Chapter Text
Rosetta stared in complete befuddlement.
“Rosetta! Hello!” Phineas said with surprise. Rosetta’s frown deepened as she gestured to him, silently reiterating her question. Phineas raised his arms, checking himself over as if he hadn’t noticed he was dripping from wing to toe.
“We… had a bit of an accident by the river,” Phineas said with a sheepish grin.
“A bit of a…” Rosetta frowned crossly. “You look like you fell in!”
The Tinkers exchanged a glance then shrugged simultaneously. “That’s more or less what happened,” said Clank, offering no further explanation.
Rosetta groaned, pressing her palm to her forehead as she shook her head. Just when I was thinking there was no way they could get into trouble. “How on Earth…? Actually, never mind. You’re not hurt are you?”
Phineas shook his head. “Not at all! I’m actually quite inspired because of it,” he said with an excited smile.
“Okay…” Rosetta said, unsure how falling in a river was inspiring. She would think it would be a positively dreadful experience! Especially because she’d have to trudge home in the mud in soggy clothes. She wondered how Phineas could stand it. “Well, that’s great news then!” she said excitedly. “You can use some of that inspiration on planning y’all’s ceremony!”
“Oh!” Phineas’s smile fell just slightly as he fidgeted with his hands. “Right, I… I suppose we could do that.”
“Great!” Rosetta cheered, “C’mon then! We’ll talk at y’all’s house.” She turned and started back the way she’d come.
“Rosetta, wait!” Clank called after her. “We can’t fly!”
She turned back around and saw Phineas holding up his wet wings with a look that read ‘remember these?’
“Oh right, silly me! What was I thinking?” She slowed and hovered beside them as they kept walking. “You two have no idea how much I’ve come up with this week! I’m glad the rain’s finally stopped, but I’m also L glad it gave me time to think! And I’ve got it all written down right here!” She held her journal up in front of herself, beaming at it. “Oh! You boys are gonna have the best Tying Pixie Hollow’s ever seen!”
Clank made a sound of acknowledgment as he assisted Phineas to their home. The moment they were inside, Rosetta flipped her journal open on the table, eager to show off the work she’d done.
“So here’s the list of everything you’re gonna need,” she said, dragging her finger to different spots on the page. “I have a bunch of decoration ideas for you to choose from. I was thinkin’ moon flowers. Or wait! Maybe lilacs would be better? Oh! And how could I forget roses?” quickly jotting a note in margin.
“Huh? Hold on a second,” Clank said, but Rosetta didn’t hear him as she continued talking.
“We’ll also need to go over what food y’all want. Oh and the cake! Y’all need a big Tying cake for all the guests. Do y’all have a guest list, or is this gonna be open to anyone who wants to attend?”
“What…? Wait Rosetta,” Phineas said.
“And I assume y’all wanna have the ceremony before the change of the seasons, right?”
“No, wait! Slow down!” Phineas tried again.
“Oh, you wanna do it after? That’s fine too. Better actually! It’ll give us more time to prepare! And it’ll give us more flower options!” she glanced at the entry she’d written earlier that morning. “Oh! Outfits! I almost forgot… again. Have you guys decided what you’re gonna wear?”
“NO!” Phineas shouted. “Rosetta, slow down!”
Rosetta glanced up at her friends and a small gasp escaped her. Clank had his hand pressed to his chest and clenched his teeth together. Beside him, Phineas held Clank’s free hand and rubbed his shoulder slowly.
“Oh my…” she’d thought Clank wasn’t having chest pains anymore, but he was clearly hurting quite a bit right now. “You alright, sugar?”
Clank sucked in a breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m okay…” he said barely above a whisper. He turned his head to her and repeated more firmly. “I’m okay.”
Phin nodded and released his hand. “You’ve certainly been busy, Rosetta,” he said, turning his attention to her. “But let’s maybe just focus on one thing at a time?”
“I’m so sorry! I’ve been so excited to share all this with y’all,” Rosetta said. “I didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”
“It’s alright,” Phineas said. “Let me put on some dry clothes and we can talk.”
Phineas went to the closet while Clank came to sit at the table. Outfits! Rosetta thought as she absentmindedly floated over to Phineas. She watched over his shoulder for a moment as he pushed several identical shirts aside. He glanced back at her, cried “AH!” and stumbled a step back.
“Sorry! I just wanted to see what clothes you had to choose from.” Rosetta said, holding her hands up defensively. “Y’know, so we could pick something nice for the ceremony.”
Phineas sighed and put his hand to his forehead. “Go ahead and look. Just… don’t turn around for a moment.” He grabbed a shirt and pair of pants and strode away from the closet.
Rosetta then began sliding each article of clothing along the bar. Work shirt. Work shirt. Work pants. Work shorts. She frowned and grabbed one of Bobble’s shirts and a pair of Clank’s shorts from the closet. This can’t be it.
“Is this really all you have?” She asked, turning to them.
“Yes?” Clank replied as he helped Phineas get his wet wings through the wing slit in his shirt. “Is something wrong?”
She held up the shirt and pants with an exasperated huff. “It’s all work clothes!”
“Not all of it,” Phineas replied, buttoning up his shirt. “We do have some night clothes too.”
Seriously? “Oh that’s wonderful! Guess y’all can get Tied in y’all’s nightgowns then!” Rosetta shoved the shirt and pants back in the closet. “Don’t you guys have anything nicer? Like party clothes or formal wear?”
“No, not really,” said Clank. “What’s wrong with our normal clothes?”
You cannot be serious, Rosetta thought, raising an eyebrow at Clank. “Nobody ever gets Tied in their work clothes.”
“Why not?” Clank asked.
“Why… Why not?!” Rosetta sputtered. “This isn’t some ho hum little shindig we’re talkin’ about! This is your TYING CEREMONY! Y’know, where y’all pledge yourselves to each other in an ever-lasting bond? Do you seriously want to do that in some smelly old work clothes?”
The two of them looked away, their cheeks flushing pink. Phineas toed at the ground sheepishly and Rosetta grinned, glad to have finally gotten her point across.
“Does it really matter what we wear?” Phineas asked.
Rosetta groaned, throwing her hands up. “You two... are… IMPOSSIBLE!” She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep, calming breath. It’s not their fault they don’t understand this. She hovered back to them, and put a hand on either of their shoulders, speaking softly now. “Look boys, you got to wear somethin’ nice; somethin’ special. Something that you will remember forever and ever. You open your eyes, and you get to see each other again for the very first time. You will think, ‘YOU LOOK STUNNING.’”
Phineas glanced at Clank and grinned. “Clank already looks stunning.”
I give up, Rosetta sighed. “Okay fine, we’ll talk outfits later.” She sat beside Clank and pulled her journal to herself. “Let’s talk food then. What did y’all have in mind?”
“Uh…” Clank glanced at Phineas who shrugged in reply.
“Have you thought about food yet?” She asked.
“No, not yet.” Phineas replied as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Okay…” Rosetta flipped the page. “What about a cake? You thought about what kind of cake you want?”
“No…” Clank answered sheepishly. “Oh! But Bobble did bring one home recently that was pretty good!”
“Okay, that’s something!” Rosetta grinned. “What kind of cake was it?”
“White cake with blackberry icing,” Phineas answered.
Rosetta glanced down at her notes where she’d listed a bunch of cake flavors. ‘White cake’ was not on the list. “That’s pretty simple,” she said. “We should check in with the Bakers for some samples.” She wrote ‘samples’ in the margins of the cake page.
“Oh… okay.” Clank said.
“Alright, guests. Have you thought about guests?” Rosetta asked.
They looked at each other, then back to her and shook their heads.
“Music?” She asked.
“No.”
“Decorations?”
“No.”
She frowned, staring at them in disbelief. “How about a day to have the ceremony?” Surely they’ve at least thought of that!
“No…” they chorused sullenly.
She slapped her hands on the table. “Good grief you guys! Have y’all thought of anything?” She stood and pointed an accusatory finger at them. “Y’all have at least announced your engagement to Queen Clarion, right?”
“Uh…” the look the boys shared was answer enough.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Rosetta groaned. “What exactly have you two been doing then?”
Phineas flushed a bright shade of red. “Just… stuff.”
“Work stuff!” Clank added, turning red as well.
“Uh huh,” Rosetta crossed her arms, giving them a stern look. “So basically you’ve got nothing.”
“Not yet,” Phineas replied, clearly embarrassed. “We’ve been meaning to. It’s just–”
“We were waiting for you!” Clank said.
“Aye! That’s it!” Phineas nodded. “You’ve got such a creative eye, Rosetta. We thought it would be best if we did our planning with you.”
Rosetta shook her head at the obvious lie. “I’ll pretend I believe you,” she said.“But seriously, you guys! You have got to start planning this thing! The rest of us have been waiting for y’all to get Tied ever since you got together!”
Phineas smiled. “That’s very sweet, Rosetta. And we know we do need to start planning.”
“We’ve kind of been distracted,” said Clank.
“I get it,” Rosetta said. She really did understand. She had noticed a shift in their relationship after they’d exchanged their cords. They had always been close, but somehow now they seemed even closer than ever before. She was honestly envious of their connection. She hadn’t loved anyone as dearly as they clearly loved each other.
She flipped to a blank page and began writing a checklist. “How about this,” she said. “We need to meet with some other Talents to get a few things in order. Like the Bakers and the Tailors. I can go get some meetings set up. And then you boys can meet me when and where I tell you, okay?”
“Aye, okay,” Phineas nodded.
“That works for me,” Clank agreed.
“Good.” Rosetta closed her journal. “But you two gotta announce yourselves to the Queen, alright? I can’t do that for you.”
“Okay, okay! We will!” Phineas laughed.
“Great! I’ll be back tomorrow once I’ve got a schedule ready,” said Rosetta. She stood making her way to the door.
“Sounds good,” said Clank. “We’ll see you then.”
She saw herself out, waving goodbye and began making her way home to finish her list. She could not believe they had nothing! They must know how incredibly important this is. “Well,” she mused. “I’ll just have to make sure everything is perfect.”