"...I dun- wanna… She's gonna kill me… Whadda I doo…" Pepper muttered to herself as she wandered through the half-built town, tail drooping worriedly. In her depression, she didn't notice the person whose leg she almost walked into until they called out to her.
"Hey, little Pepper. Why the droopy tail? Is something bothering you?"
"O-oh, Miss Dahlia! …You're carrying a box! What's in it? Can I help?" Pepper asked, suddenly curious.
The older woman set the box down on a nearby crate. Even after what was effectively five months of construction, there were tons of random things like in the middle of the dirt path that'd been worn through the village, left over from various half-finished jobs. "It's just some flowers. Lynn and I have been planting them in that field to the north."
"...I know, Miss Hyperion." Pepper looked down at her hands, feeling guilty all over again.
"It's Dahlia, little Pepper. Dah-lee-uh. I'm not some old lady, you know."
Pepper looked the woman over with a disbelieving expression. To her, anyone older than Zeck was ancient.
"...I'm 32…" Miss Dahlia muttered, rolling her eyes, before dropping the issue as she crouched down to be level with the small Saiyan girl. "What's wrong, little Pepper? A girl as cute as you shouldn't be all droopy-tailed like that."
Pepper stared at the older lady once more, mentally debating with herself what to say. Finally, looking into Zeck's mother's blue eyes, it just slipped out. "Lynn's mad at mee…!"
"Yeah." Despite not saying anything nice or helpful in the slightest, Dahlia still reached out and rubbed the small girl's head.
"'Yeah?!' Lynn hates mee!!" Tears began to form in the corners of Pepper's eyes, but Dahlia mussed her hair, just laughing softly.
"That's what big sisters do. They get mad at their little sisters when they mess up. Lynn worked really hard on that garden, you know. Still, though. She cares about you. She'll cool down eventually." Zeck's mom explained.
Pepper looked at the older woman, silently envying Zeck for having this woman as a mother. Pepper's own mother was a horrible, harsh woman who screamed and threw things at her. Not a beautiful, kind lady with bright emerald-colored hair. "...But I need to make nice with her now…"
"Huh?"
Pepper explained the whole 'Birthday tour if you make nice with Lynn' thing to Miss Hyperion, who laughed softly. "Smart boy…" She straightened, "How about this?"
…
About two hours later, the door to the room that Tommy usually shared with Tater cracked open ever so slightly. Deep in his work as he was, the Saiyan barely even registered it as a figure slunk across the floor, until they were looking right over his shoulder.
"Ohh, is that Tarble? Who's the Oozaru he's fighting? Wow, this is really good, Tommy!" Fast as lightning, Tommy shut his notebook with a slam and spun around, panicked.
Only to break down laughing. "Ahahaha, Pep… Ahahaha! What's up-Hahaha- with the ribbons!? Hahaha! Ohh! My slides hurt-ahahaha- but I can't stop laughing!"
Pepper crossed her arms, scowling as she watched Tommy roll around on the floor laughing.
Thanks to Miss Dahlia mediating for her, Lynn had forgiven the young girl, but it'd come at an extremely steep price. Pepper had to wear her current outfit for the entire day.
As for the outfit in question, it was less of an outfit per se and more of a few accessories.
More than a few, actually.
Ribbons. Bright ribbons, mainly in pink, purple, and blue, covered Pepper's body like she was an unnecessarily well-wrapped present. Six on her tail, two in her hair, one on each arm, a large pink one tied to her left thigh, right under the cut-off of her shorts, three around her waist like belts, and one blue ribbon around her neck, tied at the back like a really irritating collar. She looked completely ridiculous, and uncomfortable to boot, making Tommy laugh even harder.
The younger girl scratched her itchy tail against her back as she explained why she'd come looking for Tommy. Apparently, Tarble had agreed to take them all on a tour of Earth. Tommy was surprised at that. The moment that they'd wished their way to this planet, Tarble had banned them from leaving the island and warned them from any heavy training.
He'd said that this particular planet, despite having incredibly weak inhabitants, had many mystical secrets that could be seriously dangerous if they messed with them.
When Tater'd snorted at that, citing their own incredible power, Tarble'd actually resorted to threats, marking just how serious he was about it. Tommy couldn't help but be intrigued by the opportunity.
"So you're in!? Great! Now I just have to get Tater to agree!"
"...Good luck with that." Tommy muttered softly.
…
Pepper's scan for Tater's energy took her high into the mountain in the center of the island, however, with her speed, it didn't take her very long to actually find him. He wasn't exactly bothering to hide his power, after all.
"Stupid… bird…!" Pepper floated up to Tater as the bigger Saiyan scaled up the steep slope of the mountain, creating handholds with his fists rather than using his ki or a rope. Clearly, he was trying to exercise behind Tarble's back again.
"Is that actually good exercise…?" Tater almost fell off of the cliffside when Pepper's sudden question (and appearance) distracted him, causing him to almost fail to dodge the giant white falcon that kept trying to dive-bomb him off of the rocky face.
"...Why do you look like an art project, Peps?" Tater asked.
"Why are you trying to exercise behind Tarble's back?" She shot back.
"Honestly, it's not the greatest exercise. Even without ki, climbing this thing isn't that hard, Peps. Doesn't count!" Tater tried to defend himself.
"Mmhmm." Pepper crossed her arms, clearly not believing him at all.
Honestly, though, Pepper was pretty certain that Tarble already knew that Tater was being stubborn and spending his days sneaking in training whenever he could, and just wasn't bothering to say anything to the stubborn older boy for some reason that only he knew.
Still, she believed in their team's leader, so she didn't say anything about Tater's unwillingness to take a break, figuring that Tarble had a reason for banning training, and still letting Tater do whatever he wanted.
"Anyway, I got Tarble to agree to give the team a tour of Earth, but he only said he'd do it if the whole team came along. Stop what you're doing and come back to the village so we can go!" She explained, not giving him room to say no.
Still, Tater's jaw locked in determination. "No. I'm good, Pep."