[Freezair]

Fall wasn't the only thing in the air in the cozy little town of Nabias, though it may have been the reason. Halloween was fast approaching, and that meant candy. Great glittering gobs of candy: colorful, tangy hard candies that glistened like jewels, and sweet, melting chocolates that dissolved on your tongue, and caramels jam-packed with cream and nuts... It was one of the busiest times of the year for Kane Peppermint, Nabias's premier candymaker. Though Kane's handcrafted treats were a bit spendy to give out to trick-or-treaters (though goodness knew some of the folks in posh neighborhoods did try), they were deeply beloved for Halloween parties. This year's favorite was the Pumpkin Truffle: A delicious, pumpkin-shaped bit of white chocolate that oozed with a pumpkin-pie-flavored ganache center. Everyone loved them and wanted a piece.

Unless, of course, you were Bonnie Bonnehomme. Then you despised them with every flavor of your being... and wanted a piece.

[Freezair]

Bonnie lurked on the bench outside Kane's shop, her fake mustache only slightly askew and her newspaper held right side up for once. Her eyes narrowed on the front window of Kane's store and its pathetic display. Look at those keystone-store paper bats and that discount lanyard. Someone with such a shabby confectionery had no business attracting business! Not like Bonnie's store. She had lovingly hand-chalked her front window, and was displaying a ghoulish array of her very best wine-flavored gut-gummies and shrunken head pastries. They were, to coin an appropriate phrase, to die for.

But did anyone pay her shop a second look? Nooo. For years--years! It had been nothing but a steady stream of "Kane this" and "Peppermint that" whenever someone in Nabias spoke of candy. And quite frankly, she was tired of it.

[Freezair]

This left Bonnie with a quandry: How was an honest businesswoman like herself supposed to drum up interest in her shop when the competition was so fierce?

When the answer had finally come to her, she'd been knocked back by its simplicity.

All she had to do was throw honesty out the window.

Her palette was refined. She could detect over twenty different herbs and spices in one single bite--she knew she could. And if she could just get her hands on one single, solitary Pumpkin Truffle, she could reverse engineer it. Make it better.

Make it into something no Nabiasian could resist.

[Freezair]

So it came that she was here, dressed in a slightly-believable getup, lurking outside Candy by Kane while waiting for her chance to strike. Simply going in and buying a truffle was no good. Oh no. There was no way that devil Kane would ever sell one of his precious treats to his competition. Surely, he knew all about her shop, and he was rightly afraid of what her superior tastebuds would do if she got a hold of one of his confections.

And besides, she would prefer not to stoop to giving him money.

She inhaled deeply. There was no way he would catch her, right? Just in and out. It would all be over quickly.

...

...Why couldn't he have given out golden tickets to win a tour of his back room? Then she could hire one of the winning brats to snag one for her.

[Freezair]

But no. She had to be bold! She tossed her newspaper aside, set her scrolls straight, and with all the dignity a three-foot celestial rabbit could muster, she strolled her way into Kane's shop. She tried not to tremble as she crossed the threshold.

Even she had to admit, it smelled good in here. Wonderful, autumnal, spicy aromas swirled through the air, things like cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg mingling together to make something greater still than the sum of its parts. And it was crowded, too! For once, Kane's popularity was a great boon to her--it was much harder to notice one single person in a crowded room. She could just snare a truffle and walk out. But from where?

She scanned the room, and spotted vast rows of several hundred truffles... behind glass at the front counter. Curses.

[Freezair]

Fine, then. Bonnie would have to improvise.

Bonnie recognized the man working the front counter, vaguely.

He was seven-foot-something and every inch of it was what the kids called "swole"--he had muscles on his muscles, which for some reason he put to use working in a candy store. Since Bonnie didn't make a habit of (openly) loitering around her competition's business, she'd never properly learned his story, though it wouldn't surprise her if Kane had more enemies than just her. A successful business like this had to attract robbers... or the mob... or fans angry that he'd discontinued one of their favorites out of his inferior repertoire. If she bungled this up, she had no doubt he'd toss her out at a moment's notice.

There were more comforting thoughts out there.

[Freezair]

Using her superior intellect, Bonnie quickly whipped up a plan.

She put her paws behind her back, lolled her head, and began whistling in a vague, tuneless way as she sauntered up to the counter. She pretended not to notice the brightly-lit display cabinet, or the register, or even the fact that she was in a candy store. She actually did not notice the way the man at the register cocked his head at her.

She made a show of turning to look, and gasped. "Oh my goodness! Would you look at those! Sir! Sir! Sir, I would--"

"Pardon me, ma'am," he replied. "But I'm afraid there's a line." He pointed at a spot near the door.

Curses.

[Freezair]

Her wiggly little nose twisted up as she carted herself to the back of the line. She stuck herself in place behind a cheerfully overexcited Blossom Beetanke and the human woman she was standing behind. Bonnie's head was immediately filled with their inane chatter about oooh, how sinful everything was, and it was a shame so-and-so was so high-calorie, but had you tried his sugar free, ooh you wouldn't believe it!

Their drivel would have been irritating even if it wasn't the usual unearned panegyric Kane got.

[Freezair]

The line inched forward at an excruciatingly slow pace. Up at the front, Mr. Muscles was smiling cheerfully at each and every customer. "Did you find everything you needed today? I'm glad to hear it! What are your plans for Halloween? ...Oooh, that sounds quite spooky!" He was nattering on and on and on, and the customers were lapping it up. The ones in back even seemed excited that their chance to chat with Mr. Hench was coming. Typical Kane--focusing on customer service when he could be devoting time to his sweets. A rookie mistake.

[Freezair]

Finally, the line inched forward enough that Bonnie was third in line. Then second. Then she was there, standing in front of Kane's pet meathead.

He gave her a little smile. "Nice to see you again! Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the wait. Our pumpkin truffles are just a very popular item. Now, if you have any items from the rest of the shop, please place them up here--and do you need anything from behind the case?"

With all the bravery she could muster, she proclaimed: "I want one pumpkin truffle, please!"