RP: Holiday Treats
Who: ZJ and Ron What: Experimenting on Ron When: November 11th (backdated, sorry!) Where: WWW Warnings: Language
With Halloween properly crossed off the calendar, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes were in the process of reorganizing the store front for Christmas. It was a slow process to say the least. Having always been a bit repulsed by how quickly the two holidays merged together in retail the Weasley boys were trying to sell what halloween products they had left on a clearance aisle before starting with the trick mistletoe.
George had the day off so that left Ron with the Friday shifts. Not that he minded - the day seemed a bit slow. Slow enough at least that he was able to actually read the paper with little interruption - till… well… the bell rang. He spotted that familiar Flume face and a grin crossed his lips.
“Well look who it is!” he declared as he folded up the paper to hide the fact that he was reading the funnies. “Did you bring gifts?” His eyes twinkled at the thought.
“I did, I think you might really like one of them. Though, when he first showed me it? I thought for sure he knew I was contracting the job of taste testing out to you.” It was then that she held the first bag out for Ron, inside was a treat shaped like reindeer poop.
Ron’s face grimaced at the dark chocolate feces shaped pellets. He looked to ZJ suspiciously as he retrieved two into his hand and smelled them, “This isn’t what it looks like is it?” he asked with a slight frown.
“Of course it isn’t what it looks like.” ZJ couldn’t seem to help the eye roll that came with her response. She wasn’t that mean.
Popping them into his mouth the taste was certainly pleasant and they each had a soft gooey cherry inside. Once his teeth broke into the chewy center Ron’s nose began to glow. Instead of the intended three blinks of festive light per cherry, the man’s nose lit up like a red spotlight for three consecutive seconds causing him to laugh at the novelty of it.
“This is bloody brilliant!” he shook his head and watched the light dance about on the woman’s face. Before he could say anything else the light disappeared and he convulsively sneezed three times in a row.
Recovering, Ron sniffed a bit, but his amusement was obviously high. “That supposed to happen?” he asked - his smile wide through a chuckle.
When ZJ had seen her father’s newest holiday creations she knew they’d be right up Ron’s alley. The other treat was shaped like a snowflake and would melt as soon as it came in contact with skin, each one tasted different because every snowflake is unique.
“Not really, no. It’s supposed to blink three times and you shouldn’t sneeze… My nose just turned an irritated red.” She was laughing however, Ron wasn’t hurt so those side effects were manageable. She held up the second bag for Ron’s inspection, “You’re in luck, you get two.”
“Two! You shouldn’t have!” Ron did a little wiggle of giddy excitement at the declaration. He took the first and unwrapped it. They were cute in immediate observation - little rounded snowflake like gems of unexplored goodness. Though, when he picked it up the thing immediately began to melt. Ron made a face.
Green eyes went wide as the candy started to melt in Ron’s fingers. Before she could answer he awkwardly stuck his thumb and forefinger into his mouth with the treat attached.
His immediate response was, “MMmmm!!!” His eyes wide as the flavour of some of the best german chocolate cake filled his tastebuds, “Is it supposed to taste like chocolate cake?”
“They’re all supposed to taste different. He’s working on the concept that all snowflakes are unique. Try another, are they all chocolate cake?”
Ron opened the second little snowmorsel. Different in shape, but just as tempting, Ron skillfully used the rapper to place the treat in his mouth so the melting didn’t begin until his tongue graced the surface. Unfortunately, the worst flavour filled his tastebuds and he had no other need in the world other than to spit. So he did - all over the floor behind the counter.
His tongue lolled out of his face, saliva tarnished with, “Muggle Petrol!!!??? Why in fucks name would that be a bloody flavour!?” He stomped his foot as he spit again- an uncontrollable gag followed.
ZJ snorted with laughter, “It’s not supposed to be!” At least, she hoped it wasn’t supposed to be muggle petrol! “Are you alright?”
Another gag followed and Ron moaned, “I think I’m going to vomit.” He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. A hand on his stomach as it churned. The flavour still lingered. He reached for the reindeer pellet bag and stuffed two in his mouth. This time his nose blinked a total of six times - just as intended.
She was still laughing as he grabbed for the reindeer pellets, watching as his nose blinked the correct amount this time. At least those were working fairly correct, it seemed like a small victory.
As he chewed he couldn’t help but snicker slightly at his glowing nose… and the fact that he’d nearly chundered right there on the floor- in front of a woman!
“I’m so sorry! Do you still feel like you’ll be sick? I think he’s been having trouble with the flavors for those, I probably should have warned you.” ZJ laughed softly then, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. It wasn’t polite to keep laughing at him but this really was her favorite part of the taste testing; watching other people have terrible reactions.
“It’s fine,” he chuckled with her, “It’s disgusting...but I’m fine.” He pointed, “Definitely get rid of the sneezing and the petrol and you’ve got yourself some winners. When they goin’ to market?”
“He’s really hoping to get them ready to throw on the shelves by the the twentieth of the month so that he can have them on the shelves a little over a month before Christmas. He has two new window displays as well, the reindeer one is grotesque.” She shook her head, smiling.
“Are they taking massive shits?” Ron asked way more interested to know the details than he should. A boyish grin accompanied by raised brows of excitement.
Oh, how ZJ wished she could tell him no. He looked far too excited about the window display. She instead just nodded her head, “Sort of. He has a little Rudolf in the window and after he farts?” She snickered, she didn’t think she could say it with a straight face, “Under him just appears the pellets.”
Ron laughed, “That’s brilliant!” His amusement lingered a moment, as he offered ZJ the bag of reindeer snacks. “I get to keep the rest of these, right?”
“I think you’d make the perfect best friend for my father. I might have to pick him up something from here before I leave, I think he’d get a kick out of your tricks. You can keep all of it, if you’re brave enough.” She reached out to grab one of the pieces of reindeer pellets and popped one into her mouth, this one reacted not totally as it should have. It blinked rapidly twice and she sneezed immediately after.
Ron snickered at her sneeze and then popped another in his mouth as he moved around the clerk’s desk with a blinking nose. “Boo Billygoat Tails were popular this year - we’ve only got five left.” He picked up what Ginny had described as a hairy slinky and handed it to ZJ before moving to another barrel. This time he grabbed a box of Yelling Yellow Daisy Seeds. “Put these in a pot someplace in your house and anytime someone passes you they’ll scream and scare ‘em right. Only a 5 minute grow time on ‘em too”
She took the hairy thing from him with a wrinkled nose, she really didn’t want to touch it so it was set down on the counter that Ron had been seated on. “Isn’t that the creepy thing you sell?” She poked at the Boo Billygoat Tails on the counter, watching him move to the other barrel. “The five minute grow time is pretty impressive, I tip my hat to you.” And she brought one hand up to tip her invisible hat to him, laughing along with him as she straightened back up.