Helpful Cookie Man / Things Never Said

“Ya new around here, girl.” I turned around to the suave man sitting next to me. He was fairly handsome, with dark brown skin (and a smooth, buttery voice to match), thick black hair smoothed over, a part of it curled is a slant over his forehead. He was built very tall and thin, almost like an expert swimmer or master thief. He had on an overly long patchy red coat that literally went down to his knees, wearing it almost as some sort of trademark. He also had a white tank top underneath his jacket, tan shorts, and heavily worn brown boots.

Basically, he is essentially where the term ‘tall, dark and handsome’ came from.

I raised an eyebrow at the guy. “Why aren’t you a charmer?”

He just smiled as he always did, giving that look that made you unsure of him, yet made you willing to go along with whatever he said at the same time. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He took a sip of his drink as he eyed me. “Name’s Capper by the way.”

I laughed at him. “That’s a goofy name.”

Capper just smirked. “So is SkyStar.”

I sipped my own drink “Touche.”

Spada just rolled his eyes behind the counter. “Look, Capper are you going to order something or are you just going to flirt with my friend here all day.”

“Oh yeah…” Capper pulled a couple bills out of his jacket. “I heard good things about your tuna sandwiches.” he handed Spada the bills, the latter giving an annoyed glance. Not really out of hate, but more out of the feeling of ‘your one of THOSE aren’t you?’ he promptly pulled out the bread, pulled tuna, salad dressing and other ingredients I failed to recognize. (Probably relish or something? I’m not much of a cook)

“So, Capper…” I asked, “...what do you do for a living?”

Capper clicked his tongue. “I’ve been around, I’ve done some lounge songs, I worked in a creepy factory that one time, I….”

“DAPPERPAWS!”

Capper shot up with a start and turned towards the voice, though still trying to maintain a suave demeanor.

“Dapperpaws?” I asked, somewhat confused.

“It’s his last name.” the voice said, I turned around and Immediately recognized him as helpful Cookie Man from yesterday. “Yeah, I know how dumb it sounds. Though not nearly as dumb as my name.” he then turned to Capper, fury in his eyes. “As for you, Dapperpaws. Stay away from that girl.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anythin’ wrong.”

“Well I’m not taking any chances with you.” he walked over to the cart and looked down upon Capper “I know your type, Capper, I’ve seen how you work. You’re the kind who takes advantage of a person’s trust, manipulates their emotions, and bring nothing but trouble into their lives. You’re a scam artist, willing to say or do anything to make a quick buck. Isn’t that right?”

Capper just sat there, unsure of how to respond. “I...I think I’ll just make myself scarce.” he grabbed his tuna sandwich (which I didn’t notice he finished) and drink. “See you around, SkyStar?”

Helpful Cookie Man was unimpressed “Just keep moving!”

Capper just backed away from the Cookie Man before making a break for it.

“At least he paid…” Spada looked at the bills Capper just handed him, his face going from snarky optimism to mild annoyance. “...never mind.” he put the ‘bills’ on the counter, showing they were just a stack of I.O.U.’s written on brightly colored paper with a cartoon cat drawn wearing a jacket similar to the one on the boy the Cookie Man scared away.

Cookie man sat down next to me as I asked him, “So, do you have a history together or…”

“No, he’s just some sweet-talking troublemaker who’s been conning all the beachgoers, there’s one like him everywhere.”

“Do you think you should call the cops…”

“Wouldn’t do me much good, with his attitude they’ll just let him off with a lollipop and a slap on the wrist. Besides, guys like him never stay in one place for long, he’ll be on the streets of another town in a few days.” Cookie Man looked at me, clearly recognizing me from yesterday. “Now, I don’t believe we actually got each other’s names.”

“Oh, right.” This is my chance. I thought aloud. “My name’s SkyStar Novo. Sky and Star are one word, and both S’s are capitalized. Yours?”

Cookie Man hesitated for a moment before speaking. “You will probably laugh at this, but...it’s Sea-Snail. Sea-Snail Osiris.”

Of course, why was I so dumb. I mentally facepalmed.

“So, what’s with you being so protective of complete strangers,” Spada asked, showing some surprising concern for me.

Sea-Snail looked between me and Spada. “I just...I just don’t want that little street rat ruining your life.”

I rolled my eyes “Oh don’t be so overdramatic, I can handle myself.”

Sea-Snail gave a sigh “I hope you’re right, SkyStar. So nice to see you again.”

“What was that?” I turned to Sea-Snail, confused, and slightly creeped out, at the last thing he said under his breath.

There was an awkward pause as Sea-Snail looked between me and Spada. “What was what?”

“That thing you said about seeing me again.”

Sea-Snail sighed and looked at me with hesitation like he just said something he didn’t want me to hear. “It’s...complicated” he promptly pulled out a pack of cookies and a sticky note and started writing on it “I’m not sure it’s appropriate to discuss it here.” he handed me the pack of cookies “Personally, I wished to discuss this later.” I looked at the note on the cookies

“Meet me at the shore tomorrow morning before the beach opens up, we have much to discuss.”

Sea-Snail later made himself scarce, leaving just me and Spada.

I showed Spada the note “Do you think I should…”

“Honestly, I don’t know, Princess.” He paused “Sea-Snail sounds a nice guy and all, and I know that he was the guy who retrieved your egg when it was stolen. Look, I get it, there’s that weird feeling.But you don’t really know him all that well, he could turn out to be a creepy stalker who wants to...you know.”

“I know.” I shuddered at the thought Spada put into my head before changing the subject back. “But come on, he used to be a striker guard. I doubt he’d be that horrible, Arissian guards are supposed to be noble. At least, I hope they are.”

“Look, I’m just concerned is all.” Spada rested his arms on the counter and looked me in the eyes. “I don’t want this man, whoever he is, to hurt you. I like you, like a lot, SkyStar. Not romantically yet. And I just want you to be ok. I don’t want to turn into your mother, so I’m gonna let you decide this, but just...tell me you’re going to be alright.”

“I’ll be fine, Spada,” I said, trying to hide my own uneasiness.

“I pray to Ray and Naga you will be.” Spada said under his breath.

The next morning I swam up to the shore as Sea-Snail had wanted, seeing he was already there with his back turned to me.

When the water became shallow enough to swim, I looked around to make sure no one else was around. Then I closed my eyes and thought legs, that warm fuzzy feeling washing over me as my tail split apart and became rigid, followed by a stinging sensation in my neck and chest as I switched from gills to lungs, before the transformation ending with my surface clothing materializing on my now-human form (it’s magic, just go with it).

“Ok, first things first…” I said, walking towards him “are you really the one who retrieved my egg?”

Sea-snail turned around to me “Yes, yes I was.”

“Ok, good. Just making sure you aren’t some guy who looks exactly like him and has the same name.” I sat down with him, still uneasy about this whole thing. “What did you want to discuss?”

Sea-Snail looked hesitant like he was about to say something he might regret. “You know, when I first saw you a couple days ago, I thought you were some other girl that looked like the princess, it wasn’t until yesterday that I put two and two together. Naga and Ray I can be a bit of an idiot sometimes.“

“Where are you going with this?” I asked, confused.

“Might as well get this over with.” Sea-Snail sighed, then looked at me, trying to hold back emotion. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, but here goes:” He took a deep breath and said it without hesitation, “Princess SkyStar Novo of Arissia, I’m your father.”

Somewhere, Shelly is looking at me, saying ‘I told you so’.