"Wakey wakey!"
Poof shuffled around in her bed as she saw Desert standing right next to the cabinet to the left of where she was sleeping. The green child was holding a large plastic bowl with an unusually large amount of steam coming out of it. Desert was struggling to hold it up with the fingers that were not already burned from yesterday night's attempt of making pancakes for Nn.
She took a pancake out of her bowl and stuffed it into Poof's mouth without warning. "So, what do you think? Does it taste scrumptious?"
Poof could not speak for a whole thirty seconds. Desert had put the pancake in her mouth in the most uncomfortable position she could imagine. It tasted surprisingly good. All the right flavors were there, and the texture was decent. Watching Desert have a pancake for herself, a problem emerged in her mind.
Poof sat up, scratching her head. "Hold on. If we're gonna eat so many of these pancakes, are we even going to have enough left for Nn?"
Desert chuckled. "Oh, come on. It's only a few anyway. Plus, it only takes about half a minute to make these!"
The yellow kid didn't respond. As Desert left the room, she started nibbling on her second pancake. Poof was taken aback when she looked at her alarm clock; it was only five in the morning. Why was everyone up so early? The only real responsibility anyone had was to prepare for Nn's birthday. She sat up, adjusting her yellow bird hat to the right angle. To her disgust, she could still feel the remnants of the lake water near the bottom of her hat. She really needed to wash it sooner or later.
As Poof exited her room and skipped down the stairs, everyone was still making pancakes. She figured an early start wouldn't hurt. Hopefully.
Dili slowly turned around to the sound of Poof's footsteps. "Finally," he groaned, sagging his shoulders down, "you're here."
Poof looked at him. He didn't seem in very good shape. Nor did Air. Desert looked relatively okay, but she still looked like she was about to faint. "What do you mean, 'finally'?" Poof asked. "None of you guys ever wake up at this time."
Dili blinked. "Bold of you to assume we ever slept!"
Poof's eyes widened in realization.
Before she could answer, Dili continued. "Since Air slept so early because of the side effects of her super emo and unnecessary meds, she woke up at three in the morning!"
He leaned towards Poof's face, making her inch back a little. "From a nightmare," he whispered.
Poof bit her lip in slight confusion. "And.. uh.. I'm assuming she woke the rest of you up too?"
Dili nodded, without any sort of visible expression. He turned away and began flipping more pancakes.
Poof furled her eyebrows. "Are you sure you all are okay? Don't even need a rest?"
All of them shook their heads. Poof began to feel a rush of concern down her chest. They looked like robots, without a single thought in their eyes. The yellow chick sighed and picked up a spatula that was not being used on the corner of the kitchen counter.
Air turned towards Poof. "Could you help me move the pancake stack over there?" She gestured over to the corner of the room. It was where the couch was, along with a couple of plants. The compost that the stems were buried in looked like they were overflowing. Poof didn't think much of it, though. The stack was on a slab of wood with flimsy and noisy wheels. Carefully, Poof pushed the stack to the corner. She flinched each time the stack wobbled, the pancakes moving in unison. If it fell over, she might as well consider herself dead.
