The Difference Between Curses and Blessings

Robin was having a terrible time. They had been for the past three weeks due to their curse. If they had known that a curse would kick in on their 18th birthday they would have gone out to kick some pompous witch's ass long before now. Sure they may have thought they were doing them a favor and it probably would have been slightly more bearable had they been straight or gay or bi, but no they were very much and aroace.

This made the crowd of fawning people around them rather vexing. They were gaining far too many stares, and had five different people ask them out in the past ten minutes, even after they had witnessed the people before them getting brutally regretted. Whoever did this was going to have a fun time with the end of their sword.

As Robin continued on their journey they passed a pastel shop with too many trinkets by uncountable sweets. Across the top of the shop was the words Lucky Charm Coffee Shop & Bakery. That was when one of the treats' names caught their eye: reverse beauty toffee. Immediately Robin turned and entered the shop hearing the sharp chime of a wind chime and smelling freshly baked cookies. Once inside they made their way to the counter where a person with bright blue hair stood.

"I need a reverse beauty toffee."

"Sure, you got someone you wanna prank?" The blue haired person said, handing Robin one.

"No." Robin replied, popping it into their mouth and eating it. Once they swallowed they flicked their eyes over the people who were previously fawning over them.

They released a sigh of relief once they had confirmed that the stares had died down considerably."Oh thank the gods."

In one swift movement Robin pulled out a bag of money, a bunch of shiny rocks, and slammed in on the shimmering glass counter. "How many reverse beauty toffees can I buy with this?"

"A lot, you have very shiny rocks, however I can do you one better. I can make some more potent toffees that'll make your curse a bit easier to manage."

"How'd ya know I was cursed?"

"With how much everyone was staring at you I made a guess."

Robin shrugged and agreed, passing over the bag of rocks.

"Yes! Shinnies. Right. come back in an hour. Here's some extra to last you, they last about thirty minutes. VEDA, I got a special order. Come work the counter!" They said disappearing behind the wall as a person with purple and pink hair emerged.

"I never thought you'd ask." A sarcastic voice said.

"Try not to start another fist fight~" Blue hair responded in a sing-song voice.

Jinx disappeared behind the wall to begin making the toffees. Typically she would leave the cooking mostly up to Veda, since she couldn't be trusted at the counter. On the occasions she gets a special order Veda couldn't make she would have to make it herself.

She began combining butter, sugar, and salt into a bowl cooking it over a medium heat stirring it. Once the butter melted she added some ground up unpleasant rose roots mixing it in with the rest of the mixture. Mixing it to a dark rose color she then added some unprepossessing apple juice.

Once that step was done she poured the mixture into a pan she had prepared earlier. She finished that step and poured some mashed illusion chocolate chunks pulling the toffee together for the desired effect. Just for extra measure she adds longevity walnut chunks to keep it fresh longer. She placed it into the refrigerator to cool. Then left the kitchen hoping that Veda hadn't fought Karen while she was cooking.

Robin was having a better time. Two hours had passed since they had left the shop. The gazes of people around them had reduced massively, and they hadn't had a single person ask them out. Sure they were still confronted far too much, but Robin had quickly made their interest in them die within the first ten seconds of talking to them.

They walked back to the shop with purpose, prepared to collect the toffee they were promised. They entered the lovely magic shop and approached the counter where the blue haired person stood.

They spotted Robin and gave a short wave before disappearing behind the wall presumably to get the toffee. They re-emerged from behind the wall with a large box and placed it one the counter.

"Each of these will last around 12 hours, put them in the fridge and they will last you a month."

Robin nodded and picked up the box, "I'll be back next month for some more, you are my favorite person, also what is your name and pronouns?"

"Jinx, she/her, yourself."

"Robin they/them, I think we'll get along."