Color Theory (Nickloon)

Chapter 3

"I'm happy you've taken an interest in my aura readings, Balloon," Candle says, "but may I ask why?"

It's clear Balloon wasn't well versed in the subject of aura readings or color theory to make an accurate prediction by himself, and it's what he wanted when he thought of his brilliant idea in the first place, so he had to ask the one who knew the most about it. He has no reason to believe Candle isn't using this to her advantage already, but he'll lay low about it for now, and he's already got the perfect cover up.

"You have to keep it a secret, okay?" Balloon whispers.

Candle nods, seemingly intrigued.

Balloon looks around before answering in a hushed tone, "It's about Nickel. I was hoping that this could help me understand him– or, well, us a little better."

It isn't a lie exactly; Candle doesn't need to know about the argument, nor about Balloon's original idea to get the other contestants to like him, but at this point, any information could help.

Candle doesn't seem too surprised by this, smiling calmly with her hands clasped together. "How sweet. I know you and Nickel didn't get along in the beginning, but you two seem to be much closer the further the competition goes. I even hear you'd call yourself "friends," no?"

There it is, the word that makes his heart skyrocket, but in his current situation it only makes his heart sink. "Y-yeah! That's right, it's just that I don't think we have anything in common. I mean, we're really different people, you know?"

"That's what I thought too," Candle says, "but I think you'll be surprised to find you two are actually quite similar. You were a contender on season two, yes? How did that go?"

This isn't the way he thought this would go, but anything helps, so he goes along with it. "It was rough. I finally realized that I had messed up in season one, and I wanted to try to fix things, better myself now that I had a second chance, but it just didn't work out."

"And why not?"

Balloon shrugs. "I just kept messing up. I was really trying to get people to like me, but people only saw me as the same, manipulative guy I was before. Even in my attempts to be good, I was always stepping on someone else's toes." He chuckles sadly, "Nickel's especially."

Candle is oddly quiet for a moment, and it sort of scares him. "...I, uh, did I say something wrong?"

"Oh no," Candle smiles a warm, gentle smile, "I think you'll find that you said everything right."

Balloon frowns. "But I don't get it, what does that have to do with Nickel?"

Candle is silent once more before she shakes her head. "Your aura, Balloon, is a source of energy that comes from deep within. Not only does it expose your strengths, but it also shows your weaknesses and your deepest, deepest desires. Sort of like your horoscope."

She takes Balloon's hands into hers, looking him square in the face. "Teal is not one way nor the other, neither this nor that. You are an honest person deep down, forgiving and open to change. but you tend to push down the truth in order to save yourself and others."

Candle smiles. "And like green, while you tend to mean well, you get so caught up in your emotions that the intention flies over other's heads. The only difference however, is that mix of blue in you. You easily find yourself moving forward. It is the world that must follow suit. Green takes a while to finally come around to discovering its true self. It too, pushes the truth down, until either it explodes—"

Candle suddenly rips her hands away from Balloon's, startling him, then she wiggles her fingers and slowly brings them down, resembling confetti drifting to the ground.

"Or," she says, clasping her hands together again, "someone else finds it, like treasure in the sand." She winks.

With no words to say, Balloon lets out an astonished puff of air. Candle seems rather pleased with this reaction.

"Auras help you to better understand not only yourself, but the people around you, but just like people, sometimes certain auras do not blend well with each other despite being well matched theoretically."

She says, "Now, it is your choice what you do with this information, and how you handle it going forward."

"Thank you, Candle." Balloon says. "This...was a lot! But it was so eye opening!"

"Happy to help. If you need anything else, palm readings, horoscope compatibility, meditation sessions, just let me know."

Oh, he definitely would.

For the rest of the evening, Balloon sits in his spot by the sea and writes down all the information he's learned from Candle. He redraws his color wheel and completely rewrites the notes he had before, going into even more detail than he ever knew he could. Suddenly, there are even more colors than he ever thought possible. Maroon, beige, caramel.

He even decides to rewrite his original annotation for salmon, though that's one that remains almost perfectly intact with its original draft.

By the end of the night, he's fallen asleep by the shore with his journal in hand, drifting off into a world of color he never knew was possible.

When he wakes up to an aqua sky, he finally decides what to do with the information Candle gave him.
 
He's gonna need a lot of paper.