much better lit than the giant room outside and multiple props and what looked like painted scenes were printed all over the place leaning against the walls and ready to use at any given moment. Up a head a metal door was waiting for them that read: Back Stage Supervised Personal and Staff Only. They headed straight for that and the Moon penguin opened it with enough force to almost make it hit the other side of the wall. Poppy blinked as she was pulled onto a stage....A REAL wooden floored stage with curtains, and props behind said curtain, and other people waiting there but looked up when the two came in followed by the two girls. They were all there.

"So sorry for the hold up, Darlings," He apologised finally releasing Poppy and smiling at them all, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice to our first rehearsal folks. Now I know the Bird Movie Awards is still so many months away, but we need to practice, practice, practice before we actually start filming the play and editing the footage. Raw talent is the real pop behind the success!" he clapped his flippers together. "Now does everyone have their scripts in hand?" Everyone responded by saying some version of 'yes' and holding up their papers before Grooves nodded in approval and looked up to Poppy. "What about you, Darling?"

Poppy blinked. "UH! Oh r-right." She quickly reached into her front pocket and pulled out the slightly crinkled stack of papers. "H-Here!"

He nodded again, and turned back to the crew. "Alright, Darlings! You all have ten minutes to reveiw your places for the first five scenes before we start! Don't forget just because this is practice that doesn't mean to put the best into your acting! Pretend you're there! Feel the thousands of adoring watching as you all take the stage and dance away!"

"Hello, Miss." Poppy jumped at the sudden voice next to her and looked down to the mysterious owner of the voice it belonged too. Relaxing when she saw the smiling face of Timmy smiling up at her. "Sorry for giving you a fright, but I just wanted to say hello yeah?"

She sighed and smiled. "N-No. It's ok, sugar." She looked up and around a little bit. "Is Hazelle here with you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She's just talking to one of the production managers about the spotlight keeping on shining in her eyes. ...But I do have something important to say-"

"Darlings!" They all turned and Saw Grooves looking in their direction. "Sorry my little stars. But no children are allowed on set during rehearsals." Both girls 'awed' in disappointment, excitement to see their story come to life fading but he still smiled. "But you little ones are more than welcome to have a front row seat in the audience while we practice." Both smiled again with happy little gasps making the penguin smile more and turn, motioning for them to follow him. "Come along, Darlings. It's this way."

Bow and Hattie of course obliged and happily bounded off after the director but Timmy lingered. Looking back up to Poppy. "Don't tell anyone this, not even Hazelle. But Moonjumper said to be prepared for me to come fetch you three days from now when it's your day off from work here."

Poppy snapped to him and blinked. "What do you-"

"Little boy! Off the set now. Come along!"

"Sorry. Can't talk now. Just be ready."

She didn't have the chance to say anything back to him before he turned and ran off the other direction, leaving her standing there mouth open and staring blankly at the direction Timmy ran off in. ...At least until there was a yell of someone from the other side of the stage.

"Five minutes people!! Actors for scene one get ready to come up for the opening scene rehearsal! Again five minutes people! Chop chop!!"

Poppy jumped, and with the papers in hand made her way towards the front. The first rehearsal didn't go that badly. In fact it could've been worse. When Mr. Grooves said he really wanted to go by the book he meant it, in fact barely anyone had barely any speaking roles outside the narrator for the play (who happened to be another moon penguin with a deep voice) and all she had to do was do the motions she read in the script and.....messed up a bunch. Stepping on the actor playing Starella's father's foot, tripping over the curtain exiting stage, and once accidentally making Hazelle fall when she nudged her without looking. Thank goodness Hazelle and the male actor was so understanding. It made her nerves rise higher the more they practiced especially with Mr. Grooves watching from a director's chair in the audience and his voice shouting at her or someone else every time something happened.

"CUT!! Darling! Let your body relax, you're movements are becoming too stiff. Once more from the top!!" "Cut! Clean up on center stage!" "Darling, be careful where you step! Don't step on anyone's toes." "Lights, camera, action!!" "Take Seven on opening scene in three!...Two!.. ONE!! Narrator, Darlin'!"

And a whole bunch of other things she kept getting nervous about, by the time they were done she just felt so drained mentally and physically from it all all she wanted to do was go back home and fall asleep when Mr. Grooves gave her the ok to leave. Which WAS exactly what they did, Poppy paid no mind to anyone else and only barely registered Mr. Grooves telling everyone they'll pick up again from where they left off tomorrow morning and for everyone to get some rest and practice. Sounded good to her. So when the two again grabbed her in their iron grip when she essentially shooed them out the door, she closed her eyes basically doing and feeling the same thing as before when she went down only falling on her stomach as soon as they reentered the ship floating in outer space and got herself some rest. Thinking about what Timmy had said kept rebounding in her mind and with all the stuff clouding it up she was almost like a robot with her actions in the next three says. Get up, dress, hygiene routine, take care of the girls, go to the rehearsals (which was Ok at best. she or others still messed up every often and had to restart a lot which was hard for her clouded mind and nervous feelings), and routine afternoon/bedtime routine before falling into an uneasy sleep. Rinse and repeat for the next three days. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. She had tried every so often to talk with Hazelle or Timmy about it, but Hazelle seemed genuinely busy with her role as the evil step sister reading that script, and Timmy just avoided any thing she asked if she could before running off to the audience seats to avoid her. And during ALL of this Snatcher had not appeared once which she was...still kinda grateful for. She wasn't sure what she was going to do or act around him now since what Moonjumper said was still echoing every moment of the day throughout her mind. In fact Moonjumper hadn't shown up either which what was bothering her a bit since she wanted to ask so many questions. But it all finally came to a head early Sunday morning when she was awakened by someone shoving her shoulder and calling her name. Confused, the red head groaned and pushed her head up from the pillows on the floor where she slept, pushing the long red hair out of her bangs groggily blinking.

"Poppy? Poppy! Get up! Timmy's here!", Hattie shouted shoving her again and she almost fell over back onto her stomach.

"W-What?," she asked sleep stilling hanging onto her. The red head yawned and blinked at the little girl in the dark. "Hattie? Sugarcube, what are ya'll doin' this late at night?"

"It's morning actually, but that's not important!," she insisted pushing upwards against the older woman's shoulder to try and get her to get up, "Get up! Timmy says he has to take you somewhere important!!"

She slowly rose with the child's pushing. "W-Who-...Timmy?"

"Don't tell anyone this, not even Hazelle. But Moonjumper said to be prepared for me to come fetch you three days from now when it's your day off from work here."

At the sudden voice in her memory spoke out, Poppy jumped up suddenly wide awake letting Hattie fall onto her stomach on top of the make shift bed of pillows. Timmy was-......Timmy was here! For her! So that meant he was-....Hattie shook her head and reached to push her giant top hat up off her face when she heard quick footsteps walking away from her, blinking she looked over and found Poppy briskly walking away from her towards the rising and falling platform leading from the attic and to the control room. She blinked and quickly jumped up and ran after her to catch up. Poppy was quick to reach the platform as it rose back up and stepped on it, Hattie right behind her quickly jumping on it too just a second before they began to lower into the much more brightly lit room. They could see everything from their spot on the platform, including the purple eyed boy who was sitting patiently at the control room's chair facing the control panel chatting with Bow about something but both looked up noticing the two coming down the platform and smiled.

"Well, well. Good morning, Miss Poppy,'' Timmy greeted from down below waving, "Sorry for the early visit but Moonjumper thought it was best I brought you as soon as I could to avoid suspicion from Snatcher, eh."

When the platform touched down, Poppy quickly got off it and began walking down the ramp towards him with Hattie behind her and Timmy stood up to meet her as she waltzed on over and stopped in front of him.

"Ya'll are...here to take me to Moonjumper?," he asked for clarification a lil bit of excitement coming over her at the prospect for answers.

Timmy nodded. "Yep. Thought you'd want to finally get some answers eh?"

She nodded. "YES! Pecking yes!"

"Oh good." He walked past her going towards the door leading towards the storage room. "Then we all better make our way over to Alpine Town then."

Poppy blinked and slowly followed after him with Hattie and Bow bounding up to walk next to him. "You're planning on using the Twilight Bell to get there?," she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah. I can't get there myself without Hazelle's magic and all of us have supernatural ties upon our souls. It should easily do the trick."

"What's this Twilight Bell?, " Poppy asked following following them still confused.

The door to the storage room opened with a whoosh sound and all three children walked on in throuh the hallway with Poppy going to crawl right after them.

"The Twilight Bell is this HUGE bell that's a part of the Alpine Goat City and can only be used by spirits or someone with really powerful connections to magic or spirits," Timmy explained, "Since all of you are bound to the purple noodle through contracts and I'm tied up with MJ, it should work for the whole lot of us."

"...You mean the bell teleports ya'll?"

"Sorta? It takes us to the Horizon. It's wear trapped spirits go and where I live. I think you'll like it. Not a lot going on but it's pretty peaceful and pretty majestic in it's own way."

The four of them walked(Poppy Crawled) into the storage room and instead of stopping they went over towards the ladder Poppy recognized from when they were cleaning as the ladder that lead to the boiler room. Hattie also mentioned that they stored her ships water supply in there. Without hesitation Timmy walked right up to it and grabbed the ladder, starting to climb up it in a swift manner similar to the two girls who went right after him. Poppy watched them disappear through the small kid sized doorway in the top wall there before she slowly began to follow after them. Half way up the ladder she heard what sounded like a loud thud and she rose a brow at that. At the very top, she crawled her way through the small opening and stopped upon seeing probably literally the only part of the spaceship she hadn't seen before. The area was certainly warmer than the storage room, and true to Hattie description. It WAS filled with lots and lots of water except for a small platform way on the other side lower than where she currently was and a GIANT boiler making a whirring sound as it worked with FLAMES peeking out from the open vents!! Timmy and Bow SOMEHOW got across the water and were waiting by the telescope which was pointing outta the windows also by the platform and Hattie pulled her trusty umbrella out of no where. Before Poppy could react something with the force of a hundred men grabbed her and she yelped when she suddenly found herself being held in the arms of the child awkwardly as Hattie aimed her umbrella at a metal beam above the water. The hook from the tip of the umbrella latching onto it with a metal clang. Poppy didn't have time to say a single word before Hattie jumped and swung them across the ship's water supply. The yelp that the startled woman gave almost caused the child to go unbalanced as she released them from the beam and towards the platform, Poppy instinctively latching onto her hat. Timmy and Bow watched as the two crashlanded on the small platform next to them. Poppy hitting her back against the wall and Hattie belly flopping with her hat over her face, Umbrella just barely missing falling into the water by some miracle.

"Dang pecking nabbit! Warn me next time ya decide ta do somethin' like that!," Poppy yelled from her sitting position, heart momentarily pumping from the sudden leap.

"Are you ok there?," Timmy asked pulling Hattie to her feet as she popped the hat off her head and blinking.

"Yeah. But I really don't like crashlandings." Poppy leaned off the wall and rubbed her back looking around the room. "Why did ya'll come in here?"

"To take you to the Alpine Alps." Timmy gestured to the lone telescope still pointed out the window and Poppy rose a brow at it as he walked back over to it. "This'll take us all straight to Alpine and from there to Moonjumper. We'll have to leave right now if none of us wanna get caught by Hazelle."

"More traveling with those umbrellas?"

"My magic's not strong enough to teleport me let alone all of us to Alpine all the way down there. I could barely teleport inside the ship from the moon. Unless you wanna wait for Snatcher or Hazelle to catch onto our plan and you never see Moonjumper, be my guest." Poppy said nothing and he nodded. "Then let's not waste anymore time yeah?"

Poppy stared at him a little longer before sighing and nodding. Well when he put it at that, he had a point. She certainly didn't think Snatcher would be very open to this idea. Not after what the girls had told her about what he thought about Moonjumper. And she certainly wasn't missing a chance for getting answers now, and what was one more umbrella ride since she's been sucking it up and using it to get too and from work for the past half week now. So with a sigh, Poppy pushed her self up to her knees and watched as Timmy grabbed Bow's hand as she held up her umbrella and walked over to the telescope. Taking Hattie's hand as she offered and shuffled over to the telescope after them, slamming her eyes shut when Hattie's iron like grip grabbed her hand like a pair of cuffs again. All she could feel after grabbing the little girl's hand was her death gripping her hard with almost inhuman life strength it almost hurt and the sudden lurch forward with the whoosh sound of two umbrellas opening and finally her body being lifted and pulled through the air like a kite. She didn't look the entire way there, just kept her eyes clamped shut the entire way. She would've loved to look upon the beautiful planet or the diamond stars as she passed but she was afraid she might relive the plummet into the swamp and didn't want to relive THAT near death experience again. So for now she would just hang on for the ride, it almost felt like forever just floating in air drifting like a peaceful kite, before suddenly she was whiplashed back and she gasped as she was suddenly suspended by nothing but her arms in the sky. Poppy's blue eyes snapped open and she suddenly blinked at the sight she was taking part in...and frankly almost lost her pecking mind. The first thing to hit them was the spine chilling limb numbing COLD!! It was like they suddenly got dumped in winter as the air blew wildly around them like a cold winter storm minus the snowflakes. The second thing she noticed was that they were IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE. PECKING. SKY!!! In all directions was nothing but blue sky, greyish white clouds, and cold wind. She couldn't even see Bow or Timmy which is what made it worse for her. Did they get knocked out of the sky?! Were they blown away by the wind!? Were they still falling somewhere to their doom?! Her questions were answered soon enough. When she was about to ask Hattie(who was still gripping her with that strange alien strength) where they were, when something finally peeked through the clouds. Whatever it was was BIG and grey but still blocked by the giant clouds surrounding them as they got closer and closer to their destination being blown by the wind. Her red hair whipped around and she could barely see until they suddenly went down. Poppy gasped and a spike of fear went through her as they did thinking they would fall to her second death slamming her eyelids shut, but instead of falling through air Poppy soon found herself being put down on her knees on something she could only describe as cold bricks. Confused, those blue eyes popped open and they went wide at the sight in front of her. The wind was still blowing, making her shiver and sent a shudder down her spine from the brief flashback to the old clutches of the Vanessa incident before she quickly pushed it from her mind and wished she had a coat as her arms instinctively rubbed her arms. What stood before her was something else. What stood before her looked to be a mini mountain like structure jutting out somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the cold sky, the moutains was decorated with old forgotten torn flags with strange symbols unknown to her waving in the cold wind and a few small snowflakes made themselves present drifting into small piles here and there. It also looked like oddly big shaped ledges formed into a naturally formof stairs leading somewhere but her eyes weren't focused on the path right now. She was looking at the strange egg shaped like statues with goat horns surrounding them before stopping and staring at the MASSIVE two statues of Alpine Goats on either side of the path ahead on two seperate cliffs, almost like guardians from long ago. There was also some plants despite it being so cold, mostly small trees and bushes jutting out from random spots in the cliff but there was also some wild vines growing up the cliff sides here and there. A cough directed Poppy's attention to her left where Hattie had landed and was met with the sight of the other two children as well. THANK PECK they didn't get blown away from them.

''Welcome to the entrance to Apline Alps Ms. Poppy," Timmy said one hand on his hat to keep it from being blown away. "I hope the landing wasn't too rough on ya."

...She blinked shaking her head. "W-Wait. WHERE in tarnation are we?"

"Like I said the entrance to Alpine Alps." He then pointed up the pathway, the ride to Alpine Town is down that way a bit. It's best we get going before we can't yeah?"

She gladly agreed. If there was a town nearby then maybe she could find a shop or someplace warm to warm up a bit. Timmy nodded and turned to lead the way, running towards the stone ledges with the girls following and Poppy once the lady got up onto her feet. Well, she made it this far, might as well see it to it's end. And think. The answers her mind's been beating her over to get was so close to getting obtained. It was kinda tricky climbing up after the youngsters who jumped and ran up and over the ledges with ease, but it wasn't too hard thanks to her muscles from so much work in her youth, she was easily able to jump, grab onto a ledge if needed and pull herself up and over to as if doing pull ups. Guess she can scratch off mountain climbing off her 'Weird Things to Happen To Me After Coming Back To Life' list. When she finally reached the top, Poppy was exhausted and her hands and arms were cold and sore like she had been shoveling pounds of snow with her bare hands, but she stopped when she saw what was before her. Two torches with fire (in the middle of daylight no less) stood on either side of an archway that lead the way to a boarded bridge, said archway was decorated with colorful paper and a rope of holed stone was tied across it. Writing of a language she'd never seen before decorated a sign above it. When Timmy noticed her staring at it, he explained it was the Nomad language and said Welcome to the Alpine Mountain Range. Interesting. The three children ran across the old wooden bridge like it was nothing and Poppy hesitated a wee bit....Come on you scardy cat! You traveled from hundreds of miles from SPACE and the moon tons of times! She could handle walking across a bridge probably miles high off the ground too! Though it didn't ease the butterflies in her stomach, she slowly forced herself to cross trying NOT to think of the thosands of miles below her very feet and instead looking straight ahead. In front of her was some kind of wooden doors and a metal fence leading off to the left, next to the doors was a bell and as soon as the three children got near it Hattie pointed her umbrella, the hook shot out and latched onto said bell and she pulled. The bell rang out a few times and as soon as Poppy got near the thing, the doors automatically opened and they all ran through. Timmy pointing upwards as he did.

"C'mon, Poppy! The way's up there!"

Poppy looked up to where he was pointing and- OH. MY. PECKING GOSH!! A spiraling stone staircase spiraled upwards up another cliff which was bigger than the one she breifly climbed and the ones the two goat statues were on. Oh boy. Well..maybe all this exersize would help her clumsiness in her rehearsals. Sighing she turned her attention towards the start of the stairs and still shivering walked after them. Along the way upwards she noticed there was more of those weird horned, hallowed out, egg shaped statues, a few torches, and LOTS of moss covering the old steps. She tried looking around but saw nothing but more sky and clouds, and as she got to the top she noticed there was even more giant goat statues. When she got to the very top of the stairs however was when things got stranger. At the very top there was four what looked to be graves with SKULLS on top of them, more strange stone statues, a TALL stone piller between the four supposed graves, two GIANT stone cut structures that were purposefully carved to look like horns, and some wooden beams with red flags which waved in the wind which speaking of the wind it seemed to have picked up since they got there. How odd.

"What are those?," Poppy asked pointing a hand at the 'graves'.

"Oh those? Those are memorials to the four founders of Alpine Town, they were devoted to the Twilight Goat who first made their home here. Some say they found out the secrets of high end magic and ascended to the stars when he died," Timmy explained.

So they were kinda graves. She didn't wanna know if those skulls were carved stone or the real thing- A giant clap of thunder rung out as the ground beneath them all shook for a few seconds causing Poppy to fall to the cold stone ground as it did. The giant stone pillar in front of them sinking into the ground a little bit.

"WHAT THE PECK WAS THAT!?" Poppy wailed pushing herself back up and looking around wildly. "An earthquake!?"

Timmy shook his head no. "Nah. Hattie's just summoning one of the alpine skylines."

"The what?!"

She didn't get an answer as it happened again and she was knocked back onto her side again as the thunder clapped and the pillar lowered a little more too. Hattie ran past her over to the third lever sticking out of the ground and with her trusty umbrella started whacking it as it spun around like a screw into the ground and another clap of thunder and another shaking of the cliff knocking her over once the last level was buried into the ground. And Poppy was finally able to push herself up without having the fear of being knocked over. Something slithered forth from the white clouds before them and it took Poppy a moment through her moment of shock seeing the thing to realize it was a rope decorated with more of that colorful paper!! She watched in shock as it wrapped itself TIGHTLY around the stone pillar and stayed there, leading back off to the unknown through the clouds. As soon as it arrived Timmy and Bow stepped up to it, Timmy and Bow locking hands like before they teleported using the telescope, and Bow aimed her Umbrella at the rope. The hook from her umbrella shot out and caught onto it, and as soon as they did they were whiplashed off like someone had just grabbed them and yanked them away disappearing through the clouds. Poppy yelped in shock and ran over to the edge where they disappeared off from, staring at the clouds rolling past. Where the PECK did they just go?! Before she even knew or really processed what just happened at all, something like an iron trap grabbed her hand once again and another hook from Hattie's umbrella shot out and grabbed onto the rope. With a yelp she'll deny later, Poppy and Hattie were also shot forward. It was really similar to the sensations of when she was traveling with the girls to and from space, only this time she could see what was happening to her surroundings as she was once again pulled along by the little alien like a kite in the wind. Red hair whipped in every direction in front of her face and she had a quesy feeling in her stomach from all the pulling she was receiving now. Clouds. All she saw was clouds from her eyes squinting from the wind whipping her face, and the rope that never seemed to have an end as they flew. All she could hear was the whistling winds, claps of thunder from the clouds, and the distant sounds of bells-......Bells?! Wha- Another clap of thunder sounded out as they passed through the biggest cloud of all of them when FINALLY daylight broke through the other side and she could see something besides the clouds. And. Her. Jaw. DROPPED!! More cliffs. LOTS more cliffs. But all of them were MUCH MUCH more bigger than the few they had already climbed, making the ones they passed look like babies in comparison. As they zoomed by, they passed a pair of twin peaks standing side by side with more Alpine Goat Statues THAT WERE GINORMOUS!! Even bigger than the statues they had already seen! These were easily the sizes of a small castle EACH!! As they continued to zoom past those with the cold wind still seeping into her bones, There was yet ANOTHER set of twin peaks with more ginormous goat statues, and with each pair of goats statues there was a massive...rope?? And on said ropes was the BIGGEST golden bells she'd even seen. The giant things rang out from the winds pushing them and shined brightly from the sunlight. Poppy gazed up at them all in awe as they flew past. Well, that explains the distant sound of bells she heard. She was so in awe, it was unlike anything she had ever seen before! It was in a mystical way, beautiful! They were fast approuching the end of the rope's journey and Poppy looked around admiring the veiws. Was....Was that cliff spewing out LAVA!? It looked more like a volcano than a cliff!! And that one had some kind of giant structure on it. She wasn't sure what it was to be honest, but it was still so massive! She didn't see the end of the rope until there was a sudden whiplash and her body was sent forward shooting like a rocket, crashlanding into some green plants with a loud yelp!

"Oh no! Poppy!" Hattie quickly ran over to the red head as she pushed herself out of the roof of the small building she crashed into and coughed, spitting out leaves and shaking her head. "Are you ok?! Im sorry! I must've slipped! "

"Ah'm fine! *cough* I'm sorta used to this crashlanding bizz by now." She shook her head and finally got a chance to look around her. The way they came from was clouded by well clouds and she could barely see the back of the statues n cliffs they passed let alone the cliff they came here from. Looking around her she saw lots and LOTS of man made wooden platforms, houses with the roofs just covered in plants, more of those horned hollowed out egg statues, piles of firewood, bails of hay, and carvings of goats and paintings were plastered all over the available sights of what cliff she could see. Peck. Even the houses had strange carvings in them so details it must've taken someone a hundred years to even finish carving one of them. Odd ledges and stone stairs carved into the cliff sides to the right lead to farther up from the landing platform she crashed into....She blinked. "Where in the hey are we?"

"The town of Alpine Skylines." Poppy snapped over to her left and load and behold Timmy and Bow was just a few feet away from them all. He pointed up the roof she was still sitting on and over towards the path you HAD to climb said roof to get to. "The towns split into five different sections between all these cliffs here, you see. There's the Lava Cake Peaks, Bird House Peaks, Twilight Bell Path, Landing Peak, and Windmill Hills. Right now we're on Landing Peak where everyone who comes here first lands, yeah." poppy blinked and looked up towards the path he pointed at. Landing Peak huh? Well at least it made sense. She blinked again when Timmy suddenly jumped onto the roof next to her and began climbing his way up and towards the path. "There's four skylines leading to them, since we're heading home we need the green one that goes to Twilight Bell Path. Follow me!"

Poppy blinked but moved when both girls started to also climb up the roof and jump onto the path after him, once she set foot on the path and was able to meet up with them, Timmy gestured down the wooden platform path and she followed. The wooden path soon turned to giant stone steps befitting the giant Alpine Goats who lived there. Speaking of the residence they passed one or two goats on their way up, the goats shaking out their furred shelves every so oftten. And some Nomads. The smaller covered up residence of the peaks who lived in the smaller houses of the peaks. Poppy envied their heavy coats as she was still shivering from the cold air from being so far up and rubbing her arms following them. There was still everything she saw from her place back on the landing platform, only now she could get a good look at the other peaks. She could see how they got their names. Bird House Peaks had an actual LARGE bird house(or what she assumed was one since she couldn't guess what else it could've been). Lava Cake Peaks obviously had Lava. Landing Peaks was the center of the peaks leading towards them all. Windmill Hills had the BIGGEST windmill she had ever seen built into it!! As for the Twilight Bell Path- Poppy blinked and gawked at the HUGE silvery-green bell built upon the cliffs that was held up by more goat horn structures. So that was the twilight bell that would lead her to Moonjumper. Gotta say she was starting to find this easier than she originally thought it would be. She continued to follow the kids up, up, up until they finally stopped at this huge fancy carved house. She guessed it must've belonged to one of the goats since it looked too big to be a nomad's. Infront of the house was a giant wooden beam and from it a rope with green fancy paper decorating it lead from it towards the giant bell. Timmy pointed at it and Poppy understood it was the way to go. And so the same thing from before happened. Timmy took Bow's hand and they zoomed away towards the bell, and Poppy did the same again with Hattie. Before they took off though she noticed there was some very beautiful bright blue flowers shining brightly so much, the light made them look white. Poppy only remembered staring at the pretty thing before being yanked away towards the new path. This time the trip was MUCH shorter than the first one this time and she landed more decently on her knees when they reached the stone end, getting off and brushing her self off and looked as Timmy beckoned her down another stone ledge path which lead to more wooden bridged bewteen the peaks that lead to the bell. She could feel the anxiety and excitement grow within her stomach as they neared, but she came all the way here. It was too late to turn back now. Timmy lead them through an archway that he explained read The Twilight Path, so they were on the right track. Though the climbing she had to do against cold stone was NOT fun in the slightest. One Namad they past yelled out that the Twilight Bell was just ahead of them. Which was good since she was starting to feel sore from all this climbing anyways. Along the way she noticed there was stars and strange symbols painted on some of the cliff sides, as well as a few more of those really beautiful bright lit flowers. When she asked Timmy about the flowers he shrugged.

"Those are Twilight Flowers. They grow all along this section of peaks."

"Ah think they're beautiful. Wouldn't mind havin' some back home."

Twilight flowers huh? She'd never heard of those kinds of flowers before, but they were really beautiful to look at. Oh well. As they continued to climb, they FINALLY reached....Another green papered skyline.

"This is the last skyline before we reach the bell,'' Timmy explained before he was whisked off by Bow again.

Oh well that was good at least, her wrist was starting to get sore. So rinse and repeat yet a third time and Poppy was once again strung along, but this time she KNEW she was there. The last trip over felt like an eternity as she just fawned and awed over the large bell structure before her as they got closer and closer. Until finally she was there landing hard on her knees but she didn't care, she was too busy looking at the INSIDE of the thing! THIS BELL WAS HUGE!! PROBABLY BIGGER THAN THE GOLDEN ONES SHE SAW WHEN THEY FIRST CAME IN!! AND THE INSIDE LOOKED LIKE AN ENTIRE GALAXY ON IT'S OWN!! Black void painted the inside of it as beautiful diamonds sparkled brightly like stars. It was absolutely breath takingly pecking beautiful!! She still couldn't take her eyes off of it as she followed the children until they were all standing under it, giving her the best veiw of the inside. Unknownst to her, Timmy nodded to Hattie who nodded back and aimed her hook shot up at the bells lever. It grabbed onto it with a thump and away she went swinging back and forth on it like it was a playground swing. OH PECK!! The loud booming rings it made rang out and jabbed Poppy's ears and head with pain. Causing the woman to clamp her hands over her ears as Hattie continued to ring it and slam her eyes shut. Green flooded around the four, twisting the turning in every direction until they saw nothing and the surroundings COMPLETELY changed. ......Poppy SLOWLY opened her eyes and removed her hands when heard the ringing sto- She gasped and stumbled back onto her behind at the new sight.

"Welcome to The Horizon, Miss," Timmy said gesturing to the new world around them. "Or what I like to call it, home!"

IT WAS DARK!!....But somehow she was still able to see everything. She was surrounded by more strange statues but these instead of looking like regular statues, were a dark green-black that sparkled with somekind of otherworldly magic. Floating buildings of white marble statues with lots of pillars were EVERYWHERE she looked and someone of all things, some were leaking water. Water that went over the edge and down, down, down disappearing without a trace. There wasn't any visible source of sky, sun, moon, or stars. Just black void all around them besides the strange structures......Well when Snatcher mentioned some ghosts living on another plain of existance he wasn't kidding. In a strange way...it was all very beautiful and a sense of eerie calm came from it all.

..............She blinked and slowly pushed herself back to standing in her feet. "W-Where....Where are we?"

"I just told you. The Horizon." Timmy turned and gestured down a path leading off from where they popped up from, Moonjumper is probably waiting for us in the palace."

"The what?" Timmy pointed ahead and there was a big stone building just floating in mid air, it did quite resemble a palace in a topsy turvy way. Poppy blinked but slowly followed after the kids who showed no fear in this other world. As they walked she turned and suddenly gasped and stumbled back a few steps, pointing at something a little way from them. Big. Glowing. And MOVING!! "What the peck is that?!"

Timmy jumped at the sudden shout but looked to where she was and relaxed at the sight of the alpine goat ghost. "Oh that? That's just one of the ghosts that love 'round here."

"G-Ghosts!?"

He shrugged. "Why are you surprised? Snatcher's a ghost, and so is Moonjumper. There's just a few goats and a couple of Snatcher's old minions Moonjumper snatched up here. But they're all pretty harmless." they continued walking as he spoke. " They mostly just float around with they're little bells. There's nothing to worry about."

She hoped he was right about that. Poppy blinked seeing another familiar thing and pointed at it. "Would ya look at that? More flowers!"

"Oh yeah. The Twilight flowers and vines grow in this place too. No idea why, Moonjumper thinks they're magical or something. He likes to study magic sometimes if hazelle let's him borrow her books."

Just like Philip to study. "He....Sounds like a smart fella."

"He should be. People even wrote a song about him in legend."

"You're kiddin!" Philip? Having a legendary song named after him?

Timmy nodded. "Yep! You can ask Hattie to sing it for you. She knows the song pretty well."

Hattie smiled at the prospect of showing her superior knowledge about this place and what she could do. She didn't want to brag but after all she IS an expert in all things ghostly on this planet including the legend of the haunted forest and Moonjumper's tale. She still remembered when she first met the polite spirit when she first entered the Horizon going after one of her time pieces.

"Hello there little girl! Come wide, come far! I am the Moonjumper. Oh, yes. Indeed. I live and breath for this horizon, it's my home. Up here I can see everyone and everything. I am a silent.....observer. Ask me my child. What does my eye gaze upon? A girl in red? A village of the dead? A prize in a shed?.......N-Nevermind."

Hattie smiled again at the memory and like any little girl began dancing around as she sang. "Tale of a place! A deep forest dark with grace! There he lives blooming inside a wild field of big eye! And there he lives! Skin so blue! His eyes shot red! The Moon! The Sky! Tell him only lies! He doesn't know she waits inside! She lost her mind! Many years gone by!"

Poppy watched and listened at the little girl's funny singing. "What does that mean?"

"No idea!," hattie giggled out.

Timmy shrugged. "No one does. It's a mystery to everyone except maybe Moonjumper."

"Did someone call me?" They all froze at the sudden and distant echo-y voice that came from anywhere and everywhere. It seemed to echo more out into the void until slowly fading away and Poppy frantically swiveled her head around trying to see where it had come from. "Look upwards, my lady." Poppy did snap her head upwards and she let out a small gasp. Up way above floating just a few feet in the air above them was the ghost. He...still looked as sketchy and scary as he did back on the ship all that time ago and she couldn't help but take a few steps back when the ghosts floated down. He was even more weird looking than she remembered. The red markings on his face and those red eyes shining brightly against the dark void as he still lowered, eyes locked onto her as he desceneded and eventually stopped a few feet away. The only sounds from him was the eerie clanking of the chains still on his wrists as he stopped just beside Timmy who still smiled. A head pat was rewarded to the boy from the ghost. "I'm glad you all made it alright. Did you have a nice trip over? I know the journey isn't exactly easy."

Poppy blinked. So many thoughts from before but now her mind went blank at seeing the other spirit again. "Uh...Y-Yeah. I-It was alright."

"Splendid! Now." He clapped his hands together making the floating chains clack more. "Timmy told me you have some questions you wanted answered?"

Her mind came back to her as she blinked. "Uh YEAH! A whole bunch in fact!"

"Well lucky for you Im completely one million percent willing to answer each and everyone you may have." He turned and gestured her to follow him. "Come, come. It's rude if I didn't show you around my home." The children willingly followed when the spook started floating off down the path and after a moment she also started slowly stepping after them. The path contained the same thing they had already seen. Pure white stone marble buildings floating around, water falls disappearing down into nothing, and the occasional spirit who turned and fled the other way seeing Moonjumper. "Don't mind the residence. They do that with Hazelle and Timmy too."

"Right." Poppy rose a brow at the back of the ghost in mostly curiousity and a lil bit of suspicion. "So...Philip-"

"Moonjumper."

"What?"

"I'm afraid I no longer nor do I like going by my dead name. Please. Call me Moonjumper, or Moon if it's easier for you but please do not call Philip Snider." She shuddered. "That name brings back o-one too many bad memories I wish to forget."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that....Moonjumper?"

He waved a hand not looking at her. "That's quite alright. Now...You wanted to talk to me?"

She blinked..and she scowled. "Yeah! That's right! I got a few peckin' questions for ya'll!"

"I don't mind answering a bit, but I WILL insist you do not use that language in front of the children while you're here. I do not tolerate bad behavior."

"Right. So I can ya'll anything?," she asked crossing her arms.

He again waved a hand. "Ask to your heart's content, my dear.~"

"WHY THE HECK DID IT TAKE YA SO LONG TO TALK TA ME!?", her angry voice practically echoed loud throughout the entire void and the kids winced at the loud sound. Moonjumper seem unfased tho.

"Yes. I do apologize for that but I couldn't risk Snatcher finding out my presence otherwise he would've made sure I never had the chance to talk to you at all. You see I can only leave the Horizon when it's night on your world, but Snatcher is much more powerful than I am and would've sent me back quite easily. Wouldn't you agree that this is the safer route?"

Well that did make sense. Snatcher by what she knew and saw of him did have quite the temper on him that's for sure. "Ok. Then what about everything ya told me back on the dang ship!? Was that all real or ya'll jus' playin' with mah head?!"

"Firstly I would NEVER lie about myself. I find that self degrading. Secondly you are probably the last person I would lie to. Why ever would I lie about my oldest and dearest friend? Thirdly yes. Yes everything I told you was true." Moonjumper smirked in triumph and looked over his shoulder at her. "Every single bit of it was the truth."

"Explain it ta me!," She demanded.

His smirk widened. "I'd be glad to.~ Where would you like me to start?"

"The beginnin'!"

"Of course. How much do you know? I can start filling in holes if I know how much you know."

"I know you froze to death in the celler." Moonjumper stopped and as a result so did she and the children who blinked back confused as too why the adults did. Poppy stared at him for a few seconds and when he didn't respond inhaled and exhaled before continuing. "I know Vanessa killed ya both too when she locked ya down there, and I know she froze everythin' too. And it all happened a thousand years ago and you two..three??...Are all ghosts. And I-...I know she thought I was the one ya'll cheated on her with."

"WRONG!" She jumped at the sudden raise in tone and as Moonjumper snapped his head to her. "That is wrong. I had never EVER cheated on her with anyone ever! She may have thought I did but I certainly did NOT!!''

"O-Ok, ok! Ya didn't. She just thought we was a thing."

"Exactly. We never cheated on vanessa. I'll give Snatcher that much at least. He was always just as faithful til the very end."

"........Hey. I think you said ya'll were one in the same back on the ship right? Explain that ta me."

......He just shrugged. "There's not much to explain on that matter since I have no idea how we came to be. All I remember is waking up after we died in that DREADFUL cold prison cell and waking up here on the other side." He shivered and reached up to rub his arms chains clanking. "I will NEVER go back there even if it meant leaving this prison!"

"Still doesn't make much lick of sense ta me."

He looked her over for a moment before sighing and holding up his hands. "Alright. Allow me to tell you a story that will clear EVERYTHING up and help you catch up with recent events. Once upon a time a thousand years ago, there was two Kingdoms." He closed his hands behind his back again as he gave her a neutral look as he slowly started floating to her left. "The Kingdom of Subcon and the Kingdom of Subconette. The rulers of these kingdoms decided their children would get married and unite both these kingdoms in harmony. Their names were PRINCE Snider of Subconette and Princess Vanessa of Subcon. The princess was the most beautiful woman any where and the prince in my opinion was more better looking.~ But for some unknown reason the princess CRACKED!" He vanished behind her and Poppy had to turn her head the other way as he continued to slowly float in a circle around her. "She slowly descended into madness and became nothing but a controlling dictator that put me-..The prince through NOTHING but misery, and yet the prince still foolishly loved her and tried his best to make her happy! His only saving grace was when he had to leave for his studies and when he met YOU!!" Poppy blinked as he now smiled. "Poppy Rose Bloomington. A small time country girl who grew up on a farm and moved to town to sell her pretty flowers.~ Catching the eye of a prince with your understanding and very kind nature. Basically being everything to him that Vanessa wasn't or ever will be. But THEN." His smile turned back into a snarl. Like the kind of snarl Snatcher gave the Mafia Boss but she wasn't sure where his anger lied with now as he stopped in front of her. "Vanessa turned on me! Over nothing but a few measly flowers all for her!! After everything I sacrificed for her! All those years of pandering to every single one of her demands no matter how ridiculous and impossible they were! I gave her the best dam bloody years of my life and she repaid me for my loyalty and love to her by chaining myself in the dark abyss of the cellar and ending myself up trapped here for over a thousand years! Watching while others got to frollic free and Snatcher get to rein over our kingdoms!!" They. Were. Stunned. Not just her but the kids too. Even Timmy who lived her with Moonjumper seemed in shock from the sudden tantrum. But as soon as it came it left when he exhaled and leaned back holding up his hands. "F-Forgive me. My death...i-is a sensative topic. I just find it so unbareable when the old memories from how unfair it was was brought up....But that's the story mostly. I don't know how or why we ended up splitting on death but each of us are half of what made up our personality and thinking process." He held a hand to his chest. "I am, if I do say so myself, the much better half. The part with the actual manners and dignity and the proper way to actually behave. Meanwhile Snatcher is full of anger and resentment, stubborn an an Express Owl, gloomier than a graveyard, AND he lacks any empathy or positive qualities other than his own motives!!......I hope that answers your questions, my dear."

Poppy.........Still stared. Behind him both Bow and Hattie looked at each other...then they both looked at Timmy who blinked and shrugged with a just as confused face to their looks, before all three children looked back to him.

........She blinked again. "Uh....Yeeeaaaahhh." She wasn't exactly sure how or WHAT to respond with after that. Not that she was afraid. Just...taken aback. But then again she couldn't exactly blame the fella for feeling the way he does after a tramatic death like that. Peck. Even she has nightmares about Vanessa, and she didn't even interact with her for five minutes. She couldn't start to imagine how he could've spent years with someone as evil as that. "Right. Well...Thank ya for ....catchin' me up ta speed. I uh..Clears up a bunch of it actually....Except ah don't know why he didn't tell me this all sooner."

"Oh? You really haven't figured out that yet?" He tutted and rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Poppy. Let me ask YOU a question now. What would you have done knowing Snatcher makes deals with innocent souls who just stumbled into his forest unless they can very rarely defeat him or bargain their way out of eternal servitude and he harnesses all of their souls for his magic fuel?"

"AH ALREADY KNEW HE DID THAT DIRTY BUSINESS WHEN I-....Wait. Magic...fuel?"

He nodded smiling. "Magic fuel. Same goes for me.~ After all the more minions a ghost has the more powerful his magic is. I have a few loyal here to me as you obviously saw coming in. Now...the souls you use don't HAVE to be dead like you, but anyone loyalty of in Snatcher's case hundreds and counting. It makes him almost god like compared to someone like me or ...or HER. Of course he can't kill me. You can't kill someone twice...Uh.." He looked her over. "Or..in your case...Uh ahem or MY case at least, you can't 'kill' a ghost. But essentially coming back to the point. It matters not if your follwers are dead or living, what matters is their loyalty to YOU. Their devotion makes you powerful. I suspect he didn't want you finding that out for the same reason he refused to reveal his..or more like OUR identity and not tell you anything. He was either afraid or just annoyed at the consequences he would've had to face if you had been disgusted your old friend would do something like this."...His smile widened to that smirk again. "But since the owl's out of the bag now.~ He's going to have to deal with the fact that he LIED to you and deliberately kept the truth from you for so long because of a little fright ...I suspect you'll be having some second thoughts for our 'King' of the woods eh?~ Hmhmhm.~"

Snatcher KNEW!! SNATCHER HAD LIED TO HER!!......Well she already knew both of those things. She already knew he lied, and she already knew that he knew but hearing the words straight from his twin's mouth made. Her. PECKING. ANGRY. Angrier than when that yappity bird blamed her for the camera. Angrier when the Mafia was pushing around that poor old man. Angrier when Snatcher made her a babysitter against her own will(not that she was blaming or complaining about the lil tikes). This was a whole kind of next level of anger that she had never felt before even in her old life a thousand years ago!!! This was the anger of betrayel! the worst kind you could feel!! What did she do to EVER GET IN THIS MESS!? .....She had to stop herself and breath in when her vision went red. Now use throwing a tantrum in front of the person who at least answered all her questions so willingly and cleared everything up. There wasn't anymore holes or missing peices in this puzzle now and all the numb, butterflies, confusion had completely disappeared and she felt whole again knowing. Now there was still just one question on her mind that even Moonjumper couldn't answer. Why? And only Snatcher could answer that himself. Moonjumper said it was cuz he was scared or annoyed at the consequences but she wasn't too sure unless it came directly from his mouth. She was DEFINATELY to give the purple onion noodle one PECKING peice of her mind for sure!!

She nodded her head and looked to Moonjumper calmly. "Well. Ah sure do appreciate ya'll telling me all of this. Ah think I got what I needed. Thank you. But now.." She looked off back in the direction they came from with a scowl. "I got a few more questions ta git outta someone else."

He just nodded smiling. ''Im glad to have been so helpful to you. ...But there IS one more important thing you must know about.~"

She looked back to him with a raised brow. "And what is that?"

"This." He held up one of his hands and snapped his fingers. The sound echoing out eerily and Poppy flinched at the sound. After a few seconds a bright red string dropped from out of nowhere and stopped right beside his head.

She stared at it for a moment. "...What is that thing?"

"It's how I make contracts. You see Snatcher isn't the only one who can make those, the only difference is that the person HAS to willingly agree to sign the paper or he can't do anything...While MINE can be forced upon." His smile widened more. "And frankly I don't think he deserves someone as special as you!!"

His wrist that he still had held up suddenly went down in a slashing motion and in an instant the thing sprung to life on his command. Poppy yelped as it went straight towards her and on instinct brought her arm up to shield her face, the red string wrapped around her arm like a snake and proceeded to tighten like one Poppy was pulled forward by it and she yelped before digging her heels into the ground and pulling back, her otherhand clasping over the string. Moonjumper smiled and simply motioned his finger forward as it painfully tightened around her more.

"WHAT THE PECK DO YA THINK YER DOING?!," She angrily snarled at his smile.

"DAD!! What are you doing?!," Timmy asked just as horrified as the other two children. Obviously he wasn't expecting this to happen.

"Don't worry. They all fight at first but soon you'll forget any pain and be eternally happy." Moonjumper said in a reassurring voice. "Won't that be better? You'll never be in danger again, and be here with me."

"YOU'RE MORE CRAZY THAN SNATCHER!!" She stumbled forward a foot at a sudden yank, The red string glowing a bright red and her blue eyes widened at it.

"Don't worry. I promise it doesn't hur-"

At that very moment a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of her body. Temparaily knocking the wind outta her. Poppy gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within her. Her body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of her chest and she stayed there gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation leaving goosebumps across the pale flesh and her shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and gasping for air like a drowning sailor, the red string absolutely disintagrated from the purple magic that glowed in a heart shape right in the middle of her chest. Moonjumper froze, staring at the woman on her hands and knees in absolute shock like the time he first saw her. Poppy's red hair went around framing her face as she coughed and faced the floor....Before slowly looking up through her bangs with the angriest more visious snarl on a mortal woman one could have.

"You can-...NO!" Moonjumper snarled back. "NO!! This can not be it! Y-You-....YOU DONT POSESS ANY MAGIC STRONG ENOUGH TO COUNTER MINE!! I-I-...THAT SHOULD'VE WORKED!!"

"Is THAT what that was?," she hissed out.

"How did you do that?! How you you have possibly have- No! Your will against it just must be stronger than the normal mortal!" He held both hands out and Poppy's face went back to panicked when near ten strings came from the dark and towards her. Timmy yelled at Moonjumper to stop but he either didn't notice him or didn't listen when Poppy was painfully suspended into the air. Most of the strings too tightly wrapped around her arms but some wrapped around her legs too and one around her neck, she cursed and struggled like a mad women being sent to the looney bin. Fighting and fighting before that still glowing purple heart sent out another energy burst and in an instant all the strings were destroyed. Leaving her to fall on the ground and start coughing and breathing again for air like a dying man. Moonjumper once again stood there stunned too shocked for words. Eyes going to the purple throbbing of her body....and suddenly absolutely fear wracked his face and form. "......N-No.....N-NONONONO!!!" His hands suddenly went over his mouth and he floated a few feet away. "N-No.." His red eyes snapped to her face when she weakly pushed it up. "Y-You signed it didn't you? Y-YOU SIGNED THAT CONTRACT WITH SNATCHER!?"

"W-What.." She wheezed and gasped a gulp of air while glaring at him with murder. " d-d-did ya p-peckin' expect?" Of course she signed a contract with Snatcher she he took her soul outta her body. Not like she had a choice there anyways....But she'd definately be having a talk about that with him too once her heart stopped ringing in her ears and her lungs evened out.

"T-Then that m-m-m-means t-that Snatcher's......"

"M O O N J U M P E R!!!"

It was the voice that shook the forest and sent everyone hiding. It was the voice that struck fear into every mortal and enemy ghost everywhere. The voice shook the very void and made every one-...Timmy, Hattie, Bow, Moonjumper, and any ghosts Moonjumper ruled over here stop in their peaceful home and turn to the terrifying scream that shook the dead down to the deepest hell and back again. Moonjumper whimpered like a pathetic dog. Kicked and looked ready to turn into nothing if it meant not dealing with that thing. Every ghost skidaddled and dove behind or through the marble stones for safety. Every goat ghost and dweller here. Which could only mean one thing.

The King Of Subcon....Had Arrived.

And. He. Was. ENRAGED!!

Poppy barely flinched from the sounds, the ringing in her ears making it hard to hear. She had just barely pushed herself up and around when a giant gust of wind whipped past her, making her red hair whipped wildly, and she could feel heat breifly fly by. As if someone lit a fire and swiftly threw it past her body. The dark shadow with the wind S L A M M E D into the horrified ghosts and it sent the two flying. Moonjumper found himself in the hands of the demon. The dark shadow was blacker than the abyss surrounding them, man of hair flared out crowding his face like a lion's mane, the fangs and eyes staring at him seeping with smoke and blue flames. A scream..No. Sound like the most hellish thing you could imagine screeched out from his mouth foaming with blue flames and smoke.

Moonjumper. SCREAMED!!

The three children stood there petrified at what just happed and watched from the ground as the thing that was Snatcher flew straight up into the air before literally throwing Moonjumper's form down behind the building and diving after him.

"POPPY!?" Hattie and Timmy jumped when Bow suddenly bolted over to the woman still laying on her stomach and brought her head up to look at the little girl kneeling in front of her. "Are you ok!?"

Two more appeared behind her. "Im so sorry, Miss! I didn't know any of this would happen!" Timmy looked almost ready to cry when he stopped in front of her looking at her. "I-I don't know what's gotten into them!"

"I-It aint...Y-yer fault."

"My, my. How do all of you get into trouble so easily?"

The children looked up and she slowly followed their gaze the best she could. "Hazelle!!"

The pink wearing witch tapped her foot and held a scowl as she stared down at the four..before turning to Timmy who looked even more scared under her gaze. "YOU are in BIG trouble! Ditching me and running away behind my back! What were you thinking?!..."She looked back up as a giant stream of blue flames shot out from somewhere behind the marble castle. "What were ANY of you THINKING!?"

...Timmy hiccuped and a small tear went down his face. "I didn't know! Im sorry, Hazelle!!"

...Her look didn't soften but she sighed and kneeled down next to Poppy. Her hands grabbing onto her shoulders and grunted as she pulled Poppy onto her back and then pulled her up slowly in a sitting posititon as she breathed. "Nevermind that now. Are you feeling ok?" She patted Poppy's cheek making the other woman look at her.

Poppy blinked seeing Hazelle's concerned face and nodded. "R-Real...w-winded and ...exhausted.."

"What happened?" She looked to the children for answers and Hattie spoke up.

"Moonjumper tried using his strings on her."

"HIS WHAT?!"

Hattie nodded. "But it didn't work. She signed Snatcher's contract."

".....So that's it. The powerful magics just overwhelmed you, you're going to be fine." Hazelle patted Poppy's shoulder before standing back up and sighing. Looking up as another screech sounded out. "Right. Kids. Stay here with Poppy ok? Im going to go break up the other two children fighting."

As she walked away, heels of her boots clacking, the three children looked at one another in worry. Not knowing what to think. Moonjumper on the other hand had a LOT going on through his mind at the moment, especially when he was slammed again with incredible strength in Snatcher's claws. The subcon ruler becoming frustrated when Moonjumper kept dodging his flames. The horrified face of the moon boy stared with fear when Snatcher charged him again, sharp claws out and aiming right for him- Until he was stopped when a bright red string wrapped itself tightly around his tail and stopped him mid dive. The beast snarled like a monster and turned on the red string in rage before another snagged around top half. And then more. And more. And more. .....AND MORE!! Until his entire body was red and thrashing within a cocoon made from hundred and hundred of Moonjumper's threads like a fly trapped within a spider's web. Enraged, the screeching and thrashing increased like he was a worm from hell. He was solely focused on Moonjumper for what he had done. He had felt something was wrong when Poppy the contract's magic alerted him to danger. But when he had instantly teleported into the ship he found no one. He made sure to thoroughly look in each room on the ship before bumping back into Hazelle who just magically dropped in with her weird pet in the middle of his worrying and the two locked eyes.

"YOU?!," he asked blinking at her.

She seemed confused. "Yes...Me. What are you doing here?"

He instantly scowled. "I could ask YOU the same thing, Witch!"

"Uh huh." She looked towards the doorway leading towards the girl's bedroom. "I'm looking for Timmy." She looked back to him with her own frown. "He ran off during one of our lessons and I looked all over for him all day so I've been having Shifty here follow his aura until we got to the moon train. I figured the only other place he could've gone is here with your kiddos."

"Well it looks like we're BOTH fooled!!" He hissed out with a glare crossing his arms. "There's no one here either!"

She hummed and rose a brow. "That is strange. Perhaps Timmy wanted a play date out with them, but why didn't he tell me??....It's not like him at all."

"MISStresS." The Shapeshifter gurgled out in that strangled voice of their's as the strange creature wobbled about slinking towards the door that lead to the storage room of the ship. Getting Hazelle's full attention. "i SeNsE THE bOY's AURa THaT way. FAINT buT TheRe."

It gurgled before crawling towards said door that opened with a whoosh sound and crawled down the hallway. Both of them looked at each other before Hazelle teleported to the other side of the wall and Snatcher's fazed through it. Both watched as Shapeshifter flopped itself to the next level of the floor before crawling towards the ladder that lead to the boiler room and hissed looking upwards.

"hE WENT Up."

"Impossible." Snatcher muttered. "There's nothing in there but water! You're blood hound's as useless as a statue!!"

"Well it's not a coincidence that my boy and YOUR girls are missing as well as that Poppy girl. You can't say we don't have an idea about where they went!"

"Oh please! Why in the PECK would they go in a room filled with water and a measly telescope!?"

Hazelle perked up at that. "A telescope? Don't they use those things to teleport places?"

Snatcher instantly shut up......OF COURSE!! He wanted to smack himself in that moment, but instead he shot himself through the wall into the boiler room and popped out the other side. Rushing up to the telescope and peeping one of those bright yellow eyes through the peep hole to see where it was pointed at on the planet. Hazelle popped a moment later magically teleporting beside him and saw him looking through it.

"Well? Where does this one lead?," she asked him and he looked up.

"Some place in the mountains with lots of clouds." He seemed confused. What kind of place was that to run off too?

Hazelle seemed to get a look of quick realization. "...Oh no."

"Oh no?" Instantly SNatcher was on her scowling. "What do you mean OH NO?!"

"Well, if Im not wrong, that's the long way home for Timmy before I got used to teleporting him everywhere....And Timmy lives in the Horizon."

With Moonjumper!? A shot of panic and rage overcame him at the very thought of Moonboy being all nice and barf romantic over her!! THAT FOOL HAD DONE SOMETHING!! But he wasn't sure what it was or how he was involved in this, but he WAS going to get there and find out! Hazelle offered to teleport them there since it'd be much quiker than taking the Twilight Bell and she was used to making big teleportation jumps with her advanced power. He instantly agreed and after Hazelle ordered Shifter to stay there(in case they came back) she teleported with him holding her shoulders. Once there he had to admit he was a little dizzy, it took a lot to make him feel a bit dizzy so Hazelle must've used a giant burst of magic to get them....Whereever they were real fast. It was almost too fast. But the dizzy feeling was short lived. He felt the second wave of the binding contact protecting Poppy from something and weird place or not, he took off in the direction of it much to Hazelle's protests and yells. If he had a heart it'd be beating a million times a minute as for one rare moment in his after life....He was scared. He knew his magic would be strong enough to counteract Moonjumper's but there was still the lingering fear of her becoming another lost trapped soul trapped her by him somehow. Or what else Moonjumper would do to her?! He lost her once, he didn't want to lose her again!! He couldn't!! Not after he made so much progress in finding her and getting her back!! But his fears were confirmed true when he find them.

Poppy was there...On the ground...She looked so weak. It was like the ghost smacked into a wall with how sudden he stopped seeing her. It was unmistakingly her!! The Purple magic from her soul was his alright and still calling out to him!! Poppy was laying on the ground weakly pulling her head up towards Moonjumper who looked angry and was snarling at her.

Something within him at that very moment SNAPPED!!

It was like the world around him began to blur and spin and the only two figures in his mind was the girl laying on the ground and the snarling person above her. .....What had be done? Poppy was.....hurt? Very possible. Moonjumper did something to Poppy...No. HE did something to Poppy. Moonjumper was a part of him!! A part of him that let Poppy get hurt once again! From that moment something began to bubble up inside of him and poor out in waves. HE HURT HER!! He let her get hurt!! After what already happened to her because of his mistakes!! HOW DARE HE LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!! EVEN IF IT WAS JUST A PART OF HIM MOONJUMPER SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO TOUCH THE WOMAN HE LOVED!! Fangs sprout. Claws sharpened. The flames of vengence and pain seeping out. And a cry of pain coming out of him. The only things he felt was sorrow and rage!!

The hunter had found his prey.

"M O O N J U M P E R!!!"

The smell of burning ashes and smoke filled the air as the red strings around the thrashing and snarling beast turned black and with an even louder screech the thing broke loose in an explosion of blue flames Moonjumper had to shield his eyes from. But when he opened them, they widened at the snarling charging claws and fangs covered in fire about to claw him. ...Before a loud smacking sound was heard and Snatcher slammed into an invisible wall blocking him off from the frozen Moonjumper. Enraged his prey wasn't in his claws the mindless beast kept clawing at the invisible shield attempting to seize it's prey within it's protective hold.

"SNATCHER!!" The snarling beast snapped it's head in the direction of the voice and coppery orange eyes glared up at him. "SNAP OUT OF IT!! POPPY NEEDS YOU RIGHT NOW AND YOU'RE ACTING LIKE A RABBID DOG!!" The beast screeched in the woman's direction where she stood ontop of one of the many white marbled blocks. She swiftly moved her arm in a cutting motion and something invisible punch Snatcher right across the face HARD. "GET A PECKING GRIP ON YOURSELF YOU IDIOT!!!"

Snatcher froze. Slowly the rage from his mind with the flames and smoke in it started to uncloud and he found his world twirling back into sights and sounds of a normal person. He found Moonjumper looking at him with anger now, a lot like his anger. But not DARING to make a move towards him. He found Hazelle standing on top of the block too, looking even more angrier than Moonjumper.

"MAYBE NOW YOU'LL LISTEN TO ME!!" She screamed at him at the top of her lungs before pointing back in the direction of Poppy. "YOUR KIDS ARE SCARED!! POPPY'S EXHAUSTED FROM THE AMOUNT OF POWERFUL MAGIC FROM BOTH OF YOU IDIOTS GOING THROUGH HER!! YOU NEED TO TAKE THEM HOME RIGHT NOW AND TAKE CARE OF THEM!!" Her glare suddenly snapped to Moonjumper. "AND YOU!? WHAT THE PECK WERE YOU EVEN THINKING?! HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!" At the questiosn towards Moonjumper Snatcher looked back to him and snarled, claws balling into tight fists. "SNATCHER. DONT. YOU. DARE!! ILL TAKE CARE OF HIM!! GO TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY!! NOW!!"

Snatcher still glared at Moonjumper for a few seconds, the claws still sharp. But Poppy was more important than this fool. The shadow turned and shot away, leaving Hazelle to do the picking up after him. The mane of his neck still bunched up but most of it toned down til it was just bristled like when he was usually irritated. The claws retracting on their own. Shooting through walls and walls of white marble until he finally got to the four of them. They all jumped in surprise save for Poppy who was so tired she felt like she was going to pass out any moment. Timmy looked away in shame as the tall shadow approuched and for a moment Snacther regarded the young boy for the crimes comitted tonight.

".......Hazelle's going to have a talk with you."

That was it. No threats to him from the older ghost, just a warning on what his mum figure was going to do once she got done chewing out Moonboy. Without anything to say Timmy just nodded to the older ghosts before he came to the girls and an instant frown adorned his face. the two girls were clutched onto the barely awake woman looking at him scared and not sure what to do about the situation. ...This was all his fault. He silently gathered the trio up in his arms, both girls immediately clutching onto his fluffy neck like he was going to leave them somewhere and Poppy in his arms blinking up to the one holding her as he teleported. The dark purple surrounding her as they did. He only told her one thing too.

"Rest."

Which she gladly did closing her eyes and letting her body go limp.

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