On December 24th, 2018, the wedding day had finally arrived, and Christmas Day thereafter. Still, there were a couple more things that needed to be done before then. (Note: This post includes events from Christmas Day, when new dolls were received. Therefore, I didn't put up a December header picture in December as not to spoil the fun. So when this post is published, I will have the December header picture up and wait a little while until the January header goes up. Cool? Cool.)
***
It all started on Christmas Eve Eve. Well, no it didn't. It started way earlier than that, back in summer when we started the planning for Olaf and Idina's wedding. Things were going alright and I was feeling more and more confident that their wedding would be everything they dreamed of and more. However, there were still some things left undone. I had to walk around the house with Anna, Nessa, and Elphaba and get updates from all the groups to see how their work was going.
Benny and Napoleon already had the dining room table set and ready for the event, the PSA had perfected their magic show, and the after party was all set. Next stop, Anelle and Kristoff, who were hanging out in the basement playing a video game together.
"Hey, guys. Did you finish with the decorating?"
Anelle smiled. "We did. We went with the pink-and-blue theme and brought in a handkerchief as a... sort of... carpet, I guess? It's got princesses on it."
"Because it's a royal wedding, ya see." Kristoff added.
"Then Westley brought up some flowers from the basement, and that's the centerpiece on She's dresser."
"We're treating it as the altar."
"May we see?" I asked.
They invited us upstairs and we saw that She's ordinary bedroom had been transformed into the perfect scene for an indoor wedding. A pink box on the left hand side would hold the engagement bracelets, and the brown one in the center held the confetti that Bell would toss before Idina walked down the "aisle". A pink bracelet revolving around a glittering heart was their metaphor for a never-ending love, and Elsa's blue shoe ornament and Aladdin's genie lamp (a new ornament this year!) flanked the flower vase. Everything looked great. We could only hope Olaf and Idina said the same.
"When will the happy couple come to see it?" Nessa asked.
"Any minute now. Sven's gone to go get them."
Anelle was right. A minute later, and the reindeer was happily galumphing into the room, Olaf and Idina trailing in after him.
As soon as they saw the display, the couple gasped in unison, then laughed as they realized they had done so.
"Oh, Olav, eet iz perfect. Don't you agree? I mean, I know we wanted to have a summer wedding, but dis iz just as good!"
Olaf nodded. "Wonderful. I can't wait!"
Idina turned to us girls. "Elsa, Anna, Nessa, Elphaba... you four are to be part of my bridesmaids. Do you have something for the dress code?"
"Like uniforms?" Elphie gulped. "Are we supposed to?"
"Yes," Idina giggled. "Don't worry, I didn't make clothes for you. Every bridesmaid is suppozed to have a pink flower in their hair, and every groomsman is suppozed to have a blue bow tie. I can get you some later. But for now... that's not much of a worry."
"We still have a day to plan!" Olaf added.
Anna blinked once. Twice. "Um, yes. A day isn't very much time."
"Perhaps not. But we are not worried. Now, about the after party... who did you get to plan that, Elsa?"
I told them it was Moana and Steve, and that they'd decided on a movie night with the refreshments Dorothy made. They seemed to like that, so we didn't quite understand why they were still sticking around.
"You know, I heard Chris and Tony just finished their magic show practice. Why don't you go check on them?" Anna suggested.
They agreed and left the room. Anna breathed a sigh of relief. "Ugh! Sometimes I can't believe her. Idina, I mean. What do you mean, the wedding's tomorrow, and we
shouldn't worry about that?"
"Well... I don't think there's anything else we need to do. What's the problem?" I said.
Anna was the most frazzled I'd ever seen her before in that moment. "Didn't you hear Loki the other day? They don't have a wedding cake. At all."
***
December 23rd, 2018.
Not twenty-four hours before Olaf and Idina's big day, and finally someone had remembered to make the wedding cake. Dorothy, master baker that she was, had whipped out a perfect round cupcake with white frosting, chocolate chips, and pink sugar sprinkles in less than an hour. Me and a few other dolls had gathered in the kitchen to compliment her hard work.
"I gotta say, Dorothy, you've really outdone yourself this time." Said Anna.
Dorothy's round porcelain cheeks flushed with pride. "Gee, thank you. I can't believe we'd almost forgotten their wedding cake."
"Yeah, that's like the most important part!" Nessa exclaimed. "Besides the actual marriage, I mean."
"No, no, it's definitely the cake that's most important," Said Elphaba, taking a swipe of the icing off of the side of Olaf and Idina's freshly decorated wedding cake. "Mm. Smells like vanilla."
"Good thing we baked it today. That way we'll have it tomorrow whenever its nice and fresh."
"That is, if Sven doesn't get to it first." Elsa laughed.
At that moment, Anelle and Kristoff came by, obviously lured in by the tempting scent of cake. Anelle was riding Sven and he was practically running with how eager he was to get a taste.
I beamed down on my friends with pride. For a while, a full year, almost, if my mental math was correct, I have felt as though I was torn between two worlds. First, the one that I was originally adopted into, with Elsa and Olaf and the other Disney dolls. Then, starting January this year, I became apart of another, separate family, the Pocket-Sized Avengers. In some ways, both of them could be exhausting. The PSA were always doing something, going somewhere, especially if it revolved around finding the infinity stones, which I still believed to be fruitless toil. And now with Olaf and Idina's wedding, and Steve and Elsa's coming up soon, the Disney doll world wasn't any less busy. I felt relief for the first time in weeks when I saw that everything was coming together.
It also helped that Tony and Chris were recruited to perform their little magic show as entertainment for the wedding guests. Or rather, Chris and Tony volunteered themselves and Olaf has trouble saying no. After all, they already had an after party for the wedding. Better have and no need than need and no have, I suppose.
"Loki, how is your best man speech going? I heard you were having some trouble." Said Anelle.
"It's done. Yours?"
"Almost. Just adding the finishing touches."
What Anelle didn't know is that I had some extra help on the side. She and I had made a trade last week. If I were to spy on Idina, and get some feedback on what she wanted said in her wedding vows, She would give me some tips on writing. Well, I was only able to find out what we already knew about Idina: traditional and romantic, yet I still got a completed speech out of the deal.
"There's nothin' else to worry about then, is there?" Kristoff asked. When nobody could think of anything, Kristoff continued talking. "We've just heard from Steve that the humans might be coming home soon. Someone's phone been ringing nonstop upstairs. No twenty-first century human is just gonna leave their house, realize they've forgotten their phone, and not come back for it."
"Okay, good idea," Elsa sighed. "Great work, everyone. Thanks for making my job as a director so easy."
We all bade each-other goodbye and arranged to meet at the wedding ceremony tomorrow.
***
The day started with music. Mostly because Elphaba was doing some last minute checks on her playlist, but the air also hummed with good spirits, and that felt kind of like music.
Since the wedding was set for noon, we were able to spend most of the morning dressing up. Idina's dress code meant all the girls had to wear pink flowers in their hair, and a lot of dolls were coming to me asking for help with that, since I'm used to wearing flower crowns or a yellow rose to remember Cogsworth. I was happy to be apart of something besides being a bridesmaid.
We had all gathered on the bed at least an hour before the wedding began, chattering like a flock of birds and getting out all of our nervous energy. She wasn't here yet- She had asked to work morning shift at her job so She could read out the wedding vows.
Fortunately, She came home around 11:30, put on the same blue dress She wore for her graduation party, and tucked a pink flower behind her ear.
The wedding began.
Anelle and Loki stood at opposite sides on the altar, both of them grinning secretly with pride. Olaf was done up in his Christmas hat, a red scarf, and the biggest smile you'd ever seen. Bell, the flower girl, flew a couple inches above the surface of the dresser, scattering paper heart confetti over the ground before Idina would cross it. Nessa, one of the other bridesmaids, escorted Idina by the arm to her soon-to-be husband. She was practically glowing, and it wasn't just the new dress or tiara she was wearing.
When they met, She sat down on the bed and opened a notebook, which had the wedding vows written inside. They were read expertly- clearly She had been practicing more than what was necessary.
Then came the part we all knew.
"Olaf the snowman, will you take Idina to be your wife, to be together in this marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her, in sickness and in health, for rich or for poor, and remain faithful to her for long as you both shall live? If so, say, 'I do'."
"I do." Said Olaf.
"Now Idina of Arendelle, will you take Olaf to be your husband, to be together in this marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor him, and keep him, in sickness and in health, for rich or for poor, and remain faithful to him for long as you both shall live? If so, say, 'I do'."
"I do." Said Idina.
"Then, I, as your human, pronounce you husband and wife," She said, closing her notebook. "You may now kiss the bride."
Idina did a dainty hop to reach Olaf's face, and the two of them shared a small, adorable kiss.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen, some of who were on the shelf, and some of who sat on the bed with She, clapped and cheered loudly. (We could do this since only She and her sister were home alone, and she's sister could care less about what we do.)
We couldn't be happier. Finally, after all of the waiting, and planning, and worrying, our friends were now married. But the celebration wasn't over yet.
***
After the ceremony, the group gathered in the dining room, where the nutcracker brothers had set the table practically days in advance, and all of Dorothy's food had been laid out, along with the doll-sized porcelain tea set we regularly used. The arrangements were more than nice, and I would argue they could be considered professional, given our skills set. Everyone had their own place setting with a name tag done in amateur calligraphy, and you had your choice of cookie and tea to smell.
Olaf and Idina cut their cake together, and everyone had their own piece. I knew it was time to make my toast when Wanda nudged my shoulder.
I cleared my throat and flicked my teacup with the back of my finger. All heads turned my way, Olaf and Idina beaming, as they knew exactly what was going to happen. I could only hope it would measure up to their expectations.
"To me, it is a little odd that the happy couple has named me best man for today. For it is clear that the best man in this room... is Olaf."
Olaf gasped, curled Idina into his side, then giggled with glee. I raised my teacup to him. This would be easy after all. I went on about the memories I'd had with him, from the time when it was just he and Elsa and I as the dolls in She's room, up to the wedding, the biggest and arguably happiest day of his life. I mentioned his long-lost brother Gad, and finding Christmas (multiple times), and gave the slightest hint of the advice he'd given me in California. Overall, the speech was a hit, and I could finally relax. It was a little difficult to come off the high I received when everyone applauded, and my racing thoughts deafened Anelle's maid of honor speech, but I could tell that one went just as well by Idina's chatter afterwards.
The final event of the day was to be the movie night Steve and Moana had planned.
***
The movie, as anyone would have guessed, was
Frozen. It was the perfect way to end a wedding and start Christmas Day. She placed her laptop on the bed and set the earbuds to the highest volume they could possibly could without waking the other humans. Nessa and Elphaba whisper-sing all of the songs together. Chris and Tony throw popcorn at each-other. Pua, HeiHei, Sven, and Toto were all snoozing in a pile on one of the pillows. Anna walked Moana through the subtle artistic references of the film, and Steve and I are finally able to catch a break and cuddle.
"This will be us soon." Steve reminded me.
"How soon?" I asked him. "We never set a date for our wedding."
Steve wiggled his eyebrows from underneath the mask. "How about Valentine's Day?"
"You just said that because it's another holiday that the humans celebrate."
"Well, what about it, Elsa? It's the most romantic day of the year."
"And there's plenty of chocolate," I added, remembering. "Let's do it."
"Better tell them tomorrow, though. Don't want to bring back any stress."
"Agreed." I said, and curled closer into him. My mind drifted away from the movie I knew already by heart and started to dream about what my wedding to Steve would be like. We'd have it be a red-and-blue theme, red for him, blue for me. I'd want red, roses, too. And one of Idina's tissue paper wedding dresses she'd made for Anelle that one year for Halloween... they were all wonderful thoughts.
We all fell asleep contented and relaxed, and hardly noticed when She placed us back on the shelf and tucked us in. She had to be careful about doing that, for tomorrow was Christmas Day, and She wouldn't be waking up on her own.
***
The next morning was full of Christmas festivities. Sis came running into She's room even before the sun had risen over the snow. Luckily we were already wide awake and ready for whatever the day held. Pua was practically running around in circles squealing with how excited he was. He wanted to know if She had gotten any new dolls for Christmas. We didn't have to wait very long to find out.
Once the hot chocolate had been drunk and the cinnamon rolls had been eaten, the human family began to bring all of their presents upstairs, including She. There were art supplies, plenty of candy, new pajamas and an electric blanket, perfect for the cold weather we were getting this winter.
"Any new dolls this year?" Nessa grinned, as She came upstairs with another small load of goodies.
"Hm. I think there might have been? I don't know," She put a finger to her chin, playing dumb. "If I find her, I'll send her up."
"If you
find her?" Said Elphaba, forehead wrinkling.
"If you find
her?" Nessa stressed. "That means the doll is a girl! Is she from
Frozen?"
"You'll see."
She left the room again, looking to spend more time with her family. I could hear the air hockey table turning on from all the way in the basement.
"Looks like we're safe to move around," Said Hawkeye to the PSA. "I'll bet you anything She was talking about Natasha. She doesn't know where our headquarters are. It's probably best we go and try to find her."
"Headquarters?" Sassed Tony. "This is a bedroom, Hawkeye. And if Nat has a homing device for other Legends figures, which I'm sure she does, we're going to stay right here."
That's when the door to She's room opened again. We expected our human to come through, our heads turned to the same spot of the doorway her eye level would be. But instead nobody came through. It just... opened by itself.
"Is it one of the dogs?" Anelle wondered. "Sometimes I hide treats in my cape for them. They could have come in for more."
"Of course you would do that," Kristoff said. "No, I think that's the new doll She was talking about. Hello? Who are you?"
Our eyes wandered down to the floor, were a doll stood at no more than a foot tall. She had caramel-colored skin, long, straight, black hair, and a crown-shaped tattoo around her right arm. She wore a tawny, glittery tunic with fringe, an ocean-blue necklace, and no shoes. The doll was Princess Pocahontas.
"Hi there!" Olaf cried, waving.
"Mattaquenatorath?" Pocahontas titled her head, looking uncertain.
I jumped down from the shelf and approached her steadily. "Um... English?"
Pocahontas's heart-shaped lips formed a gentle "oh". She closed her eyes and raised her head to the air. Being someone who had never seen Pocahontas's movie, I had no idea what was going on. Nobody dared to speak.
Whenever her eyes opened again, Pocahontas could speak perfect English without a trace of her previous Powhatan accent.
"That's better. Does everyone speak English here?"
"Yeah, mostly. But I know Hawaiian, Samoan, Tokelauan, and Tuvaluan. But I've never met another doll here who knew a language other than English."
"Me neither," Pocahontas shook her head. "Oh! I like your necklace."
I went to touch my most precious belonging. "Thank you. Yours too. Weird, they're both blue!"
Pocahontas explained that her necklace was from her character's mother, who had passed away. I said that mine was from my character's grandmother, who had also gone before. Both necklaces were meant to mark a coming of age as they grew up to be leaders of our people. We certainly had a lot in common!
"Wait... you don't have a connection to water, do you?" I asked.
Pocahontas shrugged. " I have a connection to everything in nature. But sometimes I go out on my own and take a canoe down the river-"
"You sail?!" I practically screamed.
The door opened again. It was She this time.
"I see you two found each-other. I just knew you would get along."
"I think they should go boating together." Anna suggested.
"Boating? Hm...," She looked at me a little warily. She knew that if my batteries were to get wet, I would never sing again. Still, I've always wanted to go out on the water somewhere, somehow. And doing it with someone just like me was tempting. "Maybe one of these days. Until then,
do not. I repeat,
do not go outside. It's twenty degrees below freezing."
Westley, who was standing on the shelf between Napoleon and Benny, raised his eyebrows. Anyone could tell he was glad to be inside.
"Anyways, I'm going to be bringing up a new member of the Avengers pretty soon. Natasha Romanoff," She wiggled her eyebrows at Hawkeye. He turned away, ignoring her. "And I've got two more dolls I'd like all of you to meet. Say hello to Jonas and Jocasta!"
She reached behind the doorframe, out of our line of view, and brought forward two dolls in which the likes of whom we had never seen. They were male and female, both completely light gray. Their bodies were divided into jointed shapes, such as a circular rotation spot for their ankles. They didn't have any obvious facial features. Instead, they had indents for eyes and a mouth, and a small shape curving outwards for a nose.
Jonas, the man, gave a shy wave. Jocasta, the woman, was a little less sociable and placed her hand on her hip.
"They're drawing models, actually," She explained. "But dolls nonetheless. So I hope you'll include them in the family."
"Sure we will!" Olaf bounced down from the shelf. Jocasta recoiled at his energy and shrunk into Jonas's side. He looked unsure whether or not to hold her. "Hi, I'm Olaf! And up there is my wife, Idina. We were just married yesterday!"
"That's cute." Said Jocasta.
"Congratulations." Said Jonas.
They both had a robotic voice, not a rattly, mechanical one, like Cogsworth did, but more like that robot called Siri that's on She's phone. Distant, practiced, ethereal, even.
Everyone was awkwardly quiet then. She took it as her hint to leave. She muttered something about getting Natasha Romanoff, the new Marvel doll on her way out.
"So, uh, I'm Jonas. Jonas-Kun. And this is Jocasta-Chan. But you already knew that."
Jocasta tugged on Jonas's earlobe and he bent down so that she could whisper something to him. I guess they forgot that dolls have special hearing, so I could tell exactly what she said.
"They don't know about our secret abilities."
"Not yet, Jocasta," Jonas whispered back. "Anyways, we're, uh, really glad to be here."
"Are you guys married?" Olaf asked.
The dolls looked at each-other in shock. Jocasta suddenly realized that she was in Jonas's arms and crawled away. "No. No we're not."
"Oh. Okay. So what are your secret abilities?"
Jonas's eye sockets went wide. "What?"
"Jocasta told you you have secret abilities. Can we see them?" Olaf smiled. "You don't have to be scared. We already know that some dolls have magic. Elsa up there can create snow and ice at will!"
Magneto caught my eye. She wasn't the only one who had powers. But I wanted to keep our talents quiet for now.
"Better show them now, Jonas. They're bound to find out eventually." Said Jocasta, loud enough for every doll to hear. She wasn't holding anything back.
"You can show them," Jonas mumbled, rubbing his arms. "You're better at it than me."
"Okay," Jocasta sighed. She head whirled around the room slowly until she found a random pen in the corner. "This will do. Back in the warehouse, before I meant Jonas and we were packaged together, they called me 'The White Shadow'. This is why."
Jocasta's held onto the pen and her eye sockets drifted to a close.
I nudged Pocahontas. "Is she about to change languages?"
"I don't think that is what is going on..."
Suddenly, Jocasta breathed out a white, ghostly thing from her mouth. It went over to the pen and vanished into the plastic. Jocasta's body fell to the ground, knocked unconscious. A few of the dolls screamed. This is not how we wanted to be spending Christmas at all!
"It's okay. This is normal." Jonas warned us.
We watched nervously as the pen, which Jocasta had dropped when she fell, rose from the ground and stood straight up. It wavered a little, twirling and dancing on the carpet. The cap moved from the tip to the end, and the pen even did a flip in the air.
"Okay, Jocasta, that's enough."
The pen fell limp again, and the same white energy came out again, this time transferring from the pen back into Jocasta through her mouth. Jocasta woke up as if nothing had happened. She stood, brushed herself off, and laughed at our shocked faces. "And that is why they called me 'The White Shadow'."
Little did Jocasta know, but there was a doll who had stood behind her and watched the entire thing. She wore skintight black and a utility belt, and she carried a large harpoon gun at her side. Her hair was short, fluffy, and bright red, and her lips were the same color. She was the only one whose lips hadn't been parted in awe.
Her deep blue eyes found the PSA on their own separate shelf, and I knew that she had to be their newest member. She was the first one to speak.
"So, Hawkeye. When can she start?"
Looking forward to new adventures with the new dolls,
Queen Elsa, Loki, and Moana of Motunui
