Pass It Along: March

There was a contest going on in the grand city of Foxington. It was a relatively simple affair. Scarfoxes from all over the Scarfox Realm were welcome to participate in an event that involved the development, story crafting, and taste testing a brand new candy that would be distributed by Candy Gums Company, one of the most prolific candy distributors on this side of the realm. No idea was too silly for an attempt, and it would start with a big audition for presenting the initial concept.

It was a huge event in Foxington when the Candy Gums Company did anything public, so a huge venue was established, and registration had been ongoing for about a week before the auditions would be held live on a special broadcasting network. Television was very hard to get right inFoxington for a number of reasons, but mostly because culture shock was a big deal for a lot of Scarfoxes that came from various time periods where television would ordinarily cause mass hysteria.

That was not the case this time around, as the event started off without a hitch. The music played, the lawyers were on high alert for intellectual property theft, and the judges were stationed in cute, candy themed cubicles that simultaneously were way too busy to the eye and just literal enough to have the audience guessing.

Gummy Sharks was a mini Scarfox. Absolutely tiny by comparison to the rest of the general population, they were excited to show off a cool new idea they had had while going for a swim during the early year festivities. They had developed it mostly as a thought experiment, but at some point, it had come to their attention that they could do more than just fantasize about making something that all could enjoy.

Encouraged to join the chaos, Gummy Sharks had decided to take the plunge and register for the candy creation event, being very straightforward about the inspirations behind their candy flavor choice.

They looked like a candy themselves in a way. They were tiny by comparison to a majority of the Scarfoxes in the Scarfox Realm, but they were also Hollow, which was often a shock to many who looked upon them. While it was a bit tenuous as to how Hollow Scarfoxes were generally viewed, Gummy Sharks made the best of their lot in life by enjoying the little things as well as the large.

They were a delectable blue color with a white underbelly. A thick shark like tail paired with relatively useless fins where arms should have been. While on land, they were a bit clumsy, in the water, they were unstoppable. And, almost like a joke, the All Mother had given them a simulated bite taken out of the tail.

Gummy Sharks was impossibly cute, which was more than enough to ward off any fox who was hesitant to associate with a Hollow.

While waiting in line for their audition, Gummy Sharks had been approached by the news station cameras.

“Tell us about your idea!”

Gummy Sharks, however, was sharp as a tack. “You’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” They added a sly wink and the interview was over.

---

The day was long and the heat was starting to get to the massive lines that had gathered out of the venue that Candy Gums Company was using for their candy creation contest. The whole affair was a sight to behold, but Gummy Sharks was nothing if not patient. They were biding their time, rehearsing their performance - after all that was what it was above all else, a performance - in their head over and over, making sure to note places where they were going to do a little trick or show off another talent of theirs.

The news reporter approaching them had begun to shake their nerves, though they tried their best to not let it get to them. They had been completely steadfast before then and couldn’t quite place why they had been knocked so off kilter. Perhaps it was because it had occurred to them that the news reporter could have simply been trying to steal their idea to get a leg up.

Gummy Sharks tried to wipe that thought from their mind, as it was egging on their nerves, but they were thankful that they hadn’t spilled the beans so to speak.

It was hard not to, though. They had almost fallen for it. Felt the needling in their soul to finally release what they had been keeping to themselves for so long. Perhaps the combination of being so close to the start of their own audition and the desire to put their best foot forward was starting to loosen that verbal grip.

Again, Gummy Sharks was too smart for that.

As the lines grew shorter and the auditions commenced, at some point, Gummy Sharks could start to hear the music playing from the venue, which meant that they were closer than ever to achieving the closest thing to a dream they had at the moment.

The early morning changed to late morning and the late morning turned to early afternoon when Gummy Sharks had finally reached the inside of the building. The heat soon dissipated in favor of a more temperature controlled climate, and Gummy Sharks could see that the Candy Gums Company had taken out all the stops when it came to the stage presentation.

Though they couldn’t actually hear anything coming from the stage, the hype was absolutely real. Before it had been a sort of wavering dream like state. A sort of in between of excitement, but now they were here. The time was approaching. Scarfoxes of all color and build were moving around rapidly as contestants tried to reach for the stars. To make their dreams a reality.

To bring about a revolution in the candy distributing world.

Soon, Gummy Sharks was at the forefront. Their previously established materials had been set up underneath a black curtain, they had been provided a little chair and table set up, and as they watched the finishing of the preproduction, their name was called by a rather tired looking production assistant.

Gummy Sharks, confident, trembling, but ultimately ready, walked out before the panel of judges.

---

Once the lights were on and beaming down on Gummy Sharks, they became keenly aware of how critical the eyes on them actually were. This whole time, they have been fantasizing about twirling onto stage and showing off their genius, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were the one worth investing in and the judges would be blown away.

There would be cheering and clapping and many many congratulations in order as the judges called off the rest of the event because they had found the picture perfect candy that would titillate the masses and sell better than anything the Candy Gums Company had ever sold before. That was what Gummy Sharks had convinced themself in the long lines that stretched all through Foxington. A foolish mentality in hindsight.

In reality, Gummy Sharks found themself standing in front of a series of exceptionally beleaguered judges, who had been listening to thousands of ideas one after the other, likely without much of a break to make room for every contestant to give their spiel and then move onto the next one without recourse.

The judges looked like they didn’t want to be there, and Gummy Sharks could feel the battle taking a steep turn uphill. They did, however, still twirl and flip their little useless fins in greeting. Now was not the time to worry about being a loser. They had to be confident, no matter what. This was their livelihood on the line and Gummy Sharks could not afford to stumble just because of a wrench thrown into the fantasy.

“I present to you,” Gummy Sharks started, “the most incredible candy concoction you’ve never seen. Take all the grace of the shark beast, combine it with the stretchy and chewy texture of a gummy worm, with a different textured gummy base.”

Gummy Sharks kicked the little curtain off the easel with flair and exceptional precision, not unlike the previously mentioned shark beast and the curtain spun around like a twirling skirt as it came to a rest on the stage floor. One of the judges leaned forward in their chair, but the others were not impressed. Gummy Sharks swallowed.

“All the pleasures and fun of the sea, with the stretchy delights of a gummy worm. I present to you. A Gummy shark!”

Gummy Sharks flipped another card off the easel. Underneath was a meticulously rendered and professional depiction of the candy in question.

“It’ll be sure to make a splash. Versatile and powerful in a fruity drink, on top of a blue sherbet, in a bag with a medley of other fun shapes. Star finned beasts, manta beasts, urchin beasts.”

The judges were still not attentive, but Gummy Sharks had given their best foot forward and after the whole ordeal was done, they were ushered off the stage and more or less kicked out the door with a fancy piece of paper denoting all the frequently asked questions that would likely crop up during the long wait before hearing from the judges about whether this would move onto a more conceptual collaboration.

Now all Gummy Sharks had to do was wait.

---

Once the super cool candy contest event had concluded in the city of Foxington, the whole city went quiet while the judges and a fancy board of fox directors deliberated on how they were going to proceed. Unfortunately for Gummy Sharks, this was not going to be something they were going to be a part of, but that did not stop a nugget of anxiety from placing itself directly into their stomach.

Even though there was no stomach, the pit in their mist grew for several days before they had managed to push it into the back of their mind. It had been a long week, but they supposed at some point that no news was good news, and even more eventually, they would ultimately hear the final verdict.

They had gone through the packet given to them multiple times, and each time, the words never changed. They would likely hear something back in several weeks, to several months, as choosing the finalists and getting through the intense volume of applications would take a long time, and Candy Gums Company would still have to continue with their normal operations during the deliberation period. Gummy Sharks knew they were not the only one who was having a hard time with the wait either.

So after three or so weeks of anxiously pacing by the mainbox and attacking the mail as soon as it was within the safety of said box, they had decided to take a little bit of a trip to take their mind off of the anxiety.

It had worked like a charm.

They had gone on a long term fishing trip with a friend of theirs. Out on the choppy waters of the cold sea, Gummy Sharks was able to wrangle with some of the largest tuna finned beasts they had ever seen. They had also been able to do some deep sea diving to explore for treasure and see if maybe they would be able to confirm the existence of a particular entity within the depths.

Old sea shanties were plentiful, and they had had the opportunity to learn even more about the world around them through the captain’s stories. They had grown closer to their friend in that time and after a couple days of anxious pacing on the deck of the boat, Gummy Sharks had let all of their worries from Foxington melt away until the trip was over.

It had been lovely to be out there in their proverbial element.

Once the boat had turned around and Gummy Sharks had returned to Foxington after a long couple weeks out at sea, their mailbox was overflowing with all kinds of different letters and forms. Most of it had been junk, but Gummy Sharks could still feel the pressure mounting as they scanned each envelope.

Eventually, they had found what they were looking for. Near the bottom of the pile, and a fanciful candy printed envelope was a letter from Candy Gums Company.

With bated breath, Gummy Sharks opened the envelope, ready to seize their destiny.

---

The next few days of Gummy Sharks’s life had been a whirlwind of activity ranging from the initial acceptance letter from the Candy Gums Company, to a series of intense interview requests that simply would not stop coming no matter how many times Gummy Sharks had been ignoring the telephone rings. They did not know where to begin with it all considering that at some point on a several weeks long fishing trip, they had come to the conclusion that they likely were not going to win the contest.

The chances had been so slim, and after looking it up online, Gummy Sharks had seen presentations that had made their look like a baby human’s school stage play. Even their own presentation had made them look away in embarrassment.

They could have said their lines differently, maybe not used the word stretchy and gummy so many times, unveiled the next card with psionic power instead of trying to do a fancy flip with an equally fancy kick.

But now they were rewarded with a meeting with executives and candy designers and research and development foxes that had said a whole list of jargon words that Gummy Sharks had not really understood in the moment.

Those first few days of ironing out contracts and agreements had blown through Gummy Sharks’s stamina and a part of them had even wished to not have to deal with this. It was exciting for sure.

But also incredibly taxing.

Once the initial dust had settled, Gummy Sharks had fallen into something of a routine. They woke up, made sure they were presentable for the work day, and then made their way across the city of Foxington to get to the headquarters of the Candy Gums Company, where they were greeted with a number of fellow colleagues, all of whom Gummy Sharks liked a whole lot.

After the somewhat rocky start, Gummy Sharks was starting to even like the workflow. They would sit in on meetings and offer their input and try flavors and look at beautiful colors and collaborate on a project that had been born from their very own imagination.

A candy representation of themself.

Gummy Sharks had even offered the idea of a fun little mascot character that could be used for the marketing materials, and it was no secret that they had put a lot of themselves into the character. The higher ups loved it and continued to praise Gummy Sharks for their ingenuity and long term mindset.

Gummy Sharks was just having fun at the moment.

In the final months of the candy’s development, Gummy Sharks grew to be passionate about this project, and that nugget of anxiety from before their stunning life changing event was back. This time, it was about the product rollout. All of Foxington was waiting to see what the final candy would look like. What it tasted like.

The hype was real, and when Gummy Sharks had finally made the announcement with the team of marketers, they beamed with pride.

“Behold! The Gummy Shark Beast!”

It was a hit.