(( Fun with fruit! It's exactly what it sounds like! I think! XD Platonic childhood Cedfia, enjoy! ;P ))
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The sun was shining at it's peak on that fine Midsummer morning, and everyone was in sweet spirits - Literally sweet, since Enchancia's local Fruit Festival was being held that day. Every year, all of the land's best growers would get together, just when their wares were at their ripest, and hold a gigantic Farmer's Market, complete with stands upon stands of every kind of fruit imaginable, some chocolate sellers who would gladly dunk your fruit into something even sweeter, and silly games like 'bobbing for apples' and 'hit the target with a ball and dunk the man in the banana suit'. But that was to entertain the children, although some adults liked those things too - Roland and Miranda, on the other hand, were admittedly attracted to the wine stand, where they convinced Baileywick and Cedric to relax and have a glass with them too.
Cedric normally felt no need to seek out alcohol, it was too bitter for him - But of course one doesn't turn down an offer from the king. Plus, the festival's wine was well-known to be some of the finest around, and Cedric had to agree, the glass of grapefruit and green apple wine he had chosen to try had been enjoyable enough that he had been tempted to take an extra small sample of a couple of red wines too.
After that, the tipsy adults were fine to let the children lead them around wherever they liked. James went straight to the games, whilst the princesses, adorned in fruit-themed dresses for the occasion, went around emptying their wicker baskets of their coins and filling them up with fruits and berries.
Sofia, in a purple grape dress, suddenly shouted to him, "Mister Cedric! Come look at this! They've got something new this year!"
Tempted by his curiosity, he strolled on over, for the most part steady on his feet, though there might have been at least one misstep or two. "Yes, Princess Sofia?" He glanced over her shoulder at what she was pointing at, finding to be something that looked like some kind of strange little orange berry. Or just a strange, very small oval-shaped orange...?
Sofia paid for a handful, and then popped one in her mouth, "Mmm, it's like an orange! Just as I suspected!" She deduced cheerfully. "They're called kumquats - Do you want to try one, Mister Cedric?"
He raised a doubtful eyebrow and sniffed distastefully at the weird offering. Picky eater that he was, he didn't like to try new things very often, and he didn't want anything strange to upset his stomach at the moment, so he declined, politely enough, "No thanks Princess - To be honest I don't think I even want to try saying a new word, let alone trying a new food. I'll just stick with regular oranges."
She nodded in understanding and went back to her berry-picking, and he turned around to find a seller just behind him with fresh, large oranges. He was suddenly struck with a childhood memory at the sight of them, of when he was very young, and Goodwin still used to play with him without so much pressure to perform. His father used to do this silly thing that always made him laugh so...
Tempted by the nostalgia and the wine in his belly making him giddy, Cedric flipped the vendor a coin and took one of the oranges, then took out a small knife in his pocket and began to cut the orange into wedges. Then, before he could let himself get too self-conscious about it, he turned and called, "Oh children! Smile~!"
James was busy dunking his head into a barrel of shiny red apples, but Amber and Sofia looked back when he called, to find their royal sorcerer with a huge orange wedge in his mouth, resembling a ridiculous orange smile. Amber snorted immediately, then turned her head and covered her face with her fan to deny the indignity had ever happened, even while still snickering about it. But Sofia... She burst out into laughter, and laughed freely and gaily. Even with the embarrassment of having people passing by see him like that, it was totally worth it.
Finally he bit off the orange flesh and tossed the peel into a nearby bin, just as Sofia was finally composing herself, "Ahahaha~! Silly Mister Cedric!"
A little embarrassed over the display, Cedric pretended to be interested in picking out a few more oranges while the attention died down, and the princesses went back to their activities. He had just paid for and selected an extra four oranges, when suddenly he felt someone tap him on the elbow. He turned around to find Sofia holding up an adorably over-sized strawberry in her two little hands, the fruit almost managing to fill up both of her palms. Prized berries and other fruits of unusual size were reserved to impress the royals, and this royal was clearly impressed. "Oh my gosh, look at this thing, Cedric! It's GIGANTIC!" She exclaimed, her eyes nearly as wide as saucers.
"Oh my, that certainly is something to celebrate." He smiled back down at her. "Congratulations, Princess Sofia~"
But she shook her head, "Oh no! It's much too big for me to eat by myself! I mean, I'm sure I could, if I really wanted to~" She amended with a silly grin. "But I don't want to be too full for dinner - So, do you maybe want to share it with me?" She offered sweetly, holding the berry out to him insistently and glancing at his knife.
He blinked in surprise, then lit up with a bright pink blush and nodded slowly. "Well, alright then..." He smiled and took the berry from her, cutting it in half and keeping one while he gave the other to her. "Thank you, princess..." He mumbled to her, before biting onto the end of it, and finding it to be not just the largest berry he'd ever had, but also the sweetest. "Mmm!"
"Mmmhmm!" Sofia mumbled back to him in agreement, her own mouth full of strawberry too.
After they had consumed the berry, Sofia carelessly wiped the juice from her hands onto her dress, and Cedric did the same with his robe. Once they were clean enough, she reached for and took hold of his hand, and began to pull him down the pathway to the blueberry stand where Amber was waiting in her matching blueberry dress. Cedric grinned widely and followed her gladly, not realizing or caring that there was orange pulp still stuck in his teeth.
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