[PRP] Candy Dandy (Temperance & Lizbeth)

[The Semblance of Unity]

She'd heard of the candy shop, but Temperance wasn't typically a huge candy eater. In fact, despite being skinny as a rail, there was all the stereotypical 'candy is the devil' talk from her nutritionist mother running in the back of her head. But she'd been working hard, acing most of her tests and running her a** off in her clinicals... maybe she deserved a treat. Maybe not deserved. She frowned, staring tiredly at the front of the shop. She didn't really deserve anything, but... With a cheerful noise, the door opened and Temperance slipped in.

Honey Pop was inviting, a veritable wonderland of candy and chocolate. It was bright and utterly clean and a whole case of candied apples stared at her just past the door. She stared at them listlessly, before floating to the rows of candies. Clear, birds would probably fly through it glass and dark wood - it was almost like a showroom. She drifted back to the apple, probably looking more ghost than human. Her exhaustion wore her, instead of the other way around, but this was a free afternoon and she had to take what she could get.

But what would she get?

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A young woman stepped forward to lean against the slanted cases that abutted the grand display of apples. Her face was all smiles, though unlike many people who had to work retail the smile reached her bright eyes.
Her skin was very nearly as pale as her hair, a white blond that seemed to be entirely natural, though the pastel swirls of rainbow that were twisted through her hair and knotted into a bun at the nape of her neck were less so.

“Hi! Welcome to HoneyPop! I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before! I’m Lizbeth! May I help you find anything? If you’re not sure I can make recommendations, and of course, we have samples! Best part of going into a candy store if you ask me.” She beamed.

The Smile said she probably sampled quite a bit, but she had to do something in her spare time because she was slender in build and willowy of limb even slender fingers that carefully rested a fresh platter on the counter covered by a shallow glass lid. Slices of apple in various coatings on the tray, caramel, thick glossy red candy, even all manner of chocolate decorated the slices, the sacrificial apples freshly chopped behind her.

“Oh! And Please let me know if you have allergies! I have at least a few things for everyone, I do wish I could carry more but some of it’s so dreadfully expensive, and we are a little shop.”

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[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance blinked at the shopkeeper, wondering hazily how people so effervescent existed. Suddenly, she was reminded that she wore no makeup, had bags the size the Texas under her eyes, and had thrown on clothing not because it was cute, but because it was readily at hand. The cat on her shirt stared at the woman, even as Temperance averted her eyes, the tips of her ears turning red.

"I, uh, haven't been here before." She felt like a bull in a china shop. She lapsed into a short silence before abruptly speaking again. "No allergies. Oh, I'm Temperance and... if you have any reccomenda-" A yawn, quickly stifled. "-Reccomendations, I'd love to hear."

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Lizbeth tipped her head. Twisting a stray strand of pale hair around one finger and studied Temperance.

“Well… the first thing I’ll ask may sound awful given we have such a lovely shop next door that sells loose leave tea, but I have Keurig in the back, coffee? Tea, or shall I make you some proper hot chocolate? I’ve some I can still shred from making my little HoneyPop candies this morning, after that, I will then ask you what you enjoy and we can go from there! Though I dare say my apples have your attention.” She smiled.

Which might have been taken either way since she was just tall enough that her bosom pressed against the top of the case, a white shirt with a skull printed on it and some assorted text, though she did grab a glove from behind the counter and lifted the lid on the tray of sliced apples.

“they will taste just a bit off… I brushed them with JUST a touch of lemon to keep them from browning so quickly.”

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[The Semblance of Unity]

Her.... her apples. Temperance studiously looked away. Was that a double entendre - surely it was... Then she looked again; the shop keeper had offered her coffee.

"Do I look that bad?" She laughed a little, still looking tired but desperately trying to perk up. "I guess my skin is betraying me. I didn't know you guys sold coffee as well - I'd love some. Might be a perfect place then." Temperance leaned forward to look at the apples. The fruit ones. "Those look amazing. Do you make everything in-house?" She leaned on the counter too, shoving a strand of her plain blonde hair behind one ear.

"I'm Temperance and-" She swallowed a yawn. "I'm sorry for coming in the shop in this state."

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“We don’t sell coffee, I’m just offering you some.” She said with a grin.
“Don’t ever be sorry for coming into a candy store, unless you are here to smash my cases then you shouldn’t be sorry. Candy is at least in part just for situations like this.”

“I do make the apples in house!” She nodded with a widening grin. “I was trying to think of a good way to let other people dip their own but I do worry, I’ve burned myself before and I don’t want to see someone else be accidentally burned. So I might just do a window show if I have someone else manning the counter.” She mused.

“Here…” She lifted the lid and slid forward a small cup of toothpicks to select your fruit.

“Try some! I’ll get the coffee going, Light Roast? Dark Roast? Cream, Sugar?...” she paused and then added. ‘Whipped cream?”

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[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh." She flushed a bit. "Thank you. Any kind of coffee is fine. Um, sugar, please." Reaching forward, she picked up a toothpick and stabbed one of the apple slices. Caramel shone on the slice, golden and appetizing.

"I feel like most people aren't coordinated enough to handle apple dipping, judging from the accidents I've seen." She smiled and neatly popped the apple into her pop, closing her eyes happily as she chewed.

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“Well, if you’re ever feeling coordinated I can show you how I do it!” She says with a bright smile, it seemed almost perpetual when she wasn’t speaking. She flipped a strand of white blond hair out of her face.

“I bet you’re better at it than you might think. We can even start with the chocolate coatings, heck, we can even just teach you the basics of chocolate. But yes, candy coated apples.” She shook her head with a serious expression. “You can get some nasty, NASTY burns from that.”

“Is it good?” She asked, closing the lid on the Kurig machine. She sounded hopeful even as she pressed the button to start it brewing.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance smiled in response. There were always certain people out there who were just...infectious. She supposed it was a huge bonus in Lizbeth's line of work. She nodded. "Yes, it was really good - it's got a kind of home-like feel about I guess. Which is weird because I'm one hundred percent certain my parents never made caramel apples." Living with a nutritionist had it's ups and downs. Temperance's mother had her favorite motto, of course: why put something delicious into your body when you can put something delicious and nutritious? And caramel was literally just sugar.

Twirling the toothpick, she rested her chin on one hand. "You know, you're really cheerful. It's cute." Then she froze. "Uh, I mean, sorry! I didn't mean it to be rude. It's just the, um, me being tired speaking. I just-" She ran out of steam.

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[endejester]

Temperance got a boisterous, joyful laugh at being called cheerful, and a happy grin at ‘home made’ taste.
“I’m not offended! Don’t worry! Trust me you’d know if I was.” She nodded. “I have kicked people out of here for being jerks, though I admit it takes a while. But I think you’re right about the flavor! I think things change when you run them through too much machinery, or if you add things to help preserve them. It just… it lacks that edge of human error, but I think that’s what we call love!”

She tucked one finger under her chin while she spoke, tipping her head to one side in a colorful cascade of white blond and pastel rainbow.

“Like bread, you can really tell when it’s home made, you taste things like the yeast, and the butter more, it just shows.”

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I can't imagine people wanting to be a jerk to you. Are you running this alone?" She swept her hand around at the shop. It seemed a huge endeavor for one woman. Temperance lsited to Lizbeth as intently as her tired brain let her. The colorful swirl of her hair was distracting. She thought it looked quite soft, like ice cream or the soft filling of macarons.

Temperance shrugged. "I don't really have much in the way of cooking skills... I've never even tried making bread." She grimaced a bit. "I feel like I'd jsut burn it all."

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“People have bad days, it can lead to them doing awful things.” Lizbeth nodded. “Sometimes they ride on that a long time, they take the bad things they see that others did to them and they take it out where they can. I can’t fault them for that, but I can ask to be treated with respect you know?” She did a little spin that fanned her hair out in a pastel stream of color.

“I think it’s the same way with cooking, you can have a few bad experiences because you don’t get it right away, the way you don’t get people right away. But if you keep trying you can start to understand each other.” She waved her hands to spread them palms up. “Like, you start to just see that perfect shine when you stir your chocolate. You smell the right balance of your ingredients I know other people do it because they can measure so exactly but this is how I do it and I’d be happy to introduce you.” She winked.

“If you want to start small, I’ll give you an address and I can teach you how to do some simple baking, How does that sound? Tasty things you can make at home? A good handshake with sweet baking?”

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I can completely fault them for it." She laughed a little bit. While Temperance was much more forgiving of her patients, snapping a people in retail or some equivalent of retail was kind of unforgivable. It cost people no money to be nice, even if sometimes it took effort. Temperance paused a moment to admire Lizbeth's hair again.

Her fingers tapped on the counter. "I don't know; I'm pretty sure I'm destined to be bad at baking. But it could be fun to try?" Temperance offered up with a small smile. Maybe it could be relaxing. "Yeah, I'd, um, like to try, I think."

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The accepted offer earned her a wide smile, a white paper bag was swept up from somewhere behind the counter and a small pencil was used to quickly jot down an address and a time before it was slid across the counter.

"This time, this place, bring your appetite! Oh! And you can help me brain storm flavors too if you want!" She nodded enthusiastically.

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[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance took the bag and carefully folded it before stuffing it in her pocket. "I..I.. sure! That sounds fun." She smiled at Lizbeth, then glanced at her phone.

"Oh s**t. I'm sorry, I have to get back. I'll drop by again, thought. What do I owe you?"

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