Inventions

[DaylightStarr]

Title: Iventions

Author: DaylightStarr

Fandom: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Rating: G

Spoilers: Watch the new movie. Nothing big, but it makes more sense that way.

Disclaimer: Roald Dahl’s wonderful story. Tim Burton’s cool movie. I own nothing but Aaron, who is just a boring worker for Willy Wonka to sound off on.

Summary: Willy Wonka is working on his newest invention. Unfortunately, he has a cold that won’t let him get much done.

A/N: This is a response to week 72 general challenge as well as a gift to prisma.

Feedback: Yes please.

He’d never had to sneeze so badly in his life. His eyes burned and his sinuses throbbed. Willy Wonka rubbed a finger under his delicate nose and sniffled deeply to stop the sensation from growing too strong. It didn’t do any good. He covered his nose and mouth quickly and turned away before he sneezed on any of his precious chocolates. “Heh-hih-chew! Ih-Choo! Heh-Chuu! Darn it! Now I have to start all over.” He looked at the deflated puffball, which was now just a mound of chocolate powder.

A worker carrying a tray laden with violet flavored candied flowers turned to look at his boss. “Are you alright Mr. Wonka, sir?”

Willy sniffled against his wrist while looking for his handkerchief. He pulled out a beautiful plumb colored one that was trimmed with gold and had two golden “W”s embroidered on it. After blowing his nose very softly, he gave the worker a small, tired smile. “I’m fine, thank you. I just sneezed at the wrong time. Come here, I wanna show you what I’m inventing. What did you say your name was again?” He seemed to brighten a bit.

“My name is Aaron, Mr. Wonka.” Aaron grinned and set down his tray of flower sweets. He didn’t mind that he had to keep telling Mr. Wonka his name; the man never seemed to think names were very important. Willy led him over to a workbench and pointed to a cookie sheet. Aaron frowned in confusion. “But Mr. Wonka, every candy maker makes chocolate truffles.”

Willy laughed in a congested but pleased way. He changed his gloves quickly and picked one of the truffles up very carefully. “They aren’t quite hard yet, but they’re close enough. Here, put it in your mouth, but don’t bite it.”

Aaron took the truffle and placed it on his tongue. He waited a few seconds before it gave a small explosion and flooded his mouth with chocolate powder, which was rather like hot chocolate mix. Aaron swallowed and grinned at the Chocolateer, who seemed to be a little preoccupied.

“Heh-Ishhoo! Ih-choo! Ih-chtt! Hih-Chhttt!” Willy was careful to sneeze into his handkerchief and wiped his nose discreetly. “Goodness, excuse me. I seem to have caught cold on my last trip. The natives at the North Pole seem to forget that we don’t all like to go ice swimming in the dead of night.” He sighed and folded up his handkerchief. “It seems a bit silly to have a cold in the middle of a summer heat wave, doesn’t it?” He laughed quietly to himself and looked at Aaron, who seemed very lost. “Oh, I do apologize; I’m getting way too ahead of myself, aren’t I?”

Aaron nodded. “Just a bit, Sir. You never told any of us where it was you were going.”

“That’s right, I didn’t, did I? Well, I went to the North Pole to see if I could find any good candy ideas there. Well, I saw the Aurora Borealis and that gave me an idea. I could make soda that changed color like the Aurora. Here, shake this.” Willy handed Aaron a clear glass bottle that seemed to hold a lemon/lime soda.

Aaron shook the bottle and it lit up in brilliant greens, reds and blues. Aaron looked at the bottle in awe. “It’s wonderful, Mr. Wonka. What does it taste like?”

“Open it and taste for yourself. I’m afraid I’m not very useful in that respect right now. My sense of taste has been sadly dulled by this dreadful cold.” He looked rather upset about that fact. “And this also means that I’m going to have to put my lovely Truffle Taste Explosions on hold for the time being.” He sighed and looked down at his few truffles that he’d been able make before his cold got the better of him.

Aaron set down the Aurora Soda and looked at Willy curiously. “Why can’t you work on it while you have a cold?”

Willy smiled ruefully before taking out his handkerchief and covering the lower half of his face. “Well aside… from… Eh-Chisshhh! Chtt-Ish-oo! Heh-ish-chisshh! Excuse me, please. As I was saying, aside from the fact that I’d get germs all over my wonderful creations, one must handle these particular truffles with great care. There’s a certain point of the process that requires quiet and a steady hand. At this moment I have neither.”

Aaron frowned. “What point is that, Sir?” He took another sip of the soda and watched his boss with unfeigned admiration.

“There is a fine shell that holds the powder in before you put the final chocolate coating on. Once I’ve dipped the shell in the warm chocolate, I have to be very cautious or else it will collapse on itself and become a useless pile of melted chocolate and powder, which, of course, no one wants to eat. It looks terrible, and half the enjoyment of the candy is-the-appearance.” The last few words were spoken very quickly before Willy began to sneeze again. “Heh-Ich-chhew! Ish-Shhew! Heh-eh-Chhtt-oo! Eh-Shoo! Gosh, excuse me. Anyway, as I was saying, any strong breath could cause this truffle to fold in on itself, and I have found that my sneezes are more that a bit too powerful for them, even though I’m very mindful to turn away and cover my nose and mouth.”

Aaron seemed a bit perplexed. “Sir, if you can’t work anyway, perhaps you should go lie down and get some rest. You look tired.”

Willy Wonka folded his much-used handkerchief and tucked it back into his pocket. “That seems like a fine suggestion. I just have to give a few instructions to the factory at large before I retire. Heh-Chhisshhuu! Heh-Ishhoo! Isshhuu!” Willy sniffled and dabbed at his runny nose. “Excuse me again. On the other hand, perhaps I’ll just go to bed. I’m sure the workers know what to do.” He looked rather miserable as he turned to go to his room.

“Sir, maybe you’d like to take a cup of tea with you, or hot chocolate.”

Willy nodded and turned toward his bedroom. “Thank you for the suggestion, but if I need anything, I’ll ask later. I didn’t know that I was so tired until we started to talk about it, now I’m bushed.”

He looked tired, Aaron decided, and didn’t press the issue. He watched as Willy’s shoulders shook with the force of his quiet but strong sneezes.

Willy went into his warm bedroom and pulled on a pair of marvelous silk pajamas. They were a rich plumb color and seemed to match his handkerchief exactly. He insisted that everything he wore matched after all, and always paid attention to the small details. He settled down against his soft pillows and relaxed for a little while. Then he sat up.

“What’s the worst thing about having a cold?” He asked no one in particular. He reached into his bedside table and pulled out a small notebook with a black silk cover. He began writing furiously. “The worst thing about a cold is the medicine, of course.” He wrote quickly and carefully, not wanting to miss a single thought. “If I could make medicine that tasted just like chocolate but helped a cold, children everywhere would stop fighting their… P…Par…. moms and dads about taking it. It’ll be the end of nasty stuff on a spoon.” He gave a great, shuddering yawn before closing up his notebook. “Hep-eh-shhoo! Heh-Choo! Ish-chew! Excuse me,” (again, to no one in particular) “I really need to go to sleep. I can’t invent anything worth inventing with this cold.” He snuggled under his warm quilt and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, he was snoring lightly under the effects of his cold.

[Sneesee]

Wonderful story, Daylightstar! I'm imagining Johnny Depp sneezing, and it's so completely yummy! Thank you!

[Shay]

I usually don't like cold fics but something about this one made me melt. Good job

[DaylightStarr]

Aww! I'm so glad you liked it. It was a lot of fun to write.

PS. New author's note. I should have posted this in the story, but I forgot. This story takes place while Willy Wonka still only had a small corner shop. So about seventeen years before the actual movie took place.

[prisma]

HURRRAY HURRAY!!!! I FEEL SO HONORED I LOVE IT VERY VERY MUCH SO COMPLETLY ( claps and dances around) WOW NOW I AM OUT OF BREATH !! THANK YOU SO MUCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY TOE!!!! WOWIE I CANT EVEN BELIVE SO MUCH HOLLY MOLLY !!! THANK THANK THANK YOU !! I really like how you described how the hankerceif and pajamas match that was very nice

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHAK

[Scarlett]

Lovely thank you Battling mentally with the lushness of Johnny mixed with the slightly mad Wonker in this film. Im sure he was never as mad in the first one was he! Anyway, thanks again, I enjoyed it

[DaylightStarr]

prisma, I'm so glad you liked it. I never would have thought of this story without your request.

Scarlett, I totally agree. The thought of Johnny Depp sneezing was very nice. And yes, the old movie was much more tame than this one, but this one followed the book MUCH better.

[March Hare]

mmmmm. it does work lovely with a mind-pic our effing fanciable Mr. Depp in his Wonka suit. (OMFG THE INCREDIBLE CHARM OF THE BLOKE.) I also like your style. it's just the way he talks in the film. and those inventions wouldn't have put Roald Dahl to shame!

I only wish I had a bit of the Burtonesque touch of drawing so I could make some... illustrations

lovely little fic, thank you very much!

[sneezeadorer]

omg that was so good, thankyou thankyou!! . I just adore johnny depp and to imagine him sneezing as willy wonka...well... . Anybody know if there are any more of these charlie and the chocolate factory fics anywhere, or if you are planning to write anymore?? *hopes*

[Always]

Haha, I really liked this Great job

[Bluebird]

Absolutely ADORABLE! I'm a Johnny Depp fan, and the simple thought of him with a cold is enough to get me dreaming.

~Paws

[FromTheOtherRealm]

Love it!!!! I'm not a huge fan of cold fics but something about this one is just enough. Great job, I hope you will write more CatCF fics. (Psst...I'd love to see an allergy CatCF fic).