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“Finally… That’s the last one…”
Pizzelle looked behind her at the gate she just left, seeing all the Confecti she found running around near it, and let out a tired sigh. All she really wanted was to grab any and all ingredients that were inside the tall spire she entered for her little sweet shop business, but she soon found out that wasn’t going to be easy, what with all the threats in it looming around. She at least felt somewhat safe in the main hub of the spire, with only the little sentient sweets she rescued keeping her company.
Pizzelle peered out of a small window, seeing how dark it had gotten. “Already?” she asked herself.
Looking back across the room and towards the door to the next floor, she sighed again, her eyelids drooping a bit. With how long it took to get past all those strange rooms, it could potentially take her all week to get everything she wanted out of the spire. As much as she wanted to keep going, she felt utterly exhausted.
There weren’t really any good places in the spire for the candy maker to rest her head, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She pressed her back against the wall and slowly slid down to the cold floor. In the hammerspace that was her hat, she pulled out the small pink blanket she packed for her who-knows-how-many overnight stays and draped it over herself. Too tired to even kick her boots off, she fully slumped to the floor and used her hat as a pillow, allowing her eyelids to shut.
Dead silence filled the whole room. Pizzelle lied there, tossing and turning every so often, trying to find the most comfortable position possible on the hard floor. Even when she managed to feel comfy enough to stay still, she longed for her much cozier bed back at her apartment.
A few hours had passed. Pizzelle had managed to fall asleep for a little while, until a cold chill woke her up. Forcing her heavy eyelids to open, she let out a groan, trying to cocoon herself in the blanket and shutting her eyes again. Either the wind from a particularly cold night came rushing in through the window, or whoever lived in the spire had the air conditioner turned up way high. Sadly, it seemed like the blanket wasn’t enough to warm her back up as she shivered and scrunched her body up a few times.
What felt like forever passed until Pizzelle felt something small and soft come in contact with her. She cracked her eyes open again to find one of the little marshmallow Confecti attempting to snuggle close to her.
“Hey, little guy,” she whispered, “are you cold too?”
She lifted the blanket a little ways for the marshmallow to crawl under, pulling it back down once it got in a comfortable position. Pizzelle looked the little creature over. It was huddled close to her chest, not once putting its little tongue back into its mouth. It seemed soothed by the soft thumping of her heart. She couldn’t help but chuckle softly at how cute it was. Soon, she felt warmth come back to her, which seemed to come from the marshmallow. It started to fade into a different color. A slight golden brown. Pizzy was confused at first, but then noticed the corners of the creature’s mouth turning up a little ways. A soft, chirpy purr came from it as well.
Then it hit her. During those stressful escape sequences, she could see a flame atop the marshmallow’s head from the corner of her eye. Once she and the Confecti finally reached the end, the flame went away and the little creatures looked no worse for wear. Seeing it look so content and feel so warm made her wonder if the fire was an emotional thing. Perhaps she was crazy but it reminded her of how a cat would purr when content but also when stressed.
Pizzelle finally felt like she could get some actual rest again. “Thank you, little one…” she quietly uttered, shutting her eyes for the last time that night with a smile, cuddling the soft and warm little marshmallow.