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 Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:43 am
__A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR__
Jacqueline (pistolsys) and Gloria (Zanaroo)
Where: Cafe di Magia, at Apple District.
When: Springtime, just after spring break for the Apple District.
Why: A visit by a tomboy to a cafe on a disappointingly empty day!
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Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 2:20 pm
It was afternoon, and about time for evening coffee, which she often shared with other workers, yet it seemed she was a lone soul in a sea of freshly baked goods and empty seats. Gloria would have cleaned, but the Cafe had just recently reopened to its location in Apple District, and the wide window walls peering into the rest of the street were as immaculate as they could be, and the opposing walls painted in a comfortable rosy pink were uncomfortably bare.
Gloria sighed and sat at the chair behind the counter, crossing her leg and tapping her fingers against the cashier table while waiting for her beverage to brew. It was no standard coffee maker, and straining a beverage from it took a certain amount of patience that Gloria did not seem to have that day. She warily looked at the framed paintings peering just past the kitchen door, nuzzled behind the cashier area, which had yet to be put up. She reasoned that business was particularly slow because the cafe was so new to the idea.
There were many things to do, and a tremendous amount of patience to complete them all. Fortunately for Gloria, the coffee maker completed its task and beeped softly. She grabbed the mug and a basket of dried flowers she'd settled on her lap while waiting, and pushed past the cash register door towards one of the cafe's many rounded table. On particularly idle days during Gloria's many hours at Cafe di Magia, the young baker would sit down at a table and go about her daily work, one of which was making candles in the spring.
The clock struck three within minutes.
Gloria glanced up at the clock while plucking away flower petals, then noticed an abrupt ringing from outside. Upon looking out the city street, she noticed that the school not far away-- the rather large Teufel Town school annex-- was now practically leaking students. Every one of them went about their way, and in moments a few of them passed the cafe's transparent walls. A few of them oggled the baked goods inside, and Gloria smiled softly at them and waved. She stood, collecting her flower supplies, and returned to the cash register area, dropping off her cup of coffee and basket in exchange for one of the many aprons lined in front of the kitchen.
The bell at the threshold rang, and Gloria waited in front of the counter.
"Welcome to Cafe di Magia! What would you like to order?"
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 11:02 am
Shopping was something Johnsons were naturally horrible at. While JJ's sisters possessed a dragon-hunter's eye, Jack possessed the treasure-hunting skills of a rookie pirate. JJ had skipped an extra day after Spring Break specifically for searching. The afternoon mocked the youngest Johnson's earlier attempts in finding the perfect item for her father; she'd exhausted her morning in the Tuefel mall, cheeks covered in embarrassment. She'd entered many stores asking what would be suitable for a girl to buy her father. None of the recommendations seemed to be suitable, and some were rather inappropriate. She wondered if it had become popular in society to use of "father" as a euphemism for "boyfriend". Huey Johnson did not care for aesthetics. He wore simple clothing, said simple things--felt no requirement for extravagance. Jack inherited many of his aesthetic nuances, or lack of. Judging her from appearances was enough to deduce the fact. Her faded jeans showed weathered signs of having been washed one time too many. Her clothes were dark enough to blend with sculpting grime. Her fingers. JJ was self-conscious about her fingers and often pocketed her hands. Bandaged, calloused, not a girl's.
Sighing, she fumbled through her pockets and felt the cash that was still there. The sun's glare was no longer paining her eyes through her glasses, and it was easier for her to examine her surroundings now. She swore she'd take her father's offer on getting contacts eventually. Checking her cell phone, JJ saw that it was three. The girl ended a groan with a bite of her lip and a palm to her face. She'd just have to resort to being desperate. It was fine to admit having nothing when she really had nothing. Her father had said something before to that effect; his proverbs were generally synonymous to his general advice.
Usually, JJ asked her father for advice. Ironically, she couldn't ask her father for advice on what to buy him. Huey never bought her things that "suited" her, but each awkward gift was charming in its own oddness. The freckled girl hoped that her father would feel the same. She didn't know whether it was her own hunger or the pleasant aroma of a nearby Cafe that drew her into it, though admittedly, she smiled at the displayed food behind its transparent walls.
Her entrance was greeted by the threshold bell's ringing, and instantly she found her mouth going dry (which, had nothing to do with the store's scent).
There was a girl behind the counter. Uhhh.
"Oh uh..." JJ started, her freckles reddening. "I-I'm looking for something dads would like? This is probably a really weird place to do it but please hear me out--"
She noticed that one of her hands scratching her head and immediately dug it into a pocket with roadkill speed.
"--H-he likes to eat because he's a human being and that's a thing human beings do, they eat, not implying that humans are fat--"
Oh god I'm rambling--shut up JJ shut up.
"--but that cake is good, baked stuff is good."
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:57 pm
Gloria went silent and nodded at what her tomboy of a customer had to say, though she couldn't help but smile in response-- though she looked of similar age, the brunette couldn't help but think how adorable it was for this particular kind of girl to come to the cafe looking for something suitable to give her... father.
"May I ask what the occassion is? We have various flavors and sizes of cakes, which are in the display there, or you could have it custom-made, depending on how quickly you'd like it. Do you know if your father likes, say, fruit, or chocolate, or maybe something simple like a roll-cake? Humans are, unfortunately, rather picky," Gloria smiled, "Well, sometimes."
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:40 pm
Jack shoved her hands deeper into her pockets, trying her best to be terse yet polite. She's spoken to girls, but she didn't usually speak to ones that worked in places like these. She doesn't usually come to places like these, internet cafes maybe, but never legitimate bakeries, and the girl's compassion did not go unappreciated.
"Uh, his birthday's coming up, and I'm not sure what would be good for dad birthdays," came the lame confession, and the brunette's ears burned. "I don't think dad dislikes fruit and stuff, he doesn't really dislike anything, food especially, but that's really hard because--"
She sighed.
"--because it's hard to think about what he would like the most. He's not picky. He's just hard."
Sometimes Jacuqline wished her father was as whiny as her friends'.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:10 am
"Hmm... I think I understand what you mean. It's okay, maybe you can look through our cakes and see which one might suit him well, and I'll get out the custom cakes binder."
She bent down and took out a small, pastel pink behinder and offered it to Jacqueline. Inside were handwritten notes about a variety of things-- what colors of marzipan were available, what flavors were available, frostings, ice creams... Gloria was fairly confident of it and her cakes, though admittedly she hadn't done a batch bigger than cupcakes lately. "If you can spare a wait for one to two days, you could get a custom cake for your father. You could theme it in any way you like-- does he like sports or any particular movies? Books? Hmm..."
Most of her customers were fairly eager to dictate which cakes they wanted, as they were mostly of the motherly persuasion. Gloria was thankful for the relatively empty day, as she enjoyed helping with what she could when customers didn't know quite exactly what they wanted. She opened the corner display container with the cakes and truffles, and added a bit of magic to them to intensify the smells a bit more-- she hoped at least one would capture Jacqueline's attention.
"In terms of flavor, yellow cake or chocolate is a favored flavor, especially for birthdays." Gloria looked up delightedly, "Are you going to be throwing a party for him?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:23 am
"Ok. Thanks."
Jacqueline felt like a boy in a cosmetic store; her cheeks heated as she flipped vigorously through the cake pages, and she ended up exhausting the custom cakes binder faster than she thought she would. The descriptions underneath each picture were beginning to make her dizzy, and all the worries she didn't previously have were now settling in and becoming stalwart. There were so many goddamn factors that she never even considered such as frosting, ice creams, and Gloria (or so her nametag read) was being so generously expansive about what the store had to offer that Jacqueline found it more difficult to decide on any given detail.
"Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man," she started to ramble, and scratched the back of her neck as she flipped the pages backwards this time. "Vanilla....Bananananana....Vanibanilla....what would dad even..."
The same images mocked her indecision, but she noticed that Gloria had done her a favor by opening a display container to narrow down her choices and preoccupied herself with that instead. She pointed at her final choice.
"...I'll uh...take some of those I guess. Haha. Truffles. Baller."
It took Jacqueline a second to realize that Gloria had asked her a second question. She looked sharply at the other girl and blushed even harder, making her freckles all the more visible.
"A party would be pretty much like a mega-boss challenge," she frankly admitted, feeling horribly uneducated about her own father. She closed the binder lid, and put her hands behind her back. "I don't even know what cake to buy him since he likes pretty much everything. Sorry for being a hard customer. It's not me, it's my dad. He's the most agreeable guy and it's actually frustrating in some situations, but hopefully you won't get any more of those today."
She managed to pull a wry grin while mussing with a loose band-aid on her hand.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:23 pm
Gloria couldn't help but giggle whenever Jacqueline spoke, though she managed to keep it to a fair minimum. There were a few confused customers here and there that landed in the cafe due to party-related business, though none of them seemed quite as frustrated and excited as the girl before her.
Vanibanilla was a silly name recommended by one of her workers, though Gloria glowed with fondness at the mention of it. "Vanibanilla is a family favorite. It goes well with so many frostings and ice creams, too, so you can experiment!"
But, of course, the estute Johnson made her decision, and Gloria nodded firmly. "Alright, a truffle cake! Just a plain chocolate-and-circle one? We have one on the counter, if so, and we can write something on the top of it for you for no extra charge. Maybe a white frosting would contrast well, hm?"
Gloria giggled, furrowing her brows a bit. "I'm not too sure what a mega-boss challenge is, but I do understand the predicament you're going through... Don't worry! I'm sure your father would appreciate anything you bought for him, if he's not picky. It's the thought that counts, right?"
The telephone at the cashier counter rang abruptly.
"Oh! Excuse me a minute. I'll give you a minute to think about the cake, okay?"
Gloria rushed over to the phone and stared at the phone number-- her eyes narrowed somewhat, though she picked up nonetheless.
"Hanna?"
"Yes, Hanna, hello. Hanna, dear, I'm working right now. Is it urgent?"
Gloria grew silent.
"...In Apple District? Are you so sure?"
She frowned.
"Okay. Feel free to drop by. I can close up early today, if need be."
Gloria hung up and sighed, one hand to cheek, though she straightened up and smiled before going back to Jacqueline. "I'm sorry about that, dear. Anyways, have you thought over anything else you'd like?"
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