Chapter Text
"Pure Vanilla Cookie!"
The cookie in question had been tending to his cream sheep. It was summer break so Pure Vanilla had went back to his peaceful village, albeit slightly reluctantly.
The atmosphere of the house had turned tense the moment Pure Vanilla set foot in the house and it was no secret why. Pure Vanilla's parents didn't exactly approve of his friends, since they were too "loud" and "messy". They especially disliked White Lily Cookie since she would skip classes. His parents expected everything associated with Pure Vanilla to be perfect, including his friends, which didn't exactly help with his low self-esteem.
Pure Vanilla missed his friends. As he sat there, rubbing the fluffy fur of his favorite sheep (the others watching jealously), he reminisced about his friends: the boisterous Hollyberry Cookie, greedy yet amusing Golden Cheese Cookie, sweet White Lily Cookie, and... Dark Cacao Cookie.
Pure Vanilla buried his face in the cream sheep's fur, making it stomp its foot uncomfortably and bleat in confusion.
It was hard not to fantasize about him. His dark hair flowing down his shoulders, his stoic expression that made Pure Vanilla want to kiss him so, so, bad...
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone call his name. He turned to the direction where the noise was coming from and his eyes widened.
"Missed us? Thought we'd pay you a visit, Vanilla Bean!" Hollyberry Cookie said jovially, scooping up Pure Vanilla into a crushing hug, making the smaller cookie cough slightly.
"We wanted to surprise you," White Lily said in her calm and soothing voice. "We thought maybe some company would make the summer more enjoyable."
Pure Vanilla looked over their shoulder to see Golden Cheese Cookie swooping around, observing her surroundings curiously while Dark Cacao Cookie trailed behind her.
Purr Vanilla's parents hadn't explicitly stated that his friends weren't allowed to visit but Pure Vanilla wasn't oblivious; he could practically feel the disapproval radiating off his parents whenever he mentioned his friends.
They probably wouldn't be pleased when they realize that his friends were here, surprise or not.
Pure Vanilla tried to tell them but he was suddenly yanked up by Hollyberry Cookie. "How 'bout we do something fun?" she suggested, her loud voice making several birds flap their wings in alarm and take off, flying somewhere more quiet.
The other two finally caught up. "Perhaps we should go treasure-hunting," Golden Cheese Cookie suggested, which wasn't a surprise for the greedy cookie.
Pure Vanilla let out a small giggle. "Treasure-hunting in the fields? That won't do... It might damage the crops."
"How 'bout fishing?" Hollyberry Cookie suggested. "We passed by a big lake."
Pure Vanilla thought for a moment. He did have several fishing rods but they were in the house. And you know what else was in the house? No, it's not the imposter, it was his parents.
Despite his definite unwillingness to speak to his parents about his friends' surprise arrival, he supposed some sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. (As soon as he thought that phrase, he immediately wondered if it was some sort of reference to something.)
Pure Vanilla trudged into the house alone, as he had told his friends to stay outside while he retrieved the fishing rods.
He flinched as he passed by his parents, who were sitting by the dining table. His father grabbed his arm and pointed out the window at his friends. "Explain."
"My friends... They... They came here as a surprise," Pure Vanilla stammered out, fidgeting with his robes. He could never look his parents directly in the eye because of how intense their gazes were. Like a hawk watching their prey. Or perhaps like a certain jester watching a shepherd.
Far, far away, shackled to chains that seemed never-ending, a jester was watching Pure Vanilla. Watching the brand-new actor for his new show.
Shadow Milk Cookie was so incredibly bored. You know that saying "(Insert word) is my middle name"? Well, now, bored was his middle name. No, it was his first and last name at this point.
Bored Bored had only one source of entertainment: watching Pure Vanilla, and even that wasn't that amusing to him - except for the occasional times he broke down or got hurt.
There were four other Beasts trapped in the Tree with him: Burning Spice, Mystic Flour, Eternal Sugar, and Silent Salt, but each was more aggravating than the last.
Destruction had turned Burning Spice into a weird battle maniac, swinging his axe at anything and everything he saw, even his own reflection. He was horrifying and lacked any semblance of grace.
Mystic Flour was tolerable but so. Incredibly. Dull. She barely had any opinions, except that Shadow Milk was annoying and that all cookies should return to the state of pure, unadulterated apathy.
Eternal Sugar was lazy. That basically summed up her entire existence. She would fall asleep in the middle of Shadow Milk's rants about how stupid Elder Faerie was and how he was going to murder everyone. It was absolutely infuriating.
Silent Salt was like water. Dull, unassuming, about as interesting as dust - worst of all, he disagreed with Shadow Milk! (Sure, the others did too, but they didn't express it vocally (not that much (probably)))
Shadow Milk was officially going to rip his hair out if it kept doing the aggravated bed-head thing whenever he got mad because it was currently doing that. He decided he needed something to entertain him before he started becoming like Burning Spice. Ugh.
He popped into Eternal Sugar's prison. It was all fluffy clouds and lollipops and gosh, way too much pink. It was nearly blinding him.
He looked around the area, which was already giving sacchirine vibes that made him want to throw up from all the sweetness, and spotted Eternal Sugar, snoozing away on a pink cloud.
"Hello, my favorite Eternal Sugar," he sang, floating around the other, who begrudgingly opened one eye.
"What're ya doing here..." Even Eternal Sugar's words slurred together. Like syrup. Disgusting!
"Bored." Shadow Milk sighed. "Really, you should come to the theater at my part. It's awfully monotonous to be performing to an empty crowd."
"'S too much work," Eternal Sugar said, barely moving a muscle.
Shadow Milk rolled his eyes. "Fine, you lazy, lazy gummy worm. I'll just do my performance here!"
Eternal Sugar didn't reply.
"Seriously, how the fuck do you fall asleep mid-conversation all the time?!"