Chapter 3-4: Smash It with a Hammer

After leaving the clock store, everyone begins to look around the area some more.

"Well, I think that's all the timepieces we need. Should we go look for other souvenirs?" Deuce says.

"Yes! And I've figured out just what I'm going to get my brother!" Ortho says.

Deuce turns to Ortho, "Oh yeah? What?"

"Here, I have a picture…" Ortho says, and shows Deuce some snacks.

Deuce says, "Oh, I know exactly where we can get that. I'll take you there. This store will have what you want."

"Snacks, is it?" Silver questions.

"My brother loves to snack while he games. So I'm going to bring him something you can only get locally," Ortho says.

Epel soon spots something, "Wow! Look at all this!"

"Erm, let's see…" Ortho says, looking around and soon finds it, "Here! These are the potato chips I was looking for!"

The group looks to see some potato chips and it has the white rabbit on the bag.

"It's got the White Rabbit on it. Yep, that's a perfect souvenir from Clock Town!" Epel says.

Ortho makes his purchase, and the snack vendor says, "Come again!"

"I bought those chips once," Deuce says.

"You did?" Ortho questions.

"My allowance was pretty small, but I really wanted to try them. So I saved and I saved… I was so happy when I could finally afford them! But I wanted to make them last, so I ate them so slowly, just a few chips at a time…" Deuce explains. Of course, eventually they went stale and lost all their crispiness."

"Oh, no, that's the worst!" Epel says.

"I know what you mean. Chips don't taste as good when they go stale, and some actually either taste too soft or too hard."

Then Ortho asks, "Deuce Spade, are you only going to buy souvenirs for Jack Howl and Ace Trappola?"

"I need to get something for everyone in Heartslabyul as well. Not sure what though. Hard to think of something that Riddle and Trey don't already have. Maybe I should just get them something to eat," Deuce says.

"Well, you're in the right place," Epel says.

"Sure am…" Deuce says and soon spots something, "Ooh!" and finds the item, "This frosted cookie will be perfect!"

The group looks to see some frosted cookies, and they look like pocket watches.

"Frosted? It cold or somethin'? "Grim asks.

Briar giggles, "No. they're not, silly."

"Frosted as in frosting—you know, the creamy stuff you make out of sugar and egg whites?" Deuce says.

"Huh, how do YOU know how to make it?" Grim asks.

"Trey's taught me a lot about cooking. Decorating cookies with frosting is a ton of fun," Deuce says.

"I love the cute little pocket watch design on this one!" Epel says.

"Yeah. They're so cute," Briar says.

"They look nice," Tanzanite says.

"Yeah. And then you smash it with a hammer," Deuce says.

The group reacts, confused, "Huh?!"

"You smash it?" Sereia questions.

"These cookies are too hard to bite into. So you have to use the wooden mallet that comes with it to break the cookie into little pieces," Deuce says.

"That sounds overly complicated for a cookie…" Epel replies.

"Like a lot of stuff around here, it's tied back to a legend," Deuce says.

"So there's a legend with the cookies too," Briar asks.

"That's right," Deuce says, "When the White Rabbit's pocket watch broke, everyone around tried to fix it. But no one could. It seemed like it was permanently broken. Then some mad person got the bright idea to smash it open."

"That's awful," Ortho says.

"It didn't fix the watch, of course. In fact it was broken into smithereens, completely beyond repair," Deuce says.

"Obviously. You can't fix precise instruments like watches with brute force," Ortho points out.

"I guess that legend serves as some sort of lesson for watchmakers," Silver says.

"Something about keeping a cool head when faced with difficult circumstances?" Epel questions.

"Anyway, that's where the tradition of smashing a big watch cookie with a hammer comes from. Anyone who grew up in the Queendom of Roses will have done it at least once as a kid. Seems like something my dormmates would get a kick out of. I'm gonna go pay," Deuce says.

"I think I'll buy some for us too," Briar says.

"Yeah. I like some cookies," Jasper says.

"Me too!" Grim says, excited.