prompt
Prompt 9: Small custom shops and stalls always seem to open up this time of year, and Destiny City has no shortage this yeart. Several seasonal themed shops have already received raving reviews, and among them is a small cafe. Outside it looks like a cute vintage cafe, but inside, the shop has been decorated so convincingly that you feel like you've just stepped into a snowy northern forest. They have an array of delicious, cold drinks, and the trip would be worthwhile for that alone--except, shortly after the first sip, anyone who has ingested the drink will find that they sneeze a flurry of tiny snowflakes. The more drinks consumed, the longer you will find you are sneezing little snowflakes. It feels like there is a tickle up your nose for an hour or longer, depending on player choice; drinking more can also lead to longer effects. There are no negative impacts--just the need to sneeze often, and a little burst of cold snowflakes along with each one. Surprisingly, the shop still doesn't have any bad reviews.
Whenever Calaverite successfully went into the city and completed the tasks he was assigned, he expected a reward. He always thought he deserved a treat for working hard, and energy draining was such a boring chore that it was really only worth his time if he was being compensated for it. What was his motivation if he didn't get anything out of doing something that was otherwise uninteresting?
In an ideal world, his captain or his general would be the one to provide the treat. But it was not an ideal world, and Calaverite frequently had to go hunting for his own reward.
Today was one of those days. He'd managed to find a pair out for an evening stroll to be his targets. He'd only had to toss one out of the way to drain the first, and by the time the second made it back to him, he was finished with his first target and ready for the next. When Calaverite drained, he continued until his victims were unconscious. There was no reason not to. It wasn't like he cared what happened to their bodies.
And as he usually did when the opportunity was available, he checked their starseeds. Some people had very pretty starseeds, like lime green or powder blue. He liked to keep those. He was building quite the collection. Others had just basic green or puke-yellow. He'd put those back.
Tonight he found one of his victims had a pretty lilac starseed. He didn't have one like that. Into his space pocket for safe keeping it went.
The other was just red. Pretty boring. He decided to let the man keep it.
And since he'd done such a good job of harvesting resources for the Negaverse that night, Cala felt like he'd earned his reward, and he would find it, whatever it was, wherever it was. He only needed to decide what he wanted. Legos? A kitty? Some chapstick? A Snack?
His stomach warbled in a way that suggested a snack was exactly what he needed. Maybe it was just the season for such things. Sweets had been pretty readily available since Halloween, and Calaverite had grown pretty accustomed to having a dessert whenever he wanted one. Cookies, pastries, candies, sweet drinks... There were all kinds of shops that sold those things at this time of year.
He just needed to pick one.
Cala settled on a shop he'd never been into before. The outside was decorated with string lights, and there were pretty potted trees hung with ornaments to either side of the entrance. When he stepped in, it was to see that the inside looked like a little forest. There were Christmas trees and pine branches set up, and they'd all been dusted with that spray-on white powder. And glitter. Everything sparkled in such a way that Cala found very inviting.
He stepped up to the counter and ordered a peppermint milkshake. In a shocking turn of events, he was actually able to pay for this drink, using the cash out of the wallet he'd pilfered from his victims that night.
And then he was off, back out into the street while he sipped on his drink.
It was a little too chilly for him to want to wander around very often. He'd done his job and gotten his snack, so he was ready to go back to Negaspace and his bed at this point. He just had to wait for someone to pull him back. Cala sat on a bench outside the shop, idly swinging his legs as he smeared chilly condensation around the outside of his plastic cup with his finger.
He sneezed abruptly, but thought absolutely nothing of it, crinkling his nose in distaste before resuming sipping his drink.
But then it happened again. And again. And- Were those little snowflakes popping out of his lips? Calaverite blinked wide eyes in confusion as he stared down at his hand, watching as the few little flakes melted into his palm. Oh! This was a new magic that he'd certainly never been able to do before!
Cala took another aggressive slurp of his milkshake, and within a few seconds, another bout of snowflakes erupted out of him, earning a giddy laugh of delight as they sprinkled down in front of him.
The sneezing was not his favorite thing. It tickled his nose and kind of hurt his chest, but the snowflakes! They were so pretty! And he was excited to be making them.
[WC: 751]
