“Why are the floors always sticky?” Retvik muttered under his breath as he stepped into the empty fuel station kiosk. Dust covered pretty much everything, from the empty shelves all the way to the checkout area, and baskets were strewn across the floor, rather than sitting in a normal position.
“Tends to happen when you don’t wear shoes for your massive, tree-trunk feet…” Tenuk snorted from behind Retvik. He was holding a roll of rubber tubing, and Retvik wasn’t quite sure why.
“I am wearing foot-plates!” Retvik grunted back. “Why do you have-”
“They are made of candy!” Elksi exclaimed from behind both Retvik and Tenuk. “Sweet tubes of sugar! Tasty!”
Retvik simply sighed. His question had technically been answered, but he wasn’t satisfied. Not until Tenuk bit into the tubing and ripped a piece off, mashing it up in his mouth. A second bite swiftly followed, before Tenuk passed his tube over to Elksi.
“This one tastes of strawberries, I think you’ll like it.”
Elksi hesitated briefly, then tore off a long piece of tubing, licking it with her tongue. “You’re right! It is strawberry!” The apprentice Time-Drake then randomly smashed her hand through the glass in the door, snapping a piece off it. She then shoved the glass into her mouth, licking the flat side.
“Is everything here edible?” Retvik asked, no longer hiding both his disgust and his confusion. “Why would someone make such a thing like this? And why are you two EATING it?”
“You have a problem with us eating?” Elksi pouted a little. “Is just sugar.”
“It is sugar that has been formed into the shape of a fuel station, that has been floating through the void for countless eons, until we turned up via sheer curiosity. We should not be eating any of this!” Retvik took a deep breath, then calmed down. “I am sorry, but we are supposed to be professionals. And here you two are, eating the specimen.”
Tenuk shrugged, not at all bothered by Retvik’s outburst. “Well, if it wasn’t made to be eaten, why is it here? It does answer one question though, why the floor is so sticky.”
“Thank the Light that you two are not into archiving and conservation…” Retvik gave up on the conversation and turned his attention to the few remaining products left on the shelves of the kiosk. There was very little left, and what was there was mostly packets of sweets and other non-perishables. Whoever had been here prior to Retvik and his team had clearly left in a hurry, as the shelves were mostly in shambles.
The checkout though was rather untouched. Unlike the rest of the shop, the cashier area was still mostly made of candy, but the till was made from, well, normal things. The cash draw was open, and inside were two types of currency – standard paper notes and what Retvik thought were gold coins, but turned out to be chocolate as he bit into one to test its composition.
“Hey, you’re eating the scenery too!” Elksi teased, peering round the corner.
“I was just checking to see if it was real gold…”
“Uh huh!” Elksi’s teasing was at least brief. She snatched some chocolate coins from the till, then decided to head outside. “I’m gonna go see what Phovos is doing. Oh, wait, never mind, she’s coming over now. Hi Phovos!”
Phovos said nothing as she grabbed Elksi and Tenuk, then pulled them behind the counter where Retvik was standing.
“Shh.”
“What is it?” Retvik whispered.
“There’s something out there…” Phovos hissed. “Get down and be quiet. We don’t want to attract its attention…”