Hello everyone!
For the first time in quite some time, I'm back in the blog with a new story.
I'm very busy with work lately, but I've been trying to get back to the things I love, one of them being setting up scenes for my Sylvanians and writing stories about them.
For this story I'm trying to cover the first two prompts for 2023 in the SF Collectors Community forum. I'll give more details on this at the end of the post.
Hope you enjoy this story and pictures!
In the village of Arcfield, the Nielsen polar bears are the owners of the crêpes and soft-serve ice-cream stands. Father Noah makes the fluffiest crêpes, sweetest waffles and tastiest ice cream sandwiches, and uses all kinds of fruits and other natural ingredients to achieve the best flavours.
Mother Barbara is a specialist when it comes to ice-cream, specifically soft-serve ice-cream. She uses the best milk available and makes sure the flavours, which include chocolate, strawberry and cream, always pop.
The Nielsen don't think there's anything strange about serving ice-cream during the cold season, and the villagers of Arcfield seem to agree. Their stands, which are usually right on the central plaza, are always very popular!
Grandparents Rhys and Patricia Chocolate are visiting Arcfield for the weekend, and they've taken their grandchildren out for a stroll. You can be certain they'll be treating them to sweets from Noah's stand!
Noah doesn't waste any time getting the crêpe batter going and works expertly on his special heated surface to make sure it ends up sufficiently thin and with crisp edges. Seems like a waffle is already done on the nearby maker as well!
Freya has asked for a strawberry ice-cream, and Coco is delighted with his chocolate crêpe, filled to the brim with delicious chocolate, his favourite!
Looks like little Crème wants a strawberry and cream ice-cream, and Barbara is happy to give it to her.
Oh, no! Unfortunately, it seems like Crème has dropped her ice-cream, and she immediately starts to cry uncontrollably.
Even before Barbara has the time to offer to make her another ice-cream, Freya comes and saves the day.
"Come on, Crème, don't cry. Look, I'll share my ice-cream sandwich with you if you stop crying. Deal?"
Crème dries her eyes and nods, excited to share with her big sister. Freya might not look it, but she's great with her little siblings!
Ophelia Blackberry also visits the stand, accompanied by a little girl Noah has never seen before. He wonders who she is, and guesses she must be a relative, but he's too polite to ask. Miss Blackberry always keeps to herself, after all. Maybe this new mystery about her will be solved soon, or maybe not.
They ask for a waffle, and he's happy to serve it to the young girl.
In the meantime, the Lowells have arrived to Barbara's stand. She's glad to see that Harvey, Diane's husband, is with them today, as he works long hours as a hotel manager in the city and doesn't get to spend time with his family very often. Tyler, their youngest, is quite excited to see the menus and the ice-cream being poured, and his big brother Ryan is about to give him a boost.
It isn't long before all of them walk away with their delicious soft-serve ice-creams. They look quite happy, don't they?
The Burkes (Bruce, Carissa, and their baby daughter Adelaide, or Addie) are also having some quality family time at the plaza today. Bruce has brought ice-cream for both him and his wife to enjoy. They're both teachers, and today they're celebrating the fact that their project to open a nursery and a primary school in the village has been approved. It's going to be a lot of work, but it'll surely be worth it in the end.
Two other families have come to the plaza today, the Robinsons and the Waters, both with their oldest children in tow. Fliss and Molly's gazes meet, and the tension is immediately apparent. Neither of them has forgotten about their latest argument.
"Molly" says Fliss, cautiously.
"Fliss" replies her old friend.
They both stare at each other for a few seconds, neither of them sure of what to do or say. It's Molly who finally breaks the ice.
"Fliss, come here. I'll treat you to a crêpe. I think we must speak".
Fliss nods, and both their families silently agree to leave them alone for a while.
"Noah, I'd like a crêpe for my friend Fliss. Blackcurrant syrup, please".
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence between the three then, and to break it Noah asked:
"And for you, Molly?"
"Strawberry, please".
The estranged friends remained silent while Noah prepared the sweet treat, Fliss frowning slightly and Molly looking away from her.
Once their crêpes were ready, Fliss and Molly retired to a nearby bench.
Fliss started nibbling on her crêpe, almost cautiously.
"It doesn't really taste like your blackcurrant recipe, doesn't it? Not really". Molly spoke quietly, in a manner very unlike her usual talkative self. "I believe Noah and Barbara might have suspected something was amiss, even though we didn't tell them anything, and changed the recipe".
"Yes, they did. Barbara came to see me soon after everything happened and told me that they'd do it, that she hadn't know how important it was." Fliss responded quietly, between bites of the delicious crêpe. "Still... You shouldn't have revealed all my family secrets so easily, Molly".
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, alright? I'm just an incorrigible blabbermouth, you already know it. I already apologized to you, back then. And I tried to do it for a second time, but you weren't speaking to me. And then I also got mad, and we'd just argue whenever we saw each other, and...".
Molly sounded close to tears. Fliss closed her eyes, distressed. She didn't like seeing Molly, always so cheerful, like this.
When they both were younger, before getting married even, the two had been best friends. And they'd had a dream together: to open a cake shop, in which they'd serve the most delicious pies and cakes with Molly's fruit and Fliss' cooking and baking skills and the special blackcurrant recipe that ran in her family. One day, Molly, being her chatty self, had happily told Barbara Nielsen about their plans, and had included a full description of the secrets in Fliss' blackcurrant recipe, going so far as to even telling her that it would be a great idea to implement it in her crêpes and ice-creams. She hadn't meant anything by it, she hadn't known it'd hurt Fliss as much as it had, but that had caused her friend to lose her trust in her. Their friendship had taken a grave toll, and their dreams had vanished. Fliss had wanted to open a café with her husband after that, but that hadn't materialized yet, either. For now, they only had their pub, The Blackcurrant Bush.
"I'm sorry", Molly said once again, her eyes bright with tears. They had both finished their crêpes and had gotten up, ready to leave. "I don't know what else I can say, Fliss".
"I'm sorry too, Molly" said Fliss, her voice soft, the tension in her eyes gone. "I've been way too stubborn, for way too long. I miss you, I miss our friendship, and I've been thinking I needed to apologize to you for the longest time; for everything, for every single argument between us, big and small. We've known each other for so long; a recipe isn't worth our friendship. I forgive you. Will you forgive me?".
"Oh, Fliss! Always so silly! As if you'd need to ask your oldest friend!"
The two of them embraced then, sharing many happy tears, overjoyed to leave their arguments behind. It didn't take long for them to announce the happy news to their families, and surely it wouldn't be long before they organised a big dinner party for all of them to enjoy.
With closing time fast approaching, and alone in the plaza once again, Mr and Mrs Nielsen exchanged a knowing smile. They had been unknowingly involved in the feud between the two friends, and were happy to know that it was now over. It had been a long time coming. Hopefully, from now on, Fliss Robinson and Molly Waters would come to their stands as friends, to enjoy a delicious crêpe or a sweet soft-serve ice-cream.
---
And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this story. I tried to cover the first two forum challenges for this year, Hopes & Dreams (the Burkes', Fliss and Molly's) and Love (love between the two friends).
I've been meaning to use the crêpe and soft-serve ice cream stands. I love them! They have so many adorable tiny accessories and details. :)
I know I still owe you this month's calendar picture! Hopefully I'll be able to post it very soon.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
