Chapter Text
Black Sapphire strode through the streets of the Creme Republic with a tiny cup of juice in hand. The Creme Republic was truly a beautiful place- the scenery, the fashion, the food(of which he’d never indulge in, he has a figure to maintain y’know), the inventions, and most importantly, the politics! Everywhere you looked, there was some form of social politics, some form of a social ladder and that gave Black Sapphire the perfect handle bars to steer the narrative in his favor! Rumors spread easily and without much suspicion here, all because this place runs off of rumours. If anything, it’s more odd to find someone with true “morals” and other sorts of chummy bullshit. Here, Sapphire fits in like a wolf in a pack of huskies.
He sadly had to wear a new disguise here this time. He’d only ever gotten to visit once for some business, and once he was caught, the Convocation of Elders had stressed the importance of keeping Black Sapphire outside of the Creme Republic- especially the foolish Consul. The young man was quite perceptive, he was the one to discover who Black sapphire truly was and why he was there. But then again, it takes a snake to recognize another snake. Black Sapphire is convinced the cookie isn’t as innocent as he portrays himself. No cookie can be innocent when they have the role of a politician, especially with such a high position at such a young age.
Still, that hardly mattered. Black Sapphire was sure that this time, he wouldn’t be caught by that pest. His only goal this time was to spread a few small rumors about some nobles. Eugh. Black Sapphire always hated nobles, even when he was young. They were ignorant spoiled fools, ones who didn’t need to perfect their craft, live in dingy old houses, and eat moldy bread to survive. They didn't have to perfect their lies, their body, or their charm. They just had to be, and everything was handed to them on a silver platter- but perhaps Sapphire was just biased.
His eyes wandered to the bakery. Witches it smelled divine from here, but he had to resist. He had a job to do. He had a body to maintain. He had pride. He wouldn’t let himself be swayed. Plus, while it smelled great from afar, he knew what would happen once he got closer- the smell would be suffocating and nauseating. He wasn’t sure why, but even smelling something so rich made his stomach feel sickeningly full. So, instead of walking closer, he sharply turned away from the bakery and began to walk off- only to be interrupted when he bumped into a slightly taller, unbearably brightly robed noble man. A snake, more like it. Uhg. And he spilled his juice everywhere too! He actually bought the clothes for this disguise this time instead of just summoning them with magic! Whatever- he had to cool down.
He’d be fine. He just had to act natural.
“Greetings Consul! It’s quite a good day today, is it not? The sun is shining quite brightly, it truly compliments your glowing image!”
Perfect. He sounded just like any other run of the mill suck up, ignoring the problem and instead focusing on buttering up the big man.
At least, that’s what Black Sapphire thought- until he looked at the Consul’s eyes. There was distrust stirring in them- more than normal. The Consul must've sensed that something was off. Maybe he’s like that foolish faerie boy from Beast Yeast who knew every cookie in the faerie kingdom by name. However, Black Sapphire doubted that that was the case, as the Creme Republic was a trade city- there were constantly foreigners visiting the area. Black Sapphire didn’t know why the Consul seemed suspicious of him then.
Black Sapphire doesn’t have time to continue his thoughts, as the Consul starts speaking. The man slips on a mask, it’s quite natural too. Black Sapphire absentmindedly thinks that if the Consul wasn’t so "righteous," he could’ve made for a great minion for Shadow Milk cookie. “Oh please, don’t be so formal. You can call me Clotted Cream Cookie. I really don’t mind. Please, take my handkerchief too- I’m the reason as to why you spilled your grapejuice everywhere afterall.”
“Oh I must decline! I'm simply a mere cookie compared to you, Consul! Giving me the right to say your name and your handkerchief may spread unsavory rumors you know~!” Black Sapphire tried to make it sound like a joke, like he was just teasing, but he honestly wasn’t for once. Given the fact that Clotted Cream Cookie is a high importance noble, anything he does in public could lead to a rumour arising, especially offering a handkerchief to some random cookie in public. Even if he just feels bad and wants to help clean up, offering to let someone keep it is a foolish move, especially for a noble. If rumours are to spread about Clotted Cream Cookie, that means attention will also be drawn to the mysterious cookie who attracted the Consul’s attention.
Considering the look in Clotted Cream’s eyes, he seemed to realize what Black Sapphire Cookie was implying and sighed. “Still, I can not help but feel bad for inconveniencing you. I also could not help but notice that you were staring at the bakery quite intently. I quite enjoy the food there, so if you’re looking for a place to grab a bite, I’d recommend it. In fact, how about I treat you to some food from the bakery, as a way to make up for ruining your clothes- they are truly gorgeous, by the way.”
Black Sapphire makes a ‘are you serious’ face at Clotted Cream and says, “Correction, they were gorgeous. They now look like soiled kitchen rags.”
Clotted Cream Cookie simply laughed lightly and said “I must disagree, mayhaps it’s due to your beauty, but the clothes still look quite nice on you. Now then, will you take me up on my offer?"
Black Sapphire felt a bit trapped. He couldn’t just reject the man for no reason- that created suspicion. If he came up with an excuse, it’d have to be a strongly supported one, which Black Sapphire wasn’t sure he’d be able to come up with in such little time. Not to mention- Clotted Cream is known to be popular amongst all cookies- be it platonically or romantically. Everyone wants to stand by him- like how planets orbit the sun. His stupid face reminded Black Sapphire of that foolish Pure Vanilla that Shadow Milk was so obsessed with. He hated the man, and the way he tried to “fix” them, the way he looked at him with sad eyes and tried to “understand” him- tried to get him to “eat more.” He always kept saying that he “knew what it was like.” What did that fool know? He was already perfect. He was slim, and beautiful, and handsome, and ethereal- Black Sapphire looked like an overfed slum bat in comparison. Truly, Black Sapphire hated the effortlessly perfect cookies in this world- and from the looks of it, Clotted Cream was one of the lucky effortlessly perfect cookies. But normal cookies are drawn to the effortlessly perfect. Black Sapphire was trying to act like a normal cookie in front of the consul.
“Hmm, I suppose I'll have to take you up on the offer then. Although, I don’t really know what's on the menu or if I'll like anything. I’ll likely only get something small, if that’s alright with you.”
Perfect. He accepted graciously, and also gave a valid excuse to not eat too much. He doesn't even want to imagine what the amount of fats and sugars in those pastries would do to him. He really needs to start working out again soon.
Clotted cream simply smiles, he almost seemed to be glowing again, before saying “There’s no need to worry. I know what the best dishes there are, so I can order for you. If there’s anything you don’t like, I’ll just eat it, ‘kay?”
Black Sapphire suppressed a scowl. “I-if you feel like doing so, then I don’t see why not.” Witches, did he just stutter? Not to mention by accident? How long has it been since he’d last done that?
“Alright then, let us head over.”
Black Sapphire was still spiraling in his head while the Consul started to walk to the bakery. Black Sapphire let out a sigh of exasperation and followed.
As he sat down in the bakery, he started to feel queasy. The food smelled rich. Far too rich for his stomach. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep up his act and stay in the bakery. Clotted Cream, however, simply called over one of the waiters and gave an order. A long one.
The only thing that ran through Black Sapphire's mind was, Oh dear. I’ll be the first cookie to die from sweets.
Clotted cream finished giving his order and turned to send a small smile at Black Sapphire. “Ah, was my order long? You seem quite surprised. Don’t worry, I ordered most of it for myself.”
Black Sapphire gave a quick reply along the lines of “oh don’t worry,” but inside, a tiny, gnawing voice said “he can eat all he wants, and his form is still perfect. You’d be perfect too if you just tried harder.” but Black Sapphire just shoved it down, tried not to listen. He was already feeling nauseous, he didn’t need another reason to want to bolt and throw up in the nearest bathroom.
“Ah, I just realized. I never got your name good sir. May I ask for it?”
Black sapphire was ready for this question. Fake names were always easy to establish- they were the first part of a fake story. “Ah, dear Consul, my name is Grape Flaugnarde Cookie, but you may call me Grape Flan for short.”
“I see, quite the lovely name, Grape Flan. May I ask what your profession is?” Clotted Cream was still smiling, but the atmosphere felt off- like he was prodding, trying to figure Black Sapphire out.
“Ah, I’m merely a lucky merchant, dear Consul~” Black Sapphire purposefully made the word’s “dear Consul” sound teasing, and silently delighted in the slight look of confusion and discomfort from the cookie across from him. Clotted Cream Cookie, however, was truly a politician through and through, as he quickly schooled his expression back into that calm, charming mask.
“Ah, I see. I hope this won't come across as rude, but, Grape Flan, would you mind not calling me “dear Consul?” Consul is just fine, and even then, I told you, there’s no need to be so formal.” Ah, Black Sapphire recognized what tactic this was. The Consul was trying to portray himself as a friend- which meant one thing.
The consul was definitely suspicious of Black Sapphire’s- or “Grape Flaugnarde’s” identity.
“Understood, dear Consul-” Yeah, Black Sapphire wasn’t going to stop. This was the only thing he knew could press the Consul’s buttons as of now. “- Say, It seems our food is… here. Well then, Shall we eat?” Clotted cream smiled and nodded. Black Sapphire felt sick just looking at it. There didn’t seem to be many salty or spicy foods, only sweets. It seemed the Consul had quite the sweet tooth then, no? There were jellies he’d never tried before- and quite frankly he wasn’t sure if he could stomach them- and there were enough pastries to eternally bloat him. The smell alone was heavy and intoxicating- it reminded Black Sapphire of the first time he had to go with his Master to the Garden of Sweet delights. Black Sapphire had nearly fainted, and Shadow Milk ended up having to send Black Sapphire back to the spire early. When Shadow Milk finally returned, he had spent hours reassuring Black Sapphire that Black Sapphire wasn’t at fault and that Shadow Milk wouldn’t abandon the cookie due to the small mishap- however, it made Black Sapphire feel more useless- he felt like he had wasted Shadow Milk’s time over a small blunder.
“Are you alright, Grape Flan? You haven’t even touched any of the food.” Ah. It seemed Black Sapphire got lost in thought again. The consul was speaking while still chewing on a jelly. If he had done this in front of any other noble, they’d likely berate him for being crude and lacking manners, but since Clotted Cream knew that Black Sapphire was no noble but a mere, random cookie with seemingly no status, he didn’t seem to even try to uphold any table etiquette. In the back of his mind, Black Sapphire made sure to remember that in ase he needs to use some small things against the Consul. But at the moment? Black Sapphire was envious. Because Clotted Cream was eating at a normal pace. A good pace. Similar to Shadow Milk and Candy Apple’s pace. Nothing like the Mechanical and slow pace that Black Sapphire barely maintains.
Black Sapphire was truly envious. The Consul could eat without a hitch, unlike Sapphire.
“Ah, dear Consul, please, don’t mind me. It’s just… I’m- I’m not used to some of these dishes, they must be exclusive to this bakery! I just don’t know where to start!”
The Consul’s lips lightly curl upward once more. The man seemed to truly enjoy smiling, huh? Black Sapphire’s hands itched to slap it clean off. But he held back. He had no clue as to why he was feeling so irritated. He’d handled being forced to eat in front of others before, so why did this time feel more invasive? Ah, perhaps it was the Consul’s eyes. That piercing bright green seemed to read every movement, analyze every stutter, and cache away every hesitation. Perhaps Black Sapphire has finally met his match- a liar as good as he but not better than the beast of deceit. Which meant Black Sapphire had to start taking this more seriously. No mistakes. No slip ups.
“Ah, I see. Well, I’d recommend the muscat wine cake. It’s quite aromatic, and it’s lighter in my opinion too.”
That fool was truly getting on Black Sapphire’s nerves. Black Sapphire knew there was no way that the Consul knew about Black Sapphire’s habits, yet it felt like everything the Consul did picked away at them.
“I see, dear Consul. I shall try it…”
Black sapphire cut out a tiny piece of the slice of the cake. It looked well made. He put the food in his mouth and felt bad. It tasted heavenly. It was light. It didn’t make Black Sapphire feel sick as it sat in his stomach. It made him feel more hungry. He was suddenly aware of the emptiness in his gut. He’d been barely eating for a long while now- careful to not fall into his old habit of barely eating only to take a bite out of one thing and end up somehow binge eating again. It felt like a switch had been flipped though. He wanted to eat all of this- even though he was starting to feel sick as more and more food started to sit heavy in his gut. He didn’t register Clotted Cream cookie’s voice as he asked something about how well Black Sapphire's trade was doing, although he believes he gave a half-assed answer. He didn’t notice when he finished the slice of cake, nor did he notice when he grabbed a muffin and finished it in what felt like less than a minute. He barely registered eating another, and another, and another thing. When he finally snapped back to reality, he felt sickly. So he stopped eating. However, it must've been too abrupt, because the Consul noticed.
“Please, Grape Flan. Eat more, I don’t mind, really. Plus, you’ve barely touched your plate.” That foolish Consul’s face felt more punchable than normal. Black Sapphire really shouldn’t. But at this rate, there was no doubt in Black sapphire’s mind that this was some sick joke. Barely eaten? Black sapphire just ate like it was his last meal, and this man has the audacity to try and encourage him to eat more? Black Sapphire would rather die. But he has to remain civil, and he has to appear as harmless, so he begins to eat once more. He feels like throwing up.
He barely remembers what his response to the Consul’s next question was. The Consul asked what Black Sapphire was even trading in the first place. Sapphire said something about traveling from place to place to find new and bold clothes. He couldn’t keep up with this, if he stayed any longer, he’d be in hot waters. But he couldn’t. Instead, he endured eating under the watchful gaze of the Consul, enduring the feeling of repulsive mush sitting placidly in his stomach. He tried pausing again-
-But when the Consul encouraged him to eat another thing, he knew he had to go.
“I’m sorry dear Consul, but I just realized that I have some private affairs to attend to. It’s been lovely chatting- but I truly must go.”
Black Sapphire ignored Clotted Cream’s calls for him to wait. He stood up quickly and walked down the street in a daze. He ignored any concerned or confused glances from onlookers- there were barely any, most people were too absorbed in what they were doing, only those with nothing to notice seemed to spare Black Sapphire a glance. It took him a few minutes before he got to the inn he was staying at and burst into the bathroom. He kneeled over the toilet and shoved his index and middle finger into his throat and made sure they pressed against the top of his throat. He gagged and felt the tears prick at his eyes, but it wasn’t enough- not enough to make him throw up yet. He pressed the top harder, hating the feeling, but knowing it was necessary. It was needed for his figure. He ended up having to pull his finger out quickly to breathe. He always seemed to need more than one try to actually begin throwing up. He opened his mouth after finishing his coughing session and began again. When he finally managed to start purging, he felt a weird numbness creeping in behind the feeling of his stomach compressing and forcing bile up his throat. He’s done this so many times before. It always feels the same. The feeling of undigested chunks of food and acidic bile forcing its way up his throat. But it was fine. It was for his betterment.
Once his stomach was finally clear, he stood up shakily. He staggered his way over to the mirror and looked at his complexion. The disguise seemed to be weakening due to his state. Thankfully, though, this only seemed to be recent, and was likely a result of his purging. He calmed himself with deep breaths before splashing some water on his face. He rinsed his mouth next, though the acidic taste of his puke lingered. He then fixed up his disheveled appearance, made sure nothing was off about his disguise, put on a new shirt, threw the juice stained one into a laundry basket, and headed out again. He still had a job to do. It was a relatively small one in comparison to what Shadow Milk normally assigned to Black Sapphire. He was to simply stir up slight drama in a few minor noble houses- something about subtly turning the allied nobles against each other in order to weaken their business ventures and alliances, since they were recently getting in contact with Vanilla Kingdom nobles, which for some reason riled Shadow Milk Cookie up. He wanted to try to isolate the Vanillian nobles from the outside world, Black Sapphire supposed. Black Sapphire couldn't quite remember much in his current state. He felt swamped, to be frank.
He passed by the bakery again. Witches, he’d rather die than go into that place again. He began to walk past it, but he couldn’t help but feel as though there was a familiar presence near him. A quick look behind his shoulder confirmed it. The Consul was still hovering around the area for some odd reason even after Black Sapphire had left. Perhaps he had decided to eat the rest of the food. Lucky him. Black Sapphire tried to walk faster, however, that wasn’t enough to avoid the troublesome man.
“Ah, Grape Flan! If you’re done attending to your matter, then may we continue our discussion?”
And oh, Black Sapphire could just tell from the gleam in the Consul’s eyes. The Cookie knew that “Grape Flan” was a ruse. A shame, he liked this disguise too.
“Why of course, Consul! I was just headed out to the market to buy some food, but if we are to speak with each other, it’d be best if I took you to the inn I'm staying at, no?”
A snake leading another serpent into the den. How fun- Black Sapphire was already feeling excited.