Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a rather lovely day, to be sure. The cool, salty scent of the sea swept fully through the city, as though intent on following Mako on his trip. They would be visiting his mother's family soon, and he had been tasked with fetching gifts in the form of food. Everyone liked food! He peered around in search of good places to shop, but it was the scent of warm bread that cut through the salted air. With an intrigued smile, he followed the scent until he found the bakery.

"Excuse me. Do you have any recommendations?"

He wasn't quite sure about the young lady's smile, but maybe it was just normal for her? She looked like she didn't do it very often. Mako pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I appreciate the thought, but it's not just me I'm getting this for. It's a whole bunch of people." He managed to chuckle lightly. "A whole bunch. Between everyone, they'll eat anything." He raised his finger to tap his chin a little. Surely there was something she could do to narrow down the options. "Maybe.. something easy to share. Not too messy. Easy for the littles to eat."

After a pause, Mako let out a light laugh. "Really big family. Mom is one of five, and most of them have their own kids." Using treats to butter up coworkers though... that was certainly something to keep in mind for the future. Would employees appreciate treats on occasion? Maybe even regularly? Interesting thought.

He headed inside as directed, unable to help how he stopped short after crossing the threshold. By the depths, it smelled even better inside! "Browsing might be dangerous," he mused with a little smirk. He went to the nearest shelf and leaned closer to look at the bread with a delicately marked crust. How did they do that? "I like the idea of a variety pack though. Any special packages or-" Out of nowhere, a sneeze sped through Mako's entire body. His hands came up as quickly as they could and he fell backward to prevent himself from getting anything on the fine breads. That didn't mean anything for the tall display of muffins that he backed into. With his hands busy covering his mouth, he went toppling right along with it.

Mako might have learned how to keep his feet in a fight, but no one had trained him to do so with a sneeze attack!

Once Mako had rolled off the display, the hands covering his face from the sneeze shifted to press over his eyes with annoyance and embarrassment. Gods, that must have looked so DUMB! If he ended up with a shop, he would have to find another town! He couldn't have such a fumblefoot reputation...

"Ah.. I'll probably bruise, but my ego took the biggest hit," he grumbled as he got to his knees to take in the damage. Thankfully, it seemed that the display was intact. Some of the poor muffins though... "I'm so sorry. I'll pay for all of those that fell." He looked up to Inali, and then quickly away again to focus on helping clean the mess he had caused. So stupid! "Is the display okay? I'll find a way to pay for that, too."

Mako nodded emphatically, scooping up whatever was within reach. He couldn't help a surprised but appreciative glance as well. He'd seen his share of business folk would wring a customer dry over an accident rather than take the hit for that customer's sake. It was refreshing, and helped him to relax a little. "Thanks. I'll help get as much as you need." If that was the case, perhaps he would just spend a little more than he had originally intended.

Feeling better about the girl's reaction didn't stop his cheeks from flourishing hot at the playful tease. "It's, uh, M-Mako... My name's Mako." He let a bit of play rise to his own expression. "Although, 'The Display Destroyer' does have a nice ring to it." He stood and walked his collection of muffins over to a counter and gently set them down. Now he could focus on the shelves. "Are you working alone at the moment? Maybe I can get this done and run before someone angrier comes in." Though he spoke with a light-hearted tone, he was quite serious in his mind. Inali was being nice about it, but maybe other employees would be less forgiving!

The laugh caught him by surprise, but he couldn't help following with his own chuckle of amusement. Being known as a 'destroyer' wasn't ideal, but maybe it would be a fun alter ego! As long as, you know, he didn't actually go around damaging others' property on purpose. "So this is family owned. No wonder everything looks so good." He gave another chuckle, a hint of wariness in his tone. "Your papa... yeah, that might motivate me a bit. We'll at least get the mess out of the way."

He followed Inali's lead and plucked up another shelf to pop back into place. As he did, he leaned closer to look at how the shelves fit into place. Oh.. that one had a crack in it. "I know where to find some good quality wood if you want this replaced. Or, if you've got the tools here, I can patch this up to get it back in order. It's not my primary job, but I know a little about woodworking."

Mako nodded affirmatively, though his eyes lingered on the young woman briefly. Confidence was so pretty on her... He quickly snapped his gaze back on his new project and clapped his hands together. "Great! I'll just do some measurements and go get that wood right away."

In the end, the shop had its display back up and functional. It wasn't any fancy professional work, but it did its job and didn't look any worse for the wear. While the circumstance was unfortunate, he felt good about his work.