Looking for the Candy!

Posted on Thu Feb 16th, 2023 @ 2:33am by Candy Man & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor

894 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission One: Goodwill Tour [Part One]
Location: Wandering the Station
Timeline: MD7: 1800 hours

Aurora was ANGRY! She'd been walking around the station for *DAYS*: following leads, being given sympathy candy, (only a piece from each...so not a super bad thing) and so now she was just plain wandering around blindly.

"Uh...I'm starting to think this Candy Stand is a myth," Aurora huffed as she walked around the corner from the bar.

“There’s a reason that stories become myths, Aurora, House of Kor. Stories become myths and myths become dreams. Never give up on your dreams, Aurora,” the eccentric man said, a smirk of amusement on his face. His frazzled red hair was pushed down or into a brown tophat. Aside from his purple coat and a sense of wildness in his eyes, he was the Candy Man.

Aurora almost fell on her butt she was so shocked! "I...you...um...hi," Was all Aurora could sputter out for a moment. "It...ahem...it's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir," Aurora finally pulled herself together enough to make a polite bow. [Dang...this guy's off the chain cool!] Aurora thought excitedly.

The Candy Man tucked an ancient cane up into his armpit, pulled off his hat with the other hand and made a flourished bow. “First rule, Miss Aurora, is don’t call me “Sir”. I was going to say that was used to respect my father, but even he wasn’t called “Sir”. Second, I hear you’ve spent SOME deal of time looking for the candy shop. Persistence pays off.”

The Candy Man made a motion with his hand. The shop door was pink, no larger than any other door on the ship, and - ironically - the sign over the door simply said “Candy Shop” with a filigree of lollipops and salt water taffy.

“I’m told I have the best and largest selection of candies in all four quadrants, but what would I know of that?” he asked mysteriously. Leaning against the door frame with a thump, the doors opened. “Well, look at that, we’re open!”

Aurora grinned sheepishly as she followed The Candy Man into his HUGE shop...and her jaw hit the floor! Candy of all sorts lined the walls in color coordinated rows, like a rainbow.

"Wow! This place is AWESOME!" Aurora forgot to look where she was going, and almost upsetting a tier of what looked like a cross between Twizzlers and sushi in the shape of a flower with chocolate sauce on the side, another display sported scorpion shaped treats that looked like watermelon, and a third was what looked like sand with KitKats and Honeydew melons in it.

Aurora's attention was drawn to a cacti looking treat with blue slime oozing out, something red that looked like flowers, and a seaweed looking body. Aurora carefully picked it up, and took a small bite.

"HOME! This tastes like HOME! But...but that's...that's not...dang, this is some kind of shop!" Aurora took another bite and sighed happily.

"Thank you so much Candy Man. This little taste of home is more than I can ever repay," Aurora's eyes filled with tears that she didn't even tried to wipe away.

The man was at her side almost immediately. He offered her his own handkerchief, white with purple stitching around the borders. “No tears in here,” the Candy Man said with a jolly tone. He pointed to an empty corner. He tutted and hit the floor so that a small banner rolled down and it exclaimed “No tears in here, only happiness and good cheer”.

The Candy Man chuckled. “Only happiness and good cheer, child. Choose whatever you like. Take as much candy from home or Q’onos or Earth or even El Auria. You will find we stock it all.”

Aurora giggled as she dried her tears. "Thank you, Candy Man. Wow...hm...so many choices! [How did he know those three places had some of my favorite candy?]" Aurora flittered around, selecting two pieces from each color, (making sure to find some of her favorite candy from Q'onos, Earth, and El Auria) then put eight more of the cacti candy into a special bag.

"Thank you again, Candy Man. Oh my! I'd best be off, I've got to go on duty in an hour, and I'd like to stash these goodies somewhere safe before I do!" Aurora bowed, then as she walked a few steps toward the door, she remembered that she still had the Candy Man's handkerchief!

"Opsi! I almost forgot to give you this back to you S...Candy Man," Aurora folded the kerchief and held it out to him.

“Consider it a gift,” he responded with a bright smile. “Your captain doesn’t believe in the Candy Man and that will give him concrete evidence of a question he can not resolve!” He giggled in a way that replicated Aurora’s.

Aurora joined in the giggling.

"Thank you, Candy Man. I'll definitely tell him! Till we meet again!" Aurora smiled, gave another bow, turned the beautifully carved doorknob, and walked into the corridor.

"It's remarkable how a little kindness and a taste of home can help a girl settle in and feel like she belongs," Aurora thought as she happily skipped down the corridor to store her candy in a safe place in her quarters.

 

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