The one-time pad cipher is renowned for its theoretical perfect secrecy, yet its practical deployment is primarily hindered by the key-size and distribution challenge. Drawing inspiration from quantum key distribution (QKD), this study introduces a novel approach to key distribution called q-stream, designed to make symmetric-key cryptography, and the one-time pad cipher in particular, a viable option for contemporary secure communications, and specifically, post-quantum cryptography, leveraging quantum noise and combinatorics to ensure secure and efficient key-distribution between communicating parties. We demonstrate that our key-distribution mechanism has a variable, yet quantifiable hardness of at least 504 bits, established from immutable mathematical laws, rather than conjectured-intractability, and how we overcome the one-time pad key-size issue with a localised quantum-noise seeded key-generation ratchet function, having a system hardness of at least 2304 bits, while introducing sender authentication and message integrity. Whilst the proposed solution has obvious application in fields requiring both very high levels of security and core algorithmic stability, such as central bank digital currencies and blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, we show from our research with a prototype of q-stream, that it is sufficiently practical and scaleable for use in common browser-based web applications, without any modification to the browser (i.e. plug-ins), running above SSL/TLS at the application level.