[Arillumia]

"Excuse - ow!" Kyvi glared at the offending person, who just so happened tojab their elbow into her side. Very maturely sticking her tongue out at the person, she continued to follow Jade through the people. Making it to the free spot, she asked, "Is it always this busy?

She thought for a moment. What did Heaven like? Chocolate, that was a given. Gooey candy, never hard candy. "Um, lessee. Chocolate. Gumdrops, marshmallow Peeps, and do you have candy apples? Do you know of any sort of gummy or gooey candy? The Shinzo I'm getting this for adores them."
(22)

[Freezair]

"Ooooh. Gummies." Jade winced. "Well, we do have gumdrops, and Turkish delights, but nothing like the gummi candy that's so popular nowadays. Kane never could figure out how to wrangle gelatin properly. He's trying to learn, but, old dog, new tricks... You know how it is."

Jade squeezed her way through a fighting pair of Matches children, sucking in her breath. She swiped a small pink box off the side of a shelf. A cartoony, caricatured Kane, with a candy cane through his mouth, sat on the side. She carried it to Kyvi.

"These are the 'house Peeps,' if you will," Jade said. She turned the clear plastic front of the box toward Kyvi. A row of tiny candy Shiis grinned back from out of the box. "Made with REAL marshmallow, let me add."

"As for the business?" Jade turned her head around. "Honestly, not usually. I wonder why all the people came in here today?"

[Arillumia]

Kyvi laughed. "I get it. Well, maybe some gumdrops and Turkish delights, then?" She looked around at the crowd. Privately, she wondered how all of the people fit in one store. There had to be way too many to fit into such a seemingly small shop.

Her eyes widened and she took the box. "Those are sooo cute! There should never be another Peeps unless it's a Shii one, because those beat the beaks off of the bird Peeps!" Honestly, marshmallow Shii were so much better than the plain yellow birds. The box was adorable"Is that Kane on the box? He looks so adorable as a cartoon!"

"It's not? Hmm, from the smell in the back, I can't see why it isn't this popular normally. I'm sorry you actually had to go through that again to get the Shii!"
(23)

[Freezair]

"Yep. An old friend of ours drew that caricature of Kane--or one very like it, anyway--way back when they were in school together. It's on the side of all of our prepackaged house products. We don't really carry name-brand stuff--Kane doesn't trust candy made in a factory--but, naturally, we emulate a few things."

Jade beckoned Kyvi over to a barrel. "All the gumdrops you want. Scoop 'em up and put 'em in a bag. The delights are all in the cold storage--hold on--Henry? Henry, you out there? No? Celine? Anybody?"

"Over here," said a female voice.

"Celine, could you go fetch some Turkish delights for our customer here? Thanks."

"Sure! But could you do something for me in return? Tell the people waiting in line at the fudge counter that we're out until the next batch finishes, which'll be about a half an hour. Thanks to the festival, we're running low on everything."

Jade paused. "Festival? I didn't hear anything about a festival..."

[18]

[Arillumia]

"Hmmm...Interesting. Well, at least you know if the candy has problems like a faulty batch. And you can put that 'homemade' label on all the candy," Kyvi said perkily.

Scooping up large amounts of the gumdrops, she sing-songed under her breath, "Gumdrops, gumdrops, gummy gummy gumdrops. Sugary goodness in little gummgy goodness. Gumdrops, gumdrops, gummy gummy goodness."

Thinking of Turkish delights, she wondered if anyone would care if she snuck a few of them. Turkish delights were so wonderful. She snorted. Of course no one would notice. None of those idiots would even know how many delights she got.

Wait, festival? She ran through her mental calendar. Festival, festival, she could remember no festival today. "There's a festival today? Ididn't know either, Jdae. I wonder what the theme is.."
(24)

[Freezair]

"Me either. I wonder if it has something to do with spring? I know people have been going a little crazy lately, collecting these rare eggs that apparently appeared...? Do you know anything about that?"

She turned around to face the customers. "I'M SORRY, EVERYONE. FUDGE WON'T BE OUT FOR ANOTHER HALF HOUR! YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT! THANK YOU!"

Jade looked curiously down at the plate of Turkish delights Celine had brought out. She cocked her head. "Hmm... I couldn't sworn... shouldn't she have brought out more...? Ah well. Are there enough here for you?"

[19]

[Arillumia]

"Eggs, eggs, eggs.....Umm, I think I heard something about them, some tidbit. Aren't they in the Seasonal Specialties shop or something?" Kyvi said thoughtfully. Yes, she had heard mumblings here and there about these eggs - Easter eggs, she thought. So maybe an.. "Easter festival?"

She let out a sigh of relief. Maybe now that they heard that the fudge wasn't in for now, most of them would leave, and give them all some room to breathe, and walk without have to use nothing short of a buzz baton to get people out of the way.

"Maybe there's a shortage of delights?" she suggested, looking at the plate. "Mm-hmm, that'll be enough, definately, and anyway, I'm sorta hopin' she'll conk out after a bit of what I'm getting. Do you know if they sell any sedatives around here?" The last bit was said jokingly, with a smile.
(25)

[Freezair]

"Everything in this shop is a sedative if you eat enough of it," Jade grinned. "I once got so full on fondant chocolate creams that I couldn't move for hours. It was definitely worth it, though."

The heavy crowd around the shop shuffled. A few impatient customers brought their bags to the front desk, deciding to check out.

"Easter's over, though, isn't it? You think it's something else? I'm not at all sure."

[20]

[Arillumia]

"I can believe that. I've seen it too many times to not believe. Though I myself have never eaten that much candy, and I'm not entirely sure I ever want to," Kyvi couldn't really imagine Jade being too full to move. She couldn't imagine herself too full to move either. It didn't sound all that nice, but if Jade said it was worth it, then it was for her.

She stuck her tongue out at one particularly impatient person as they shoved her out of their way. "How rude."

"I'm not exactly certain...." She ran over all the holidays she knew in spring. May Day, and Easter were the only things she could think of, and it wasn't Beltane yet.
"Maybe it's just a spring festival?" She studied the bins of candy, looking to se if there was anything else she wanted to get. It didn't seem like there was anything else she need, or anything she wanted.
(26)

[Freezair]

"Probably. Sometimes, you've just got to get that spring fever out of your system, eh?"

Jade looked sideways at a barrel full of tiny, crystaline orange candies. A sweet, syrupy scent rose out of them. Jade licked her lips. She did love root beer candies...

Her paw snaked into the barrel and furitively moved a lozenge into her mouth. "You saw nothing," she said around the candy.

[21]

[Arillumia]

"Hmm. I'll probably go then. Maybe they'll have some pretty things," Kyvi said wistfully. She probably wouldn't have any money for it, but it was always interesting to look at the merchandise.

"What did not I see?" she asked innocently. The Shinzo slowly made her way to the front. The way things were going, she may have forgotten to pay for the candy and just walked out. Not that Jade would let her, but it was better to avoid the situation alltogether.
(27)

[Freezair]

"Right, well, let's make our way up to the counter and get everything rung up on you, shall we?"
Jade scythed her way through the crowd again, though its press was beginning to lessen. She set herself up behind a second, unattended cash register. Prodding a few of the buttons with her paws, she got the device to light up, and its drawer spat out at her. She had barely changed the light on the register to "open" when a chunk of the crowd broke off and attached itself to her.

"Oh dear," Jade sighed. "Kyvi? Kyvi, are you still there? You might have to wait in line a little..."

[Arillumia]

Oh my. Laugh or cry, laugh or cry. She wasn't sure which. On one hand, it was almost funny how fast the crowd moved over. On the other hand, the line was huge. Really huge. But she could survive!
Kyvi wondered absently if she would have to pay if she ate all of the candy in line.

"I'll be fine Jade! I can stand a bit of a wait. But if I don't make it out alive, remember me!" Kyvi stated dramatically, before thumping a Fenling who tried to cut in front of her on the head.
(27)

[Freezair]

Jade sighed. Such was life in a popular candy shop. She ran bags over the scale, calculated prices, and accepted Keystones as fast as she could. She was only Lucain, of course, but she tried.

A strange, choked sound arose behind Jade. She turned around to see a Candy Kamee looking up at her with one eye. Its other eye was focused on one of the Employee Only doors.

"Mizz Jade," he said, long, sticky tongue clicking, "we need to zpeak. If chu pleaze."

"Hold on," Jade replied. "Helping customers. Let me get to my..." Jade looked down the line. Four more people to go until Kyvi, it looked like. "Well. Give me a moment."

"Very well," the Kamee's odd, rattling voice replied. He knelt by Jade and curled the tip of his tail around her back leg.

She looked at him oddly, but soldiered on.

[23]

[Arillumia]

Four more people to go...Four more... Kyvi felt sorry for Jade. She was going as fast as she could and there were still more people to check out. And a lot of these people seemed to be in a hurry.

"Ow! Hey watch it!" she stuck her tongue out at the Lucain pup that has stepped on her tail. "Parents need to teach the pup some manners."

Hah! Three more people to go. She noticed the Kamee next to Jade. He looked odd. Kivi shrugged, though, because Jade would probably introduce them when she got up there.
(28 )