Tracking Imps with Spice

On a warm concrete sidewalk, nestled in between the hustle and bustle of the city, two buns stood next to each other. Whispering softly as a small group of imps waited at their feet.

Spice adjusted her jacket, looking a bit meek as she smiled, “Are you sure I’m the right person to help Hutch? I’ve only ever found some of my imps, I never had to chase any of them down.”

Hutch nodded their head, giving Spice a reassuring look. “You have the right personality for this, Spice, imps seem to calm down around you.” They paused, looking down at the grouping of imps. “So you did bring your imps?”

Spice was quick to answer, “Well you did say it might help to have my imps come along, they could calm down any of their own species.”

Hutch grinned, “Perfect. Could you introduce me to them?”

“Of course.” Spice decided to point out which of her imps were which. “That little mamoo is Milk, they’re very sweet you know.”

Milk stood on their hindlegs, mooing as they stared at Hutch.

Spice continued. “The candyls are Oven and Romantic Lighting, but I call them RL. These two can’t be separated but I think Oven will play nice.” She gave a look to her fiendish candyl and they bowed their head.

“The erose is Flour and my little sweet egghel is Egg.”

Flour drifted down to Egg, playing with their shell as the floral imp made soft sounds.

Hutch seemed pleased, giving the imps a once over. “Good this should help us. I heard there were a few candyls causing a bit of trouble. Do you think yours could help track them down?”

Spice smiled, giving Oven and RL a little nudge. “Well do you think you can handle it?”

RL stood up straight, the albino candyl looking more than a little pleased to be able to help. Although Oven didn’t seem so excited, grumbling as they started to follow after RL.

Spice squeaked excitedly, “Look Hutch! I think they already have the scent.” She paused, “Can candyls smell?”

Hutch gave Spice a soft smile, “We can talk about that after we find the candyls. They appreciated her good natured rambling, but they also really needed to find those imps as soon as possible. Not every bun was as nice as Spice was to imps and Hutch was worried about what could happen to the little creatures.

Spice blushed, laughing softly, “Oh right sorry, you know I get a bit distracted easily.” She grabbed Hutch’s hand and dashed after her candyl. The rest of her imps rushing after them, with Egg riding on top of Milk so they wouldn’t be left behind.

Spice and Hutch ran through the well lit streets, the sounds of Spice’s heels loud as they trusted the candyls to find the wild imps.

“Why do you think the candyls are causing mischief?” Spice asked, “I thought they usually just like to light places up, you know in the background.”

Hutch hummed, taking a moment, “Well it could be a lot of reasons. Maybe some buns were irritating them into misbehaving? They could even just be bored and looking for another outlet.”

Spice frowned, “Poor dears, I hope they’ll be alright when we find them. My Oven and RL were abandoned you know.”

“They were?” Hutch sounded surprised.

“Yeah,” she shook her head, “It was just awful, I found them in a worn cardboard box in an alley. Poor Oven was so protective of RL and it took me quite a while to get them to trust me.”

Hutch gave Spice a soft look, “I told you, you were the right bun for the job. Not a lot of buns would take the time to help imps in need.”

“Well I think that’s just silly, imps are so kind when you take care of them and all of mine have been like my best friends.”

Hutch opened their mouth about the respond when Spice’s candyls stopped in front of them. “Hmm?”

The pair of buns looked forward to see a small cluster of candyls, four in totally, collected around a trash can. It seemed they had knocked it over, another bit of mischief for these wild imps.

Spice whispered towards her candyls. “Go on Oven, RL, let’s see what you can do.”

Oven and RL looked up at Spice, before they moved forward and approached the other candyls.

There was a moment of silence as the wild candyls looked at Oven and RL, before they curiously approached. Maybe it was the simple fact they were all normal colored imps, that they eagerly seemed to accept the other two. Even with Oven’s fiendish personality as they cuddled close to RL.

They were a jealous imp.

Spice gasped, pulling on Hutch’s sleeve. “Look Hutch, it’s working.”

Hutch looked on in approval, “It is. Now all we need to do is get Oven and RL to convince the others, when they settle, to follow us back to my shop.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard, they already seem to be accepting them.”

“Maybe, but just to be safe we should give them at least ten minutes together. If this doesn’t work, they might scatter and we’ll never find them all again.”

“So definitely not something to rush.” Spice looked around, before she focused on her other imps. She leaned down to pet them. “Want to play with my imps until then?”

Hutch laughed and knelt down beside her. “Why not.”

It wasn’t easy find and capturing imps, but it was a much easier job when there was someone else to share in the hardships and even the joys of helping wild imps. Spice might have been nervous to help, but it was both her kindness and willingness that made her a great help. Soon enough those imps would be safe with Hutch and Spice could reward her own, but for now, they crouched together and laughed as they enjoyed the company of her imps.