Candy House for a Starving Mouse

Posted on Sat Aug 10th, 2024 @ 4:23pm by Lieutenant Kevan Dash & Lieutenant Didrea Zade

Mission: Into the Qniverse
Location: A Magical Forest
2411 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

SNAP!

Zade blinked as the resort abruptly changed into dense forest. Quickly looking around, she took in her surroundings, but all she could see was trees, and a path that she was on. She reached for her jacket pocket, then looked down as she felt the now empty fabric. No phaser. No comm badge. Grumbling, she looked around again, spinning fast when she heard rustling of trees nearby. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she bent down and grabbed a branch off the ground, her eyes never leaving the bushes, and braced to use it.

"Woah! Hey! No need to whack me with anything, boss!" Kevan called out, his arms raised. "I swear, all I know is that I was enjoying my third shot of Talarian Nebula and then I'm suddenly here...in this..." He motioned to the lederhosen. "Either that was a bad batch of booze or..."

Seeing it was just the assistant security chief, Zade lowered her stick, watching him step out of the bushes. She had been sulking around the perimeter of the party, and she was on her way to get closer to Kane and Zora when their party crasher snapped his fingers. She had only heard of Q, but this crasher certainly fit the description. "You're not too intoxicated, are you?" She asked him. "We need to find the others... as soon as we figure out where the hell we are."

"I..." Kevan paused. "I feel great, actually. Like I haven't even had one..." He frowned, not sure how to process that. "What happened? Where are we and why am I dressed like this? And why are you dressed like that?"

The mild skepticism toward Dash's reply was quickly replaced by confusion, and Zade looked down at herself. A... dress? There was some sort of apron over it, and her jacket was something flowy. When did this happen? Just a moment ago, she was in the casual attire for the party. "This must be the work of Q," she grumbled, looking over his attire. They matched, strangely enough. "Conveniently, we are on a path. Let's pick a direction and see what we can find."

"Q!?" Kevan blinked. "Is that what happened? Oh man...I hate Q's..." He sighed, looking over the paths. "Can we figure out which way is North, maybe? That's the typical survival guidance."

Looking around, Zade searched for anything that could give an indication of direction. The trees made it a challenge, but she could pick out the direction of the shadows casted. "Let's try this way," she said, gesturing in one of the directions. "Maybe we can find something that isn’t... this." A hand flicked at her knee-length skirt.

"Nonsense, you look great..." Kevan grinned, then faltered at her expression. "Uh...I mean, yes boss." With an awkward shrug he decided to try to divert attentions back to their situation and objectives. "I wonder what we're supposed to be doing here. If it's a Q involved, it can't be good."

She shot him a glare at the comment before focusing on the trail. The skirt was horrible: while it allowed for ample movement, it was too much fabric, and it had no pockets. It also felt incredibly foreign to her, as she was never one to really wear skirts. "From what was reported during past encounters with Q, he seems to do this just for the hell of it." The idea of entertaining Q just so they could return to the rest of the crew didn't sit kindly with Zade. "But stay alert anyways."

"Trying my best. Although this feels more like a bad holonovel than anything else..." he grumbled.

The path continued for ages, winding between the trees and sometimes being obscured by bushes and other plants. Occasionally, Zade would look up to try and confirm the sun's position in the sky, squinting through the canopy to try and get a decent view. Sometimes, they would indulge in small talk, and other times the two would just walk in silence. Crinkling her nose slightly, Zade slowed her pace. It was sweet, sickly sweet, like some kind of fresh bread drenched in sugar. "Do you... smell that?"

"Like my grandmother's baking," Kevan nodded, sucking in another deep sniff. "Definitely something sweet. Over there." He pointed, noting a faint clearing off in the distance, and a shape that definitely didn't look tree-like. "Some sort of building maybe?"

Squinting through the trees, Zade looked in the direction Kevan pointed. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose in disgust over the lingering scent of sugar. Giving her partner a shrug, she cautiously approached, moving slow to make sure she didn't alert potential company to their presence. As they approached, the building became more distinguishable. At a first glance, it seemed very ornate, with decorations left up from a holiday long passed, but as they got closer to the edge of the clearing, it appeared that the house was made of... sugar? The walls were some sort of dense bread or cookie, the windows were of tinted sugar glass, and the "decorations" were in fact various pieces of candy, some serving decorative purposes and others providing structural support. Red and white swirled sticks created a support for a cookie-style canopy, white icing hung on the edges of the roof, and even the steps to the house looked like they were made of hard, frosted candies.

For a few seconds, Zade was stunned. What the hell was she looking at?? She blinked hard, hoping that she was seeing things, but the elaborate display remained. "I'm not losing it, right?" she quietly asked Kevan, her eyes still on the strange structure. "It's... a candy house?"

Kevan knelt next to a 'flower pot' near the window, snapping off a piece of the flower and biting down on it. A cornucopia of flavours assaulted his tongue as he chewed the sugary facsimile. "Mmm...damn you should try some of this," he suggested, holding a fragment out to her. "It's amazing. I could eat this for days."

The grimace that developed on Zade's expression spoke volumes. It was already bad enough having her nostrils flooded with sugary scents. "What the hell inspired you to eat someone's flowers??" She asked.

Kevan paused. Then he shrugged. "I don't know. It...looked like I should?" He frowned, as though he himself wasn't really sure about that. "It's definitely really tasty, though! Try some!"

"You're-!" Whatever Zade was going to say was forgotten as she focused on the piece of flower shoved into her face. "Ugh, fine." Suspecting that Kevan wouldn't take no for an answer, she took the piece from his hand and gave the corner the tiniest bite, mentally preparing for the sickly sweet assault to her tongue.

It was... mild? It was sweet, but not nearly as aggressively sweet as Zade expected. Tentatively, she took another bite, then another. "Huh..." Did she forget to eat before the party? The more of the candy flower she ate, the hungrier she felt. Zade picked off a corner of the windowsill, finding it to be some kind of chocolate. Again, sweet, yet it tasted very mild to her, like the candy wanted her to enjoy it. "Try this," she told Kevan. Something inside her was telling her to stop, that this was the work of Q, but the urge to satisfy this feeling in her stomach strongly overpowered it.

"Mmf-" Kevan responded with a mouthful of the chocolatey window frame. "Like...cookies...s'good..."

While they were distracted by the delightful taste of the candies that made up the house, the purple front door quietly opened. A soft, grandmother's voice eventually wafted out, tickling their ears so as not to startle them. "You poor things must be hungry. Look at you, eating an old lady's home. Come, I'll make you a meal..."

"Heh. If the food's anything like the house..." Kevan chuckled, then took a moment of pause. "I mean - sorry for, uh, eating the substructure..." He looked over at Zade for help explaining why they were consuming her house.

"Worry not, dear child," the soothing voice assured, before more explanation could be given. A head poked out of the house, becoming an older woman with greyed hair. She was leaning forward, a cane supporting her with each light tap on the tough gingerbread deck. Her face was wrinkled with a slightly bent nose and faded grey eyebrows. She wore a handmade quilted dress with candy designs, and a pink brimmed hat rested on her head. "Come, come." She gestured with her cane into the house.

Zade wanted to pull Kevan aside, maybe slap some sense into him, and thoroughly assess what was going on. A candy house?? But, she was starving, a way of her body confirming that coffee was not, in fact, an entire meal, and it gently pushed her caution to the wind. Besides, it was just an old woman, the risk of something happening was incredibly low. "If you insist, we would be grateful," she told the woman. "Perhaps we can repair the damage for you in return-"

"Seeing your bellies full will satisfy me enough," the woman interrupted, before disappearing into the house. The door was left open, a silent invitation.

"I suppose it would be rude to decline the hospitality," Kevan shrugged at Zade, stepping inside.

The interior of the cottage seemed a little more normal. The tiled floor looked like it would be pillow-y, yet they felt solid beneath their feet. The old woman walked over to some chairs by the counter, where food that seemed too good to be true sat waiting for them. "Since you brought me something to eat, it's only fair that I return the favor," she said with a smile.

Zade was mesmerized by the display and the woman's generosity. The only time she had seen so much food was during some kind of celebration involving ambassadors. She nearly missed what the woman said, which seemed to snap her out of it. "Wait..." Turning, she opened her mouth to ask what the woman meant by that, but the old woman's attention wasn't on her, or the food. Rather, it was on Kevan, and with a flick of her wrist she had candy come out of the house and wrap itself tightly around Kevan, trapping his arms at his sides.

"Huh!? Hey, what gives-!" he cried out.

"Kevan!" Zade ran to help, but the tiles beneath her feet became gooey and trapped her shoes. It caused her to stumble and fall, and the second her hands touched the tiles, they sank into the gooey mess as well. She tried to pull them free, but couldn't, like they were suctioned in place. "Who are you? What is going on??" She asked the woman.

The old woman chuckled as she turned to face Zade. "Why, I am merely a witch who resides in this forest. It's been a long time since someone meal-worthy has come along, and I'm not going to waste it." She knelt down in front of Zade, "your friend is going to become my next meal, and you're going to help me prepare it."

Zade glared at the witch while still trying to free herself. "I am doing nothing for you! The second I am free of this, I will be freeing him, too," she said defiantly.

Despite the defiance, the witch smiled. "Hm, we can't have that, now can we?" With another wave of her hand, some goopy tile stretched up from the floor and wrapped itself around Zade's wrists. "These bracelets bind you. Should you approach your friend, or try to run away from here to get help, they will stop you." Once she finished speaking, the candy hardened, forming two solid loops of candy that perfectly fit Zade's wrists.

Despite her efforts, Zade couldn't get away from the candy encasing her. How could stupid bracelets stop her?? Once the bracelets had been placed, her hands and feet were freed, and once she realized that she pushed the witch aside and rushed toward Kevan. She only got a couple of steps before the bracelets tightened, both constricting onto her and pulling her away. It was strong enough to make her fall backwards. She tried to reach for Kevan, but found it incredibly difficult, and the pressure on her wrists was only increasing. Eventually, she scooted back from Kevan a little, and the bracelets eased up in response.

The witch, while surprised at being pushed over, was pleased to see that her curse worked. This one seemed like she would be difficult to control. "Was that a sufficient demonstration?" she asked, almost mockingly. "I suggest you cooperate if you want to see your little friend stay unharmed. Until it's time for my meal, at least."

The words recited by the witch replayed themselves in Zade's mind. How would they get out of here if she couldn't get to Kevan and she couldn't escape to find help? Trying to rub where the bracelets dug into her skin, Zade slowly got back up to her feet, glaring at the witch. She spared a brief glance at Kevan. All they could do at the moment was bide their time and wait for a window.

Seeing that Zade wasn't going to cause more trouble, the witch nodded. "Good. Now, go fetch water from the well, while I put you away for safekeeping." She cupped Kevan's chin and gave a little squeeze before heading for the door. Whatever magic she was using to control the candy was now moving Kevan behind her.

"Get this stuff off me!" Kevan shouted out, doing his best to struggle and resist but to no avail; the bindings that had wrapped themselves around him held firm. "I swear, I'm gonna kill you..."

Zade watched Kevan go, fighting the urge to chase after them. She hoped that he caught her 'be patient' look as he disappeared out the door. Looking down, she tried to get a finger between the bracelets and her arms, finding no such wiggle room. It would be impossible to slip her hands out of them. Looking around, she identified a wooden bucket and lifted it up, a breathy 'ooph' escaping her when she realized just how heavy the empty bucket was.

Whatever game this was, she'd have to play it, for Kevan's sake.