[prp] Is this a better joke? (Mooncake and Candy Dandy)

[cursedandwandering]

Mooncake was alphabetizing his book collection. He'd managed to snag a few rare books for cheap at a flea market and now everything needed to be shifted about on the shelves. The flutter hummed softly as he concentrated on his work, removing a hoof-ful of books to carefully stack them on a table before returning to the shelf to gather more.

His brown cat, Yule, hopped up onto the table to investigate, sniffing carefully the old pages with a gleam in her eye. Gingerly the feline nosed the top book closer to the edge while her master was preoccupied. Once it reached the tipping point with one swift leap she made her escape.

"THUNK"

Mooncake's eyebrows furrowed at the sound of the hardcover hitting the floor and carefully placed his current stack of books down to investigate. The stallion glided to his fallen comrade, gently leafing through the pages and checking the cover to make sure everything was alright. He was quite sure he had stacked them properly, but now he'd be extra carefully. Some of the books were very old and delicate and required great care.

Blue Eyed Melloon

 

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Candy often thought about the first Flutter she ever met. A little colt by the name of Mooncake had come into her shop and shared an impressive knowledge of folklore when it came to her ingredients. She hadn't forgotten him, and when she found out that the same colt had grown up and was now a folklore expert, she took the afternoon off to go see him.

When she knocked, she heard a thump, and dearly hoped she hadn't scared the poor thing into dropping something.

cursedandwandering

Sorry it's so short, my brain is so fried!

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

it's fine biggrin

Mooncake's ears twitched and his head swiveled to glance at the door. A visitor? That was odd. He really didn't get many of those besides his mother and Paper. He carefully tidied up the books he was working with at the moment and glided to the door to open it.

He had to say he was surprised and a little bit embarrassed to see the sweets maker at his door. After all he'd made such a pitiful attempt at a joke for her when they first met. "Ah, Candy. Hello. I wasn't expecting you." He cleared his throat and smiled. "Did- did Latte send you here or did someone order something from you for me or something?" His eyebrows furrowed, quite confused by the appearance of the mare on his doorstep. "Oh, forgive me. I'm being rude, aren't i? Would you like to come in?"  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

"Oh dear i should have called!" She said, realizing that Mooncake looked confused. She didn't even think he might be busy! Her ears drooped. "I can always come back another time. ." She trailed off until he invited her in. Them she felt a little better, though it didn't relieve the feeling that she was intruding.

"I heard that you had grown, and i wanted to congratulate you on it!" She said, looking around the room. It was pulled high with books, both old and new. There was a smell of paper and dust.

"Wow! Look at all of these! Where could you have gotten all of them?"

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

Mooncake blinked, his head tilting. "Oh. Oh no, i'm not really busy." There was a small frown on his face as he perceived Candy's initial disappointment. "More like, trying to keep myself busy. Company would certainly be a welcome way to do that."

Upon hearing her reason he snorted, "Oh? Do people do that sort of thing?" He chuckled, tucking back a loose strand of hair. "Well, thank you then. It is quite nice being able to carry the heavier books finally." He grinned at her expectantly, sort of hoping that he could maybe incite a laugh.

"Wellllll," the flutter glided towards the piles forming on his table. "Some of these are from used bookstores, some are ones libraries wanted to get rid of. Lots of them come from people's garage sales and things or if Hermes somehow makes sure a message gets delivered to me about the potential sale."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

She felt better now that he said he wasn't busy, just keeping himself busy. "Yes, if you are me you do!" she said, stopping in her tracks. "Oh dear! I forgot something outside! A moment." Candy disappeared outside, and returned with a yellow basket wrapped in plastic and tied with a purple ribbon. It stood only a foot and a half high, one of her smaller pieces. But from what she had learned of Mooncake, he wasn't one for extravagant.

"Here you are! A 'Welcome to the grown up world' present!" she said, letting the basket sit on the ground and releasing it from her mouth. "Chocolate books and marshmallow centers." she smiled, recalling their first encounter.

She left the basket and examined the stack of books laying on their side on the table. The titles were sometimes hard to make out, but many of them involved folklore.

"Hermes? That's the god of messengers right?" she said, brushing the dust off of one spine. "Wow! This one is about Japanese myth!" Her knowledge of the country was limited to what she could ascertain from Ikebana and Jasmine Tea. "Do they have a lot of mythology?"

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

The purple stallion stared in shock as the Candy pulled out a basket for him. "A- For me?" He blushed slightly, nervously messing with his hair as he glanced around. "But, i don't have a gift for you. You really didn't need to do this. Thank you."

He eyed the candies in admiration. They were expertly crafted, of course. Nothing short could be expected from the mare who's purpose was such. The flutter flitted about anxiously around her. "Would you like a cup of tea or something?" He held out his hooves to take the basket then set it on the table.

"Ah, yes." He perked up as she examined his books. What a mess they were in all scattered on the table. It was such poor timing for him to be rearranging. "Every culture has their own myths. Just as much as any other. It's how everyone explained how the world works. Every culture has their own creation myth and great flood myth. For example, in Japan they primarily practiced Shintoism until buddhism was introduced. Shinto's creation myth has a pair of Kami, also known as gods, known as Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto create Japan by stirring the ocean with a spear. The water droplets from the spear became the islands."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

"Of course you don't have anything for me; that would imply that you knew I had something for you. Which." she said, turning a book around to read the cover "if your face is any indication, you didn't." She looked up from the book and smiled. "It's really my pleasure. I like to make things for friends and family!"

"Tea would be lovely." she went on to say with a wider smile. "I bet you have some really good kinds!" Tea would totally be the right thing to drink when surrounded by books. So refined!

"Kami.." she rolled the word around in her mouth. There was no way Candy would be able to remember, let alone pronounce the gods names. It was interesting to hear Mooncake speak in another language. It seemed so easy for him.

"But how could water create earth?" she asked, finding a clear space and sitting down. "I mean, you can't make a cake with just water. You need other things to make it so."

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

"Ah. That's true. I'm certainly no Cirrus." The flutter smiled a bit sadly. He felt guilty for receiving a gift without giving something in return. But he really didn't have anything he could think she'd like...

"I have a few varieties. I personally prefer Lapsang Souchong. It's got a very smoky taste. I think given your purpose... Moroccan Mint might be more your style. It tastes like those spearmint jelly candies. Unless, you don't like mint?" Mooncake tilted his head, lips pursed.

"Well, the point of myths is essentially to explain things that you don't understand. So, for example, you don't understand why it is that there is daytime and nighttime. Civilizations would explain it as an act of a god. Gods are pretty all powerful, though what culture your talking about has some effect on their limitations, but they can make things happen like turning someone from a phony into a spider. They didn't exactly have much science to back these things up with, so it didn't matter if it seemed illogical."

 

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Moroccan Mint! Well that sounded exotic and delicious! "I am rather fond of mint. It goes well with so many things!" Like chocolate, and pecans, and truffles....

She snapped back to reality as Mooncake was explaining just how some cultures thought that water could in fact, make earth. She listened carefully, wondering about gods. Were they real? Was there really something out there that could do something as spectacular as turning a phony into something else?

"I guess that makes sense." she said, flipping another book around to stare at the title on the spine. "Do you think that these gods are real? I mean, not all places could have the same gods right? Or did the stories just kindof...get passed around the world?"

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

"Mint it is then," the flutter nodded, zipping briefly into the kitchen. Fortunately, due to the tiny size of his apartment it wasn't particularly far away. This allowed him to continue listening to and even viewing his guest as he put a pot of water on the stove.

"Honestly..." Mooncake shrugged. "I don't know. Literally every culture has had some sort of religion. Parts of each one could be true or they could even just be different ways of looking at the same event. Like how every culture has a great flood story. If the fact that it's such a common story just coincidence, is it just cause the story spread? Or, could it be that there was actually a huge global flood which affected people of all areas? I just don't know." The stallion pursed his lips for a moment as he poured out the tea. "I do think it would be very interesting if at least parts were true."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

"I think religion is interesting." she said a little louder so she was sure he could hear. "But wouldn't these religions die out after they found scientific ways to explain things? I mean, we know now that day and night happen because of the earth rotating around in a circle." Candy flipped open a book cover, only to discover that the words were written in a strange alphabet. "After discovering that knowledge, the powers that we gave the gods are proven not be be gods at all."

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

Sorry for taking so long @_@

Mooncake nodded along from his spot in the kitchen as he poured out two mugs full of tea. "That's certainly true. But there are still some things that have yet to be explained, which is why religion still thrives." The flutter murmured, lifting the two cups before gliding into the living room with them.

"I also think that religion is so popular because people need to have a reason. Not just for why the day changes to night, but also for why they exist. Of course, there are also the kind of people who give themselves a purpose. I believe i read once about a study that showed that whether or not you were capable of believing in gods was genetically determined..." With a smile the stallion set the cups down on the table and brushed his hooves together.  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Candy could understand that need. If she didn't have the many reasons she did to get up in the morning, then why get up at all?

"Thank you." She said, accepting the tea with a smile. "I guess some are content with knowing what is closest to them, and others need to know what's beyond." She said, taking a careful sip to make sure it wasn't too hot.

"You know, I think it's like you and I." she said, looking at Mooncake. "You're interested in what other countries are doing, what they did. Myths, facts, books.." she waved a hoof around. "All of this piques your mind. While I? Well, I'm content with what I see every day, the people I meet, what's in front of me. I'm ok with just that."

cursedandwandering

 

[cursedandwandering]

Blue Eyed Melloon

Mooncake chuckled, looking to his books with a frown. "Ah, well i'm not sure that's right. I would think it would be more accurate to say you're godly while i am someone who strives to understand such ways."

He smiles and flits over to one of the bookcases, pulling out a large leather bound tome. The flutter flips it open to a page containing a large ink illustration showing the formation of land. "Gods are creators, just like you."