The bakery was a source of homely comfort for Arias, for which he was exceptionally grateful for in these times. He'd been getting himself into too much trouble lately. He'd have loved if he could just take a few days to be by himself, stay in the kitchen, let one of the other employees handle the customers…

But there wasn't anyone.

Their staff had always been small in number, but Arias preferred a close knit workplace. Unfortunately the down side to that meant that when one didn't show up, he usually wound up carrying the extra weight.

So, there he was, baking, icing, and working at the counter, wondering how he'd talked himself out of hiring a new employee to replace the one he suspected was never coming in again. He was worn out enough already without doing multiple jobs here.

Still, he tried not to let it affect his demeanor. Work was a nice distraction from the other problems in his life.

Today, the bakery smelled distinctly chocolate, and no wonder; at the counter with Arias were two trays of fresh chocolate cupcakes. Thankfully, he didn't have an influx of customers—for the moment—which gave him a few extra minutes to ice and decorate the sweets. Which would have been much easier if he hadn't been daydreaming about how sore he was from the last Negaverse run in, or worrying about the friend he'd just discovered had corrupted, or wishing the phantom pains in his arm would just go away—at least while he was working…

Thoughts swirled through his head, and it was a wonder he could even focus enough to evenly layer the icing on his cupcakes. Which, despite his absentmindedness, were coming along splendidly.

Kaefaux