#bitterresolve

As guardian and guide of the Ivory Pagoda, it was this haetae's proud duty to ensure the temple's cleanliness. Thus, here Cloud Haetae Cookie was, sweeping the outdoor pathways of this mighty temple and removing whatever trash the dumpling immortals left behind.

While the growing fog meant no one would see their efforts, they did not mind. For that was the very definition of futility, wasn't it?

Besides, the truly enlightened would be honoured to wander around Mystic Flour Cookies fog, hopelessly lost in a white cloud of nothingness.

And yet... through the corner of their eye, they saw something dark breaching the fog. With broad shoulder pads, a gaudy crown, and a familiar sword. Wielding a soul jam that did not truly belong to him.

"... You shouldn't be here... my liege."

they take a deep breath, stiffening up instinctively as their father approaches. dark choco doesn't know what he wants, but the guilt of the injuries of that day, buried deep beneath their dough, begins to surface like ripples in the water. they blink their working eye in slight surprise as dark cacao pulls his hand away from them just as fast.

.........huh ?

dark choco sighs, lowering their gaze. " .....too scared to hurt me ? " they mutter in a gravelly, pained tone. " didn't you know your gentle touch was all i wanted ? all i needed ? father.... stay. " please.

While Nilly is the favorite of the ancient flops to bully because of their long history and connection, Shadow Milk Cookie is nothing if not a cookie of variety! Spice of life and all that. So, today he's in the Dark Cacao Kingdom.

Soldiers tripping over nothing. Some of the chocolate for the wall ends up not being tempered properly before it's applied and is much less sturdy as a result. The monsters in the licorice sea seem agitated by something. (He dropped an old staff of his in these waters on his way to East Yeast once upon a time and he needs to get those little buggers back for stealing it)

Why is he doing this? Mildly to majorly inconveniencing the people of this kingdom he has no real stake in? Because it's funny. And he wants to play a little game with the king. See how long it takes him to find out there is a BEAST in his walls that slipped by undetected. He's no Mystic Flour Cookie, but damn if he can't put on an even better show.

Licorice is surprisingly good at talking people down from high-tension/high-emotion situations. I feel like that comes in handy when Dark Cacao is exhibiting some of his more...unrefined moments/crash outs/emotional breakdowns.

I've always felt like they'd have interesting and even deep moments of understanding via situations like that. For someone so neurotic, Licorice is surprisingly a pretty composed guy who acts as support and deescalation in tense situations. Also, just seeing Dark Cacao lose his mind a few times (which is something I'm pretty sure he's never witnessed in canon that I can recall) would give him that eye-opening experience we were talking about in dms. I feel like having Licorice around would probably be genuinely good for Dark Cacao's mental health, when they get past their issues.

I've been thinking on this for a while, but Licorice and Cacao not forgiving each other for their atrocities and instead coming to terms with the fact that they both did what they thought was right in the moment is such a nice, symbolic thing for them. They're two very damaged people, trying to move on from the events of the past and I feel like, at least on Licorice's side, he'd deeply respect the fact that Dark Cacao knows he can't change the blackened past between them and takes fault for what happened. Licorice isn't used to anyone trying to make amends for hurting him. The fact that seemingly no one has is what's fostered his bitterness, spite and ire. I believe no one's ever told him sorry in his past, no one's ever cared to make it up to him, and he's always had a hard life. (Granted he deserves some of it for, by all means being a colossal shitlord). The fact that Dark Cacao doesn't see him as a lost cause, that he still extends the olive branch again and again is something that slowly grinds on Licorice's psyche. In many ways, I don't think he'd know how to genuinely react to it after knowing there's not alternative motive behind it. That is was genuine, because for once in his life, someone felt bad for causing him harm. Staying mad at the world for how it's wronged him is something he's pretty stubborn about, and that way of thinking leads him to be quite literally killed with kindness. He's going to crash out and go through all of the stages of grief before he gives in, but being valued for WHO he is and not what he can bring to the table is touching for him to know. -------

“...You are injured.” It came out more as a statement of fact than anything else, his expression stern and his violet eyes as piercing as ever. Trust was not something that remotely existed between them, and neither of them would imply as much. But his desire to make amends would mean little if Licorice crumbled. After a moment, he sighed, quietly. “I am not a healer, but I am familiar with survival. I know enough to assist you.” And before any inevitable defiance could come, he added, "Should you leave it untreated, it will only worsen.”

(What about both? I want to do both!)

Loss and injury were no strangers to Licorice. In fact, the necromancer knew them quite intimately.

But, why did it have to be NOW? Why in front of HIM? It was bad enough that he sat upon his throne of lies for eons, looking down on him and his miserable life with those, cold, unfeeling eyecings and now, here he was again in some sickening sense of deja vu doing the same. His arm was wrapped around his stomach, where strawberry jam leaked through, staining his dark, tattered robes and leaking through to stain the very dough of his wrist and hand. The dough beneath his robes was cracked wide-open, and he knew if he didn't get help soon, he was as good as crumbled. What good would he be to anyone, then? Licorice cracked a toothy smirk, jam running down both sides of his mouth as he let out a raspy, bitter laugh, crackled by the jam that welled up in his throat.

"You really are a piece of work. Are you telling me you'd rather rather keep me alive to torment you?" Surely, he knew what that meant for his situation with Dark Enchantress. Wasn't this contradictory to his goals? Did...Did he really mean what he said back then? About wanting to make amends? Those words tunneled deep within him, and nestled within his dough, staying there to marinate. Words he often thought about, words that haunted him every now and again. But here they were - in a prime opportunity for Dark Cacao to shove his blade straight through him in a final killing blow, to defeat one of Dark Enchantress' minions - her generals, in many senses...but he again offered the same olive branch Licorice denied once before. But...why? After everything...why?

"wow.... this is so cool...." shizuka is amazed by the scenery in front of her. "so this is where you live, mr. dark cacao?"

stirring the pot - Accepting

@bitterresolve

we both know this is over. // dusk of apathy to priestess of resolution!

“It can’t be over….. It…. Just can’t….” Priestess of Resolution whisper quietly, shaking her head, whilst tears pricked at her eyes and her knuckles turning white from her wrapping the incense’s chain around it tightly before buckling to the ground.

The incense clacking loudly against the ground but despite this; the hero clearly stared at the ground. Her throat felt so tight that it was hard to breathe but it did not compare to the emotions that were raging inside of her which threaten to overwhelm her.

It can’t be over… Not everything she did… If it was over…. What was she been fighting for?

“You have lost someone. I can tell. It’s in the eyes, the grief.” // mixing things up and giving roleswap au / dusk of apathy to mystic flour!

The cookie before her was familiar in more ways than one. Looking so similar to the king who stole her resolution, with the same empty gaze he held in the brink of his enlightenment.

“You are only half right, for while I have lost many, I do not grieve.”

Mystic Flour approached the other slowly, the fog starting to blanket the ground around them. Whether it was waiting to strike or to embrace has yet to be determined. “Loss is just another step on the road to enlightenment. A sacred reminder that everything is as futile as it is fleeting. What point is there in grieving? Why mourn for those who have finally embraced that blessed nothingness? Why pity those we should strive to be like?”