Chapter Text
“Mm! Mm! Mm~mm~mm!” Shadow Milk is practically dancing side-to-side in his cushioned chair as he licks his bowl clean, a combination of blueberry, mint, and vanilla icecream topped with whipped cream, chunks of milk chocolate, and an obscene amount of cherries. He had been requesting it for breakfast several times a week for the past few weeks. He glances at Pure Vanilla’s plate, unfinished, chocolate ice cream melting onto his remaining waffle. He then looks to Pure Vanilla, raising a brow.
“You can finish it, honey,” Pure Vanilla gives permission, his head resting in a hand that’s propped up on the table with his elbow. Shadow Milk is swift to snatch the plate, eating Pure Vanilla’s last waffle after ensuring it’s been thoroughly dragged through the remaining ice cream. This brings him to hum and dance in his chair once more, a huge closed smile on his face. Pure Vanilla just laughs at the display. “Who knew the beast of deceit was so adorable?” he says, a rhetorical question that quickly brings a mock scowl to his face.
“Am not! Anyways-” he turns the spoon to lick the back clean. “Are the others awake yet?”
“Most of them, yes! They’re just waiting for us in the banquet hall. Are you ready?”
“Mhm!”
“Alright, let’s go meet them, then.” Pure Vanilla walks around to Shadow Milk’s chair to pull it out for him to make it easier for him to get out of the chair with his full stomach, of food and of little dough, taking his hand and walking slowly to the hall. Pure Vanilla was wearing a white dress shirt neatly tucked into dark brown pants, his hair in a long braid that Shadow Milk had done for him in their shared bedroom. On the other hand, Shadow Milk was wearing black pants and a dark blue sweater that hid the curve of his stomach perfectly had you not known to look. He had chosen it specifically for this occasion, wanting to hide the shameful mistake that he had made with Pure Vanilla nearly four months ago now. He had many feelings about the tiny monster, both positive and negative, and neither side was particularly winning in his opinion.
Right as they enter the room, Golden Cheese and Burning Spice can be easily spotted chatting on one end of the table, both seeming happy and enthusiastic about the day, their plates of breakfast already empty before them. White Lily and Silent Salt are seated in the middle of the table, more quietly sipping drinks for breakfast. Silent Salt seems to have a black coffee while White Lily has some variant of tea, there have been so many flavors grown and labeled since his imprisonment he cannot tell the type based on the color and scent alone. Something disturbingly floral. On the other end of the table, HollyBerry is clearly nursing a hangover, her head lowered into her hands while Eternal Sugar returns to her side, presumably from getting water, which is what she sets in front of her other half with a smile. HollyBerry thanks her, sipping on it slowly with her eyes down and away from the chandelier. He didn’t blame her, he always found the thing practically blinding.
Shadow Milk is just glad that Eternal Sugar Cookie is distracted so he wouldn’t have to deal with the questions he’s sure she must have, instead noticing that Pure Vanilla’s already left his side to speak with Golden Cheese. Turning to follow his steps, he finds that Burning Spice is missing from his ancient’s side as well.
“‘Morning!” Burning Spice’s voice comes from beside him and he jumps at the realization that the large brute of a cookie had unintentionally snuck up on him while he was internally hating on the lighting of the room. “Oh! Startled- didn’t mean to,” he laughs nervously, his teeth, so much larger than Shadow Milk’s own, discolored by bloodstain on display as his entire body moves in laughter. He was practically double Shadow Milk’s own height, the tallest of the beasts.
“How on earthbread did you manage to do that‽” Shadow Milk yells up at him in disbelief. He’s about to say a jokingly rude remark about the entire situation when he hears Pure Vanilla’s oh so sweet voice calling for him from across the room, an overlap with Golden Cheese’s as they both call for their beast.
“Shadow Milk!”
“Burning Spice!”
“Humph. They’re calling us like domesticated cakehounds,” he says with a smirk, turning to look to where Burning Spice had been standing, as Shadow Milk had intended to be speaking to him, only to find that the larger cookie was already bounding across the room to his ancient. “Wh- hesitate at least, you dog!” He summons his levitation spell to chase after the other. Since his arrival at the kingdom, Pure Vanilla had been adamant about physical therapy. Though he didn’t want to cooperate with anything the ancient was spewing at first, the newfound ability to do things he hadn’t been able to do before his imprisonment was noticed almost immediately. His muscles had deteriorated so greatly levitation was his only option for mobility. Then he could limp around with great difficulty. Though he still doubts he could ever beat Pure Vanilla in a race, walking didn’t hurt him recently. Levitation is still a neat party trick, however.
“Ha! I win~ I win~” He cheers for himself as he arrives before the ancients just moments before Burning Spice, his elbows on the larger cookie’s shoulders to support his head while he continues to levitate his lower half. Pure Vanilla laughs, always the first and typically the only one to ever laugh at his antics. Probably one of the only cookies in all of earthbread that actually found him endearing instead of annoying.
“Thank you for arriving so quickly! Me and Golden Cheese were just speaking, and she’s decided to stay in the kingdom for a day or so longer. We both thought we’d take the day to catch up, and we wanted to encourage you both to do the same!” Pure Vanilla explains with a smile, his white lashes casting shadows on his cheeks from their closed position. They were usually closed due to his blindness. His staff had been lost in the collapse of the spire, and he hadn’t bothered to replace it or find an alternative solution. He’s perfectly content to rely on those around him when he needs to. Shadow Milk doesn’t understand how he can tolerate the feeling of vulnerability so easily, but he supposed now that he finally accepted that he was indeed pregnant, he was rather vulnerable at the moment too. It felt awful to think about. The once high and mighty beast of deceit without a spire, without his minions, and without his confidence.
“What? What are we going to do with an entire day? I’ll be bored!” He jokingly complains, flipping onto his back in the air so that he can keep an eye on his stomach. He couldn’t understand why he felt the urge to watch it so closely. Likely beastly instincts ruining his life, nothing more. He couldn’t possibly care about his little monster.. could he?
He preferred not to think about it.
In response to his false complaints Pure Vanilla never drops his smile, instead offering him a pouch of decent size, and if Shadow Milk’s eyes aren’t deceiving him, it should be of considerable weight. “You’re trusting me with your entire wallet‽ Me? Lies and monstrous manipulation?”
“Honey, I don’t fear you. I hardly consider you a threat to my coin pouch, either. As the former king of the Vanilla Kingdom, money isn’t a great concern for me anymore. Why don’t you get yourself as many snacks as you could possibly immagine?”
“Well, if you insist~” he takes the pouch with uncharacteristic gentleness from Pure Vanilla’s hands, placing it onto his chest while he remains laying on his back. He then watches as Burning Spice accepts a similar pouch from his ancient.
“Ready, yes?” Burning Spice turns to look at Shadow Milk, coins in hand. He doesn’t need to look down to meet Shadow Milk’s eyes when Shadow Milk is levitating.
“Alright, I’ll go to the markets with you. You better not set anything on fire, I work hard around here, donating magic to this place!”
Burning Spice nods, a smile of all heinous teeth on display as he does so. “No fire, no fights!” He exclaims, which Shadow Milk thinks is the closest thing he’ll ever get to a clear agreement. Ever since the war Burning Spice’s sentences had been a bit jumbled up, his body shaking uncontrollably with the lasting effects of mercury poisoning. Shadow Milk wishes he could murder Dark Enchantress a thousand times over on the behalf of the other former virtues.
“Okay, buddy. I’ll guide you, mkay?” His words softened considerably.