Home Sweet Cherry Home

Big store to big store. Small family shop to another. Stand after stand. Alia spent the day drooling over everything that she couldn't afford. Every now and then she'd find someone giving free samples for stuff. Mostly food and treats which was fine for her. No need to pay for lunch. Each thing obtained for free kept her spirit high and her will to keep having some browsing fun. This finally led her to a part of town she hadn't explored before. An older shop caught her interest just as quickly as her eyes set upon it. It was nothing extraordinary. It didn't really have the usual stuff on the window display that would have interested her. Like weapons. Or clothes. Or cute plushies to add to her secret collection. Alia couldn't explain why the shop was even on her radar. Maybe it was how antique it looked compared to everything else. Maybe it was the stranger things that could be seen through the window. Or maybe the name. It was weird how much she didn't walk away to another shop. Her curiosity peaked.

"Huh. This place looks kind of creepy." Alia thought aloud to herself, staring up at the old sign and the rest of the small building of cracked and dirty wood. The sensation to flee wasn't setting off the alarms in her body though so it was likely not someplace where she'd enter and never leave. It was just in some serious need of a makeover. Shrugging, Alia decided to sate her curiosity by going inside. Stepping forward, Alia pushed the door open, forcing it to create a creak that echoed through the shop and mixed with the ring of the bell that had been disturbed by the gentle push.

Silence was the only thing that followed. No friendly but annoying customer service greeting. No other customers in sight browsing the wares. Not even a shopkeeper lingering around the shop or behind a counter. Yep. Still creepy in a sense. The lit aroma candles and colorful potted flowers around did little to give it a comfy welcoming vibe but effort was effort she guessed.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Alia asked as she cautiously stepped inside. Her head turned to the left and then to the right, her eyes taking in everything she could see from that spot. Shockingly, there were none of the cobwebs and creepy spiders she expected there to be. It was clean with zero dust in the air or, as she found out by sliding a finger on a nearby shelf, the counters and shelves that held all the stuff on display.

"Guess not." No one had answered her so either someone forgot to close the shop or they were in the back dealing with inventory or something. Whatever it was shopkeepers did to disappear on their customers. Still, the young blonde was already there and there technically was no closed sign anywhere. With her logical mind play, she was able to convince herself that it would be perfectly all right to stay there and look around. She just had to restrain herself and not steal anything even if the opportunity was there and in a way that made it super easy to accomplish.

"Well guess no one will mind if I take a look around," Alia told herself, a sly smile on her face as she approached another set of shelves and counters along the wall. Her curious eyes gave everything a quick glance. The more strange things she'd stare at longer and even pick them up to get a better look, turning the objects around to view all the details on the hidden sides. The variety was kind of cool. She wasn't all too certain what the uses were but she could feel some magic in each object. Whatever they did it certainly made them much more valuable than the basic decorative paperweight.

There were some scented candles next that she took the time to put close to her nose and smell. "Hm, not bad." It was some kind of vanilla scent. A bit plain but at least she wasn't coughing up a storm from smelling one that had the scent of burning chemicals. There were some fruity ones too. Apple, pineapple, watermelon, carrots... "Wait what?" The blonde had to look at that one again just to make sure she read it right. "Carrots? Really?" She couldn't believe it but after a bit of thought she had to not be surprised. There were cucumber-scented candles in other stores so why stop at one vegetable?

Then a different scent twitched her nose. A sweet scent that she enjoyed just as much as the taste. The scent of cherries. It had to be a candle. She looked through the pink and red colored candles in an attempt to find it. Nothing in the name mentioned a cherry scent. Neither did the other colored candles. Whatever it was it wasn't there.

Aliarey sniffed the air to try and find what else in the small area could produce that sweet fruity smell. She cursed her luck for not being a slayer with those strong senses. Thanks to being a nearly plain and ordinary human she was stuck with her lousy sense of smell. With some effort though she was able to track it down. The scent led to the counter with the register. Daringly, the blonde hopped over the old wooden piece of furniture to check back there. Kneeling down to her knees, Alia checked the shelves of the counter.

"Aha! Found it!" Her prize had been found. It was a bag of candy. Or bath bombs. Or... Well, she just knew the scent of cherry was strong. It looked like candy but it could have easily been anything else. Without a label, it was hard to tell and she wasn't crazy enough to pop one into her mouth to find out.

"Find something interesting, dear?" A voice asked from behind.

Jumping up with a yelp escaping her, the voice startled the blonde. It really shouldn't have. It was an open store so someone had to have been working. In that case most likely the very back of the store where customers like her weren't allowed to go. Somehow she forgot though and now she had been caught behind the counter going through the more hidden stuff. The bag of cherry-scented unknowns was still in her arms, hugged tightly to her chest. Once she realized that she quickly set it down on the counter and spun around to face the worker.

"Sorry! At least I think I am. I mean I really shouldn't be back here. I wasn't stealing though. I swear! I stopped that a long time ago. Well sort of. I still steal from my brother but that's because he deserves it! Ah! Forget what I just said! It doesn't matter! I just wanted to see what these cherry-scented things were!"

Her rambling had kept her from fully focusing on who stood there. Once her mouth relearned how to shut up she gave the worker a look. The voice sounded old and the form of an old woman also stood there. She was covered from head to toe though so honestly anything could have been under the layers of purple cloth. The woman looked like she had ported in from a foreign country. No one in Fiore dressed like that. No one native to the country anyway. She was also shorter than herself. A lot shorter.

"I don't care about that. All of that under there is junk no one wants. They were taking up the better spaces so I put them there out of the way." The old woman didn't seem mad at Alia at all. In actuality, she seemed more annoyed at being reminded that that "junk" was still in her shop. "Let me see what you picked out." Leaning on her ornate cane, the woman made her way to the counter and looked at the bag that was there. The contents she knew well. "Ah, I see." The frail woman nodded. "I've had these for a long time. You want the bag?"

Aliarey was still surprised that she wasn't in any trouble. Even more surprised that she was being offered one of the items the strange woman called junk. A thin brow raised in suspicion. "Uh, what even is it? Old candy?"

"Yes," the woman answered without pause. however, she made things more confusing when she added to her answer. "And no."

"Uhhhh...."

"This candy isn't for eating. I don't know why it even takes the form of a piece of candy when it turns into a house. I wouldn't want to be the one that exploded after eating one of those."

"Wait. Are you serious? A house?"

"A temporary home for those that do not have one. It is good for wandering mages. Horrible for bad weather though. It'd be torn apart as easily as the houses in that tale with the wolf and pigs."

"That really doesn't make sense. How do you get a house from a piece of candy?" Like, she could understand that magic had a lot to do with it. Anything was possible that way. So maybe asking how wasn't a good question. More like why. What kind of kind has the idea of an instant house but made its magical medium as cherry flavored candy? There was something odd there.

"Don't believe me? That's fine. Why don't you take these and try them out for yourself?"

"What's the price?" Whatever it was it was unlikely she could afford it if the woman claimed the candy could do such a thing.

"Free. I don't want it." The woman waved her free hand dismissively. It was pretty clear that she didn't care or consider the candies to have any real value. "I need more space in here. Maybe you'll even come back to make a real purchase."

"Okay.... I won't say no to free stuff, I guess." The Requip mage was still very suspicious. Free stuff was the best but it was pretty rare unless she was going through stores and taking their free samples. Kind of like how she got her lunch earlier. There was no use saying no though. She'd hate herself later if she didn't take them.

"Good. Now do remember that you need a large enough space for it to work right. Just toss a candy on the ground and watch the rest."

"Yeah okay. Thanks." Aliarey had already claimed the bag and hopped back over the counter to make her way to the exit of the shop.

"Don't forget to mention Sanura helped you. I have more junk to give away."

Alia leaving the store ended that encounter. The door shut behind her and that was that. She was still suspicious about the whole thing, but it was free. It wasn't like she paid for it. Unless there was some curse in those cherry-coated candies it was a win. No danger alarms were rattling her senses so the candies were most likely safe. If not then welp. Mistakes were made and she'd be sure to haunt that old lady from the afterlife.

It took some time but Alia made her way to the nearby forest and walked her way into a clearing that seemed spacious enough. She guessed. How much space did she need? That Sanura lady never specified. Would it be a big house? Small house? Tall house? Well, she'd find out soon enough she supposed.

The bag of cherry candy appeared in her hands, having been called forth from her Requip closet that held way more types of items than it should have. She removed one of the small red spheres and rolled it a bit between her fingers. "I am starting to feel stupid." And she should have. Expecting a house from a piece of candy? Even if a house did appear just what kind of house could she expect? "This better not be a gingerbread house." As interesting as that would be she doubted that she'd want to live under the roof of gingerbread and gumdrops.

"Here goes nothing." With that said, Aliarey tossed a few feet away from her. It hit the ground softly and then burst into a huge wave of pink smoke. A fruity smoke in both smell and taste. The smoke enveloped Aliarey as it spread. Her blue eyes could see nothing past it though she tried. All she could do was wait for the smoke around her to dissipate. As for sound, she had heard the candy make a cutesy pop when it hit the ground. Now all she could hear was something stretching and growing like what would be found in a video game.

Aliarey waved what little smoke was left away from her field of vision. "What the-" the blonde stared wide-eyed, jaw hanging open at the sight before her. Oh, it was a house all right. A type of dwelling that she certainly had never seen before that day.

The forest had gained a temporary house on its lot that was quite literally a giant cherry. "That explains the smell." The fruity aroma was even stronger in the house form than in the candy version. "Did it have to look like that though?" Aliarey cringed. Cherries were a favorite treat she enjoyed. A cherry-shaped house wasn't that bad. A house that was an actual fruit would take a lot of getting used to. But why did it have to have a face?!

Two large circular windows made the eyes, sparkling with cheer that no piece of fruit should ever have. The door was oversized and shaped like a grin. The bright green leaves at the top completed the look of a cute giant home that was happy to see her. It was creepy. But, it was free. Could she really complain about having a cherry house whenever she wanted? It'd allow her to cut back on the inn fees and she'd be able to stay on her own more often without worrying about jewels.

It was time to see how the insides looked. The cringe was real and the creep factor put her on edge but she was curious and had to find out. Aliarey closed the candy bag and shifted it so that she held it in her left hand. With one last look at the front of the house, she stepped forward, continuing that action until she reached the open doorway. Then she disappeared inside. Anyone that happened to pass by likely found some strange humor in the sight of a woman being eaten by a giant and cute cherry creature.

Much to Alia's surprise, the cherry house was complete. She expected there to just be a single room with nothing in it. But damn! The thing had a kitchen and bathroom! How the hell that worked she had no idea. She'd just say magic to keep her from overthinking it. There was also a bed, a sofa, and holy heck a lacrimavision? That bag of candy wasn't junk. It was freaking amazing! The pros definitely outweighed the cons. Why no one had shown interest in it before she had no idea. Sure she had her own concerns and suspicions but man was it worth it. The lacrimavision alone had a hefty price tag she was sure, and she had gotten that, and everything else the candy had to offer, for free. It was her lucky day. Now just how the hell was she going to get rid of it before someone that mattered came along asking why a cherry house was in the middle of the East Forest?

(Word Count: 2620)