(Done) Gift Baskets: Snowflakes and Sheep Wool

Scotty: "Hm," he grunted while he punched a few things into the register and then turned to take out some turtles from behind the glass. He supposed if she was also a teacher at the University she couldn't be too bad, not that he thought she was to begin with. The drawer popped open and, with just a few seconds delay, he closed it again. He turned back toward the glass case and popped a polar bear claw and some soft butterscotch (his specialty) into the bag before thrusting it at him, not accepting any money.

Annice: She clapped her hands together. "Oh, you don't have to do that, Mr. Kandi!" she said brightly.

Scotty: He grunted. "Friend o' my brother," he said, pointing a thumb at Sinsir. "Anything else?" In all honesty, it wasn't like he'd be losing money over giving away some candy. Kandi Candy certainly wasn't struggling.

Annice: She laughed at his remark. She was certainly nothing special in her town! Everyone was as youthful as her.

"I suppose I get free things sometimes, yes, but that's more from knowing half the town and teaching the other half's children how to basket-weave," she said. "Plus, no one much cares for money in Easter Village, really. They're just as happy to barter-- some even give away candy for smiles." When she was a child she most definitely took advantage of that often.

There were actually many places she still wanted to go, but most of them were more of a place you went to after you did everything else and had already been here a few times, like the gift wrapping store they passed by. She did linger to look in the window for a moment, but she did that at most stores.

"Is Mr. Kandi's-- er, our Mr. Kandi, that is-- Is his factory nearby?" As she asked this, though, she saw a candy cane striped chimney over some trees a bit of a ways away. "Unless that's it?" He certainly played up his name, didn't he?!

Annice: She put her hands together, interlacing her fingers and holding them to her chest. "You have carriages here?" she asked brightly. She wondered what they were pulled by! Horses? Rain-deers? Those funny black and white birds?? "That would be wonderful!!"

Annice: After admiring the horses up front (they were silent, unfortunately), she watched Sinsir climb up into the (very comfortable-looking!) carriage. When he turned to help her in, she both wasn't surprised and was also a bit... embarrassed? No, that wasn't it. She wasn't sure, but whatever it was brought a blush to her cheeks as she reached up to take his hand and climb in carefully.

"Thank you," she said quietly, settling into the seat and pulling the blanket over her, ensuring there was enough for Sinsir to have some if he wanted as well. She placed her bear in her lap, covering him with the blanket as well. It was so soft!! She smoothed her hands over it as Sinsir told the driver where they were going. She looked up, startled when she heard a whip, and was about to be very offended at the usage of it until she realized the driver was flicking it away from the horses, as more of a signal than anything. Her shoulders relaxed and she concentrated on the lights and other bright decorations.

"I'm probably going to sound about as repetitive as a tufted titmouse before the day's over, but it is just... so beautiful here!" Her breath floated up and away from her and she watched it disappear into the sky. It was mostly blue, but there were enough clouds for it to maybe snow at some point later in the day. She stifled a yawn at the prospect. Due to their walk here, she had gotten enough sunlight that she was still fine, but she had to admit that living here when it snowed so often would be impossible without the sunflower she'd left in her office. "Have you ever been to Easter town?" she asked, looking over at him to find him looking back at her.

Annice: She didn't mind, not in the slightest. In fact, she thought it was rather cute. He really did want to be the best of friends, and he seemed to like her!

She took his hand without delay, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she did and allowed him to (once again) open the door for her. She scooted inside, instantly enveloped in warmth. Were those cookies she smelled? And other pastries? Was this a drink factory or a bakery? It was decorated like a candy cane factory, but she supposed if she had a name like Cain's she might play it up. She looked over at a pillar that was red and white striped. Maybe. Alright, maybe not, and maybe not to this extreme, but it seemed to make him happy, so who was she to argue?

She didn't know where to look! Though used to the feeling by now, she was still overwhelmed! "Where should we go first?" she asked eagerly.

Annice: Mr. Kandi's factory had a tour?? Incredible! He must have been very well known to have enough people visit to merit a tour!!

"That sounds heavenly!" she cheered, and in her eagerness, she took his hand and lead him toward the group in a run- though for him, she knew, it was nothing. She all but bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to take a tour of this... drink factory. Whatever it was.

The elf cleared her throat and the bits of chatter died down. "Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking time today to visit Cain's Cocoa, the number one source of hot cocoa in town and elsewhere! We have an exciting treat today! As you know, we receive very special shipments of apples from the Cornelius apple orchard September through October, enabling Mr. Cornelius and Mr. Kandi to collaborate and produce apple cider! So not only will we be viewing the cocoa portions of the factory, but we'll also be going into the rarely-seen cider parts! Does that sound good to all of you?"

Annice piped up from the back with an exclaimation of "Yes!!" before realizing that no one else had said anything. They all looked back at her and she blushed, smiling nervously before looking away. Olive laughed. "That's good to hear!"

"Now, if you'll come this way, we can begin the tour!"

Annice: She smiled at him gratefully as they moved to the first room and Olive began explaining its function. Elves scurried down below.

"In this room, we have the chocolate bubbling stations, where ten workers are assigned to each pot. We also have flavor pumps by the thousands being inspected for quality by the quality control workers." The elves below were busy doing their work and most didn't even acknowledge the tour, very used to them coming in and out often. One glanced up and Annice waved at him cheerfully only to put a grin on his face as he waved back. Olive continued talking about the skematics of the pots for a bit while Annice waved to more in the surrounding area of the one she'd grabbed the attention of. She giggled softly as suddenly about two dozen, previously focused elves were waving up at her cheerfully.

"In the next room we have where the syrups are actually made themselves. We extract the essence from the source magically via our specially patented silver extraction faucets." The same thing happened in this room, but this time Olive glanced over at Annice to see what she could be doing that was so special. Nothing at all, she was just smiling and waving. She shook her head light-heartedly as she rattled off a list of all the flavors their syrups came in.