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 Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:40 pm
Evie was going to go all out with this, and she was very careful, mixing up the sugar and glucose syrup in the large copper pot and grinning at Aria during every step of the process. “What color should the octopus be? I’m going to leave the colors up to you!”
She stirred the mixture and then poured it onto the cooling counter, making sure that it spread fully out, going into all four corners. “I told you that it’s dangerous, since it’s so hot but…this is where it starts to get fun! She grabbed a few containers with flavors and some colors, pouring in a few drops of blue, and stirring quickly as the candy bubbled up with the new addition.
She did this four more times with different colors and then looked back at Aria. “Now, octopus color please, Aria!”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:42 pm
This was so much effort, Aria couldn’t help but think, for what would end up being such a small portion of food, delicious, maybe, but so tiny that she would easily be able to fit several in one hand. Despite this, she could not look away. When the sugar melted, it became clear and bubbly, and when the colors were mixed in, she said, very softly, “Oh.” When she was asked what color the octopus was supposed to be, she realized that she did not know off hand what color they were. Maybe that did not matter, though? She knew that in human art, they often made things different colors than they really were. She had seen a lot of art of rainbow mushrooms and flowers, for example. They made her think of water, so she said, after a moment, “Blue?” She felt the heat coming off the pot and added, “You are very brave to do this.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:46 pm
Blue, hm? Evie thought for a moment. There were already several blues used for the water but…
She had an idea and nodded eagerly. “A special blue, just for you!”
Putting in several drops of white, and two yellow, she put a few blue in there, and was happy to see that it turned into a light teal, and a very pleasing one.
A quick purple was made up for some extra details, and Evie began to get the hardening sugar rolled up into logs of the different colors. “Now, what I’m going to do is get some air into this so it lightens up, what’s this, Aria. It’s insane!”
She moved one of the colors to the hook and began to stretch the hot sugar, grinning and glancing over to her friend as the candy began to lighten, the color growing vibrant.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:46 pm
She had thought that blue might help the octopus blend into the water so that predators would not find it, but since this was art, she found that she liked the color that Evie made up, the one that stood out just a little bit, even better. “This is a beautiful color,” she told Evie. “Like a blue jay, but brighter.” Like nothing she had seen in nature, and maybe that was okay. Then she was not looking at the color at all but at the way Evie was stretching the sugar. Her golden eyes widened at the way it changed both shape and color. “Is it hot?” she asked. She had learned that Earth was not very technologically advanced, but they could do things like this.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:47 pm
“Extremely hot!” Evie grinned and nodded at the thick gloves she wore. “Like, could burn the skin right off of you, honestly. But it cools quickly, hang on! Give me just a second, I have to be quick for this part!”
She swiftly worked the air into all of the colors and began assembling the picture she had envisioned. “Okay! Now, what we do is just hope that it worked.”
Right now, the large block didn't look like much but a bunch of blues, however, she began to stretch and pull, rolling the block into long, thin cylinders.
Giving a small smile she started cutting the cylinders into…well. Almost equal sized rods, keeping them moving, keeping them rolling, and putting them under the fan to cool off more quickly.
“Are you ready for this? This is absolutely my favorite part. So, you see how it got so much smaller? You can kind of see the design but…”
She took one of the cylinders and began cutting it into small, round candies.
Finally, she took a handful and put them into a small cup, passing them to Aria. “See! It didn’t turn out too badly! And the flavor is black cherry watermelon!”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:53 pm
“I am watching,” said Aria, who had not watched anything so intently since she’d been watching some of her friends do their builds or experiments. In some ways, this was similar. Even Evie did not seem quite sure what was going to happen, and she was clearly good at her craft. Then, she was cutting apart the candies and Aria could see the shape. “There it is,” she said, gasping because it had worked. “It is your picture, Evie!” It seemed almost too beautiful to eat, but she decided to try it anyway, licking it like the other. “Hmm,” she said. “This one is very sugary.” It made sense because it was made almost completely of sugar. “It is good but the other was my favorite.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:58 pm
Evie gave a laugh and nodded. “It did work! I’m so pleased!”
Reaching down, she popped a piece into her own mouth and nodded. “Yeah, the hard candies are pretty one note, I agree that the caramel is way better, but this…this has the visual appeal and it’s always a good seller.”
Making quick work of the rest of the candies, she began to clean up her work area and then stretched when it was all taken care of.
“Well! That’s that! Now you’ve seen the sugary sweetness of my job, and I hope you liked it. I’m going to give you some of these to give to your friends too!”
She put a large scoop into a bag and closed it up, putting a swirled candy sticker on top to keep it closed. “Ta-da! I hope that they like it!”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:59 pm
It might not have been Naeria’s favorite compared to the caramel, but she still wasted little time in consuming the whole handful that Evie had provided for her. “I liked it,” she said. “The caramel. The process that you showed me for creating these. It is a skill I have not seen before, and you are very skilled, Evie.” She thought for a moment, and then reached into the small backpack she’d brought with her and took out a few pressed flowers. “This is my work,” she said. “Samples, that I was trying to preserve. If you do not want the money, then maybe you could take these. Maybe it could inspire you.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:00 pm
Evie took the flowers and gave a smile that lit her face up. “Thank you…these are stunning! Aria, seriously, thank you! I’m so glad that you enjoyed watching, and I hope you’ll come back again sometime! I’ll work on making new treats for you, and these? These are definitely going to inspire something. They’re so pretty!”
It made her heart pound, just a little.
“I hope we can hang out again, if you’d want to? Even if it’s not crystals or candy making? Is there anything else you like to do?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:07 pm
"I like exploring Earth's nature," she told her. The way that Evie looked at the flowers made her feel warm inside, and she added, "We can find things like those, if you would like." A moment passed. "Or I could show you my research." She did not know how Evie would feel about closets full of mushrooms and pages and pages of notes, but she could find out. Many of the humans did end up being interested in her research once she explained some of it, or got to the more interesting parts. There were many things, she thought, that would be interesting to do with a friend like this. "You have the number," she said. "Text me if you would like to do something like that." With that, she headed for the exit, although she did remember to turn and wave before she made her way out the door.
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