Oh boy... Why didn't they consider this possibility? They are literally right next to the palace, and they didn't even THINK to consider they could run into the literal king. Still, now it's only fair...

"...(C/F) Cookie." They give him their name, their eyes avoiding him as he sits down on the bench beside them.

"I don't believe I've ever seen you here before (C/F) Cookie." Pure Vanilla Cookie left a somewhat comfortable space between them. He probably knows his name is quite intimidating to those who don't know him.

"You wouldn't have." They nod.

"I hope your visit here is not the reason for your sour mood." He continues with a concerned tone, "The kingdom isn't what it once was, but everyone has worked very hard to repair the damage left over from..." He trails off. Obviously the Dark Flour War is a sore subject.

"That's not it. Mostly thinking about everything back home." They shift their posture to look up at the darkening sky. They can pick out the first few stars as they start to shine through the golden veil left by the sun. "Don't really want to go back, at the same time wondering if I ever should've left in the first place."

"Did a lot of Cookies depend on you there?" He asks. Obviously he'd know about that.

"Not enough to notice." They chuckle dryly. "Their loss honestly."

"Yet you wonder if you shouldn't have left?" He knows how to ask all the questions to keep someone talking, doesn't he...

"...Have you ever been good at something you hate doing?" They glance in his direction just enough to see his expression shift into shock. "But everyone else is too lazy to figure it out, so you're stuck doing it anyway, and it's the only thing that people seem to value you for?"

"Oh dear... I understand why you don't wish to return." He sighs.

"Yeah..." They grimace. Fixing design errors, helping build machinery, and supervising other Cookie's while they put no effort into a job that pays them too well for the deadlines they miss had never been a job (C/F) Cookie enjoyed. They never wanted to use the fact that all their coworkers were dropouts as a reason to be mad at them, but when school was all those idiots ever spoke about they snapped at all of them more than once and fired several for being too carefree with what they could easily do because they didn't know what hard work was. "It doesn't help when you live in a small community and the only thing everyone knows about you is the two things you hate about your life." They sigh, hunching back over to look at the ground.

"That sounds quite horrible." Pure Vanilla Cookie's feet are visible beside theirs.

"And that doesn't even include the stupid..." They trail off, resting their head on their fist. They're not going to cry here in front of a stranger who happens to be a royal celebrity.

"Hmm?" They can tell he's leaned forward to look at their face.

They reach into their pocket and retrieve one of the letters before handing it to him.

He goes quiet a moment before humming in understanding and chuckling. "I haven't heard anything about the Sugar Glass Academy since I studied at the Blueberry Yogurt Academy."

"Didn't that place like... get cursed and shut down?" They ask, looking over at him as he hands them back their rejection letter.

"Yes, the one who cursed it..." His smile drops from his face as he thinks over his phrasing, "...was a good friend of mine. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Man." (C/F) Cookie snickers, "A school where people actually learn magic. Sounds fake."

"Goodness! What happens over at Sugar Glass?" He chuckles at this remark.

"They drop out." They shrug, "Like half the town around the place is students trying to figure out how to ride off the talent they thought they had. Try to look up the school dropout rate, you can't find it! They don't make it public."

"Why would you want to attend if no one graduates?"

They've never been asked that question before. Everyone has always just asked them if they've finally been accepted. They think about it before answering, "I guess I just want to prove that talent means nothing against hard work."

"Hmm." He looks up with a thoughtful expression, "You know, the castle has a very large library of books on magic."

They freeze and turn their full attention to him, "Are you...?"

"It would be better that they don't sit around and gather more dust than they have." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiles. There's a hint of a mischievous boy in him as he aims it towards them.

"Like... Like actually?" They stare at him, astounded.

"Oh certainly. Though many are quite advanced." He nods, "It would be nice to not be alone in there."

Now (C/F) Cookie understands why Strawberry Crepe Cookie described this Ancient Hero the way they did. Forget next door neighbor! This Cookie might as well be everyone's best friend!

"Ok... Yes. Thank you." They direct their gaze to the moonlit castle, "But where is it inside?" At some point in their conversation the sun had fully set, leaving only the moon and stars for light.

"Hmm..." Pure Vanilla Cookie thinks, staring hard at it as well, "From the chapel it's..." This must be like asking someone for directions in your hometown, it's hard to give them because you already know where everything is. "I'd be happy to show you when you wish to visit."

"Good plan, I probably wouldn't remember verbal directions if you told them to me anyway." They admit, shaking their head.

"It's quite a lot of turns in specific places." He nods thoughtfully.

"Doesn't surprise me."

"When you're next available to come, then just tell one of the birds." Pure Vanilla Cookie smiles, "They will come find me."

"Let me guess, you feed them, so they like you." (C/F) Cookie snickers.

"Well, yes, but Black Raisin Cookie is also a friend of mine, so the crows know me." He nods with a light chuckle.

"...Good to know." They have no idea who that is, but they'll probably meet them eventually. "It's gotten pretty late already. I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing. Goodnight... Pure Vanilla Cookie." That's weird to say...

"Goodnight (C/F) Cookie." Pure Vanilla Cookie stays seated on the bench as they walk back to the Hangar.

"There you are!" Strawberry Crepe Cookie exclaims when they walk in, "I almost thought you left for good."

"Nope, you're still stuck with me." They're ready to up and collapse.

"Could you help me with this reeeally fast? I'll probably be up making a lot of noise if you don't." The kid says, still working on the strawberry-eared Goliath.

"You'd be surprised what I can sleep through."

"Maybe I'll start charging rent." The kid threatens nonchalantly.

"Fine." At least the kid's willing to do most of the work.

"I need you to tell me when these wires are in the right spot." They point to one of the bot's arms.

"Ok." (C/F) Cookie watches as Strawberry Crepe Cookie's crepe arms carefully move the wires into the spot. "That should be it. I can't see it clearly, but that should be about right." Large strawberry fingers carefully remove themselves from the wires and (C/F) nods.

Strawberry Crepe Cookie comes over and checks it before grinning brightly. "Perfect! Finally!"

"Can I go to bed now?"

"Yeah, whatever." The kid waves them off.

"Goodnight." They walk towards their makeshift sleeping quarters.

'Didn't even say goodnight back.

The next morning is when the full force of not eating in two days hit (C/F) Cookie like a brick. There's hunger where it's a mild pain and rumble, and then there's hunger where your stomach will get you to do anything to put some food in it. And those wafflebots are looking weirdly tasty.

"I'm going to go out and get breakfast." They say to Strawberry Crepe Cookie (who has already started working running diagnostics on a wafflebot that looks ready to turn into finely ground powder), headed for the door.

"Oh! Can I come?" Their hair flaps as their tiny head turns towards them.

"As long as you don't make me pay a very large fine with my bill." They hold the door open for the kid to hurry out in front of them.

"Huh, there's a lot more Cookies here now." The smaller Cookie notes as the two of them walk down the street. "..."

"Do you not like crowds?" (C/F) Cookie asks.

"No, it's not quite that... It's just weird to think..." A reminiscent look crosses their face as they look around. "Not that it matters."

"Fair." (C/F) Cookie stops in front of the Crow's Nest, looking at the sign. "Is this place any good?"

"Well it's the most popular place in town." Strawberry Crepe Cookie crosses their arms, "But they mostly serve raisins."

"...Good enough for me." (C/F) Cookie leads the way inside.

It's a nice little tavern by the looks of it. The kid acted like they've been here before so it's probably fine. The entire place is candlelit and, quite frankly, for being the most popular place in town, it's very small. It's honestly quite quaint, like a cabin in the woods.

The Cookie working at the bar smiles as they come in, "Hello, welcome to the Crow's Nest. Hey Strawberry Crepe Cookie. Good to see you."

Strawberry Crepe Cookie then hurries past (C/F) Cookie and hops up on a seat at the bar, "This is (C/F) Cookie, they've never been here before."

"Oh! Well I'll go get some raisin buns!" The Cookie hurries into the back, almost giddy.

"I hope you know I'm going to foot this bill on you for acting like I'm a kid who can't speak for themself." (C/F) Cookie sits down beside Strawberry Crepe Cookie at the bar.

"Haha! Be glad I brought the coins then!" The kid laughs.

(C/F) Cookie rolls their eyes as the barkeeper comes back with an entire plate of raisin buns.

"Please enjoy!" They seem almost anticipating something.

Not that (C/F) Cookie cares. Food is good at this point. They take one and bite into it.

Ok, what. It has the texture of meat jelly, but tastes like nothing but raisins. How did they make bread feel like meat??? Is it the raisins??? It's not necessarily bad, but it's not like it's Roommate Cookie's sandwiches.

"The look on your face is priceless!" Strawberry Crepe Cookie laughs, biting into their own raisin bun.

(C/F) Cookie swallows, nodding as they give the only comment they can think of, "Raisins."

"What? Don't like raisins?" Strawberry Crepe Cookie asks.

Asking something like that right in front of the barkeeper? This kid is downright evil.

"Not my favorite." They shrug. If they're living here they might as well get used to it.

The barkeeper looks like they might cry, "Everyone always says they hate them..."

"Wow... talk about rude." (C/F) Cookie takes another bite of raisin bun. This place must be popular with the locals then. Must be a raisin filled bunch for names like "Black Raisin Cookie"...

There's a crash from the back and the barkeeper stiffens. "Oh no..." They rush back there.

Strawberry Crepe Cookie is snickering like the funniest thing in the world just happened.

"What?" (C/F) Cookie asks them.

They hold up one of their tiny hands and gesture to the back right as the barkeeper shouts, "No no! Black Raisin Cookie it's ok!"

Then the kid laughs so hard they start kicking their tiny legs, unable to control themself. "She thought she was so high and mighty, and she can't even wash plates! Ha ha ha!"

"Are they ok?" (C/F) Cookie leans over to try to see into the back."

"Oh she's fine. But the plates sure aren't! Ha ha!"

They conk Strawberry Crepe Cookie over the head with their fist.

"Ow...! Hey!" They rub the spot on their head, glaring at them.

"Not funny." (C/F) Cookie says flatly, looking back towards the back.

"Whatever..."

"Sorry about that..." The barkeeper Cookie comes back.

"Everything ok?" (C/F) Cookie asks.

"Yeah... (Sort of...)" They mumble with a sigh, "She's trying."

A crow flies over from the back, attempting to steal part of a raisin bun from the plate without being noticed. Strawberry Crepe Cookie shoots it a glare as it just nabs a whole bun and flies back into the back.

"So what brings you into the Kingdom anyway?" The barkeeper asks (C/F) Cookie at the exact wrong moment as they just took another bite of the bun.

Chewing and swallowing they shrug, "Wanted a fresh start."

"So you came here?" Strawberry Crepe Cookie laughs.

"...So?" They shrug, "Not like you can just show up anywhere else..."

"Oh? What did you do before?" The barkeeper asks.

"I was an engineer..." And the supervisor, and the Cookie in charge of fixing designs that didn't work, and in charge of writing to the high and mighty Republic Cookies, and the Cookie who did everything.

"Oh, no wonder you're with Strawberry Crepe Cookie then!" The barkeeper smiles. "They used to send those wafflebots to attack our Village, you know."

"Hey!" Strawberry Crepe Cookie whines. "I don't do that anymore!"

"Instead you let the kids play with them." (C/F) Cookie snickers.

"Hehe." The barkeeper snickers, "Pure Vanilla Cookie arrived in our Village soon after though, and we all got pretty good at taking care of each other. Then some adventurers came and freed the Kingdom from Dark Enchantress Cookie. Pure Vanilla Cookie said that he didn't want to be king though."

Parts of that don't seem like they line up. Was Strawberry Crepe Cookie with Dark Enchantress Cookie then? Why didn't they leave with her?

They glance in the kid's direction to find them staring intently at their raisin bun.

Ok, this is probably a mess they shouldn't get involved in.

"This has been nice. Thanks. How much do I owe you?" (C/F) Cookie retrieves their wallet from their pocket.

Strawberry Crepe Cookie's head snaps in their direction.

"Umm... Only about 5,000 coins."

"Ok great." They pull out the money and hand it to them before shoving their wallet back in their pocket and getting off the barstool. "Let's go."

Strawberry Crepe Cookie slips off, leading the way out.

"Thank you." (C/F) Cookie says as they walk out the door.

"I thought you said I was going to pay." Strawberry Crepe Cookie frowns, almost trying to interrogate them with their eyes.

"I did." (C/F) Cookie nods, "You'll pay next time." They start walking back to the Hangar.

"Next— I never agreed to next time!!!"

"We're roommates now, it's bound to happen."

"I—! Ugh!"