[crow]

Ferdinand seemed to consider it for a moment, then shook his head. “No, not today,” he said. “I’m going to be working on some projects.”

Which meant that he would be holed up in the bake shop kitchen for most of the day, doing goodness knows what. Sometimes, Ferdinand closed the shop for days like that too, especially if it looked like it was going to be slow. More often though, ‘project’ days happened on holidays. Ferdinand took the opportunity to try out new recipes, and most of their new stock got prototyped during these project days.

[crow]

Confetti, actually, was one of those recipes, a bit of a twist that Ferdinand had put on the ‘funfetti cake’ concept. But as long as he wasn't 'Big Ferdy', they wouldn't see any more individuals like themselves come into being.

Which… was actually a pretty good arrangement for them, since as long as he wasn’t disturbed, Ferdinand ought to be just fine on his own. “Suit yourself,” said Peach, putting the dishes away. She’d wash them after lunch, probably. “Did you want anything specific done with the rest of the stuff?”

[crow]

“Just put it in the closet,” Ferdinand said, jerking his head in the general direction of the makeshift closet bedroom.

Peach nodded, then went to grab Neo, dragging him along by the arm. “Come on. I’ll get started, you wash up and join me when you’re done. That thing’s not going to clear itself out.” Neo let himself be dragged along, and closed the door of the bathroom behind him when she shoved him in. Dusting off her hands, Peach headed off into the storage room.

[crow]

It was half cleared out already, which should have been heartening for Peach to see when she walked into the room, but wasn’t. She was the one who had done most of the clearing out in the first place, after that first disastrous day when Neo broke a crate full of expensive china from one of Ferdinand’s relatives.

Neo was still allowed to help, because the task was too big and Ferdinand didn’t want to do it, but he wasn’t allowed to do anything without Peach’s supervision anymore.

[crow]

Thus, Peach knew exactly how labor-intensive this was going to be. Even clearing out half the room wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. They’d be able to get it done today, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to be feeling by the end of it. Especially if she had to deal with a sleep deprived Neo, and very possibly Confetti too.

She sure hoped not. She couldn’t see Confetti volunteering to do any of the work, so if he showed up, it was probably going to be because he wanted to complain about the way something was being done.

[crow]

And someone who had nothing to do but complain was just about the last thing Peach needed on her plate right now. Maybe she ought to be hoping the next cake that came into their lives would be a girl. Based on their track record, boys were way too troublesome.

Like she’d said to Neo though, it wasn’t as if these boxes were going to be moved on their own. She decided the best way to start would just be to pick one, see what was inside, and then take it out.

[crow]

There wasn’t anywhere to move it to just yet, since the closet had to be cleared out to make room first, but they could move the stuff from the closet into the room when it was empty. Besides, Confetti was sulking in the closet right now, and she was really hoping that by the time she was done, he’ll have finished and come out on his own.

She picked a box at the top of the pile closest to her, and lifted the lid to see what was inside.

[crow]

As far as she could tell, it was a bunch of old photo albums. Right, she didn’t need to know any more than that. In all likelihood they were baby pictures, and she’d seen quite enough of kid Ferdinand in her day to day. It might have been interesting to see his relatives too, but then she would just be wasting time.

As she grasped the bottom of the box and lifted, however, she found that it was heavier than it looked. She had to set it down a moment and try again.

[crow]

Either there was more in those albums than she’d thought, or they were covering something else more dense at the bottom. Grinting, she adjusted her grip, then carried the whole thing outside before setting it down carefully. Photo albums weren’t exactly fragile materials, but who knows what might be hidden in there? Maybe there was more china from Aunt So-and-so underneath, and that was why it was so heavy.

With one box done, it was onto the next. Once she had gotten a couple out of the way, it became easier to fall into a rhythm.

[crow]

Having worked at the bakery, and on whatever odd jobs needed doing that Ferdinand didn’t care for, Peach felt that getting started was always the worst of it. Once she had a little momentum going, the rest came much more easily, especially if she didn’t think about it too much.

Not long after, Neo joined her, which necessitated a pause so she could fill him in on what to do. “Grab a box,” she said. “Though you should open it before you carry it out. See what’s inside, and if any of it looks heavy or fragile, you leave it for me, okay?”

[crow]

“Alright,” said Neo. He didn’t even argue about the heavy boxes. It had already been established pretty firmly that between the two of them, she was the stronger one. It made sense too, if anyone just stopped to look at them for a minute. Sure, Neo was tall, but he was also pretty skinny, while Peach was built along sturdier lines.

Nevertheless, she stopped in her work and watched him for a moment as he approached his first box. Even with those instructions, there was still ample room for something to go wrong, since this was Neo.

[crow]

He did as she instructed, opening the box first to see what was inside, before carefully wrapping his arms around it and trying to lift.

Peach held her breath. And for a moment, it looked like a close thing… But in the end, he managed to lift it, even if it looked like he was having to use quite a bit of effort to do it. “Set it down slow,” she called out as a reminder. If he heard, he didn’t reply, probably too thoroughly occupied with making sure he didn’t drop it.

[crow]

She heard a very, very soft thud. No crunch, no sound of anything breaking… That was a good sign. He’d gotten through one box without incident. That was a start.

Peach watched him carry out a second one, just to be sure, before he came in again and gave her a questioning look. “Just making sure you were being careful,” she said, though she supposed maybe she was wasting time at this point. It wasn’t as if it was going to do her any good to take all day about it.

[crow]

“Oh, that’s what it was,” said Neo, as Peach began checking through the boxes herself. “I thought for a minute that Ferdy told you to mete out a punishment or something…”

“What, with me as the slave driver?” Peach laughed. “No, I think if he was going to do that, he’d do it himself, and not with this stuff,” she said, motioning at the boxes. “You saw how hard he lost it when you broke that china set. I doubt he’s going to want a repeat of that.”

[crow]

“... He isn’t still mad about it, is he?” said Neo meekly. That was the first time Ferdinand had gotten well and truly angry since Neo had been ‘born’, so it had understandably left a pretty big impression on Neo.

Peach shrugged. “If he doesn’t bring it up, I just assume he’s forgotten about it. I’d be careful with ceramics in the future though, just in case.”

“G-Got it…” Neo swallowed audibly, then began looking through the boxes himself. This time he passed on the first two before settling on a third. “Clothes aren’t going to break, are they?”