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Charley and Dean Norris were off doing lord knew what since Cassian had told them he was going to go 'look around somewhere else' in the mall. He'd texted his mom four times so she knew that no he wasn't lost again (it had been a horrible excuse to pull on them the first time he'd gone missing all night, but it had been effective in not having his activity pried into) and occasionally to let them know where he was.

To be honest, after a small side-trip into Build-A-Bear....the mall was increasingly uninteresting to Cassian. Build-A-Bear hadn't even had proper unicorns and he avoided the My Little Pony ones for reasons (had anybody seen the bronies? He didn't want to be lumped in with that and have his unicorn affections tainted by such reputation).



Cassian checked his phone when it vibrated, staring at the message on it with a half sigh. No, he didn't want to watch Dean get fitted for a uniform. He also wasn't looking forward to college tours, so he had a lot to not look forward to. What he needed was a good ol' pick-me-up. He paused to look at the mini-map in one of the mall's wings, looking over the list of shops. Tea, Razors, Hot Topic (no), Shoes, Cookies, Sugar Cube, Japanese Souvenir Store (...in Destiny City?), he hummed as he looked over them all before tapping his finger on one of them.

It took him a minute on the map to find it before setting off.

It turned out The Sugar Cube wasn't actually a candy store, so Cassian's plan was only half foiled as he stepped inside to take a look around. This just meant Dean wouldn't get anything....maybe. At least there were a few people to keep the place looking busy while he tried to figure out where to even start.

Hoo boy.

And there he was, the grown up version of Dean greeting him behind the counter. Cassian had clearly walked through a time warp and was very confused for a moment. The resemblance was almost uncanny and it was only when his phone vibrated with a picture of said brother looking very unhappy in the sizing room that Cassian shook his head and lifted his hand to return the greeting.

Where were his manners?

"Hello! I've never been in before so I thought I'd peek in and see what we had going on in here," he said, beaming brightly as he made his way over to the the display of sweets. They had a fairly good variety, at least, and Cassian slowly eyed each of them and what their ingredients seemed to be. "Funfetti Cheesecake...?" was that like a funfetti cake mix dumped into a cheesecake batter? Because it sounded like it'd be pretty darn good. "Aaaannnd..." hmmmmm.....

Cassian looked up towards the blonde man who had greeted him when he entered, "What typically sells the best?" he asked.

"Yeah? You haven't noticed a pattern?" usually there was at least one thing that people were inclined towards. Just looking at the display he could tell, for example, that the cookies sold a little bit better than the cakes did. Part of that was their cheaper price point, plus their ability to be eaten on the go, however.

Cassian eyeballed the plate of broken cookies when they were motioned to, giving Daniel a small nod before taking one of the broken pieces and taking a bite.

He tried so hard to not look overwhelmed by sugar. Cassian would eat everything (he'd eaten liver. He'd eaten a live octopus before. He was not afraid of food.) but some things he wasn't inclined to try again immediately. Then again, the place had 'sugar' in the name. He should have expected it. That one needed less white sugar and more brown. At least in his Hi I have a cookbook being published opinion.

"So do you cook these in the back or do you have an off-site kitchen where you cook everything and have someone bring it over every day?" he asked, though he guessed from a mix of 'hi, we're part of a mall' and 'this room isn't sweltering hot all day', it was the second of the two. Idly, he picked out a second piece of a different looking cookie.

Some sort of raspberry-cheesecake cookie. It had chunks in it. Wasn't too bad. "This one would be good with a little sour cream in the batter," he commented under his breath idly. He couldn't help it. Cassian was so sorry he was a cooking snob at heart. "Which one is this?" he spoke louder this time, holding the cookie up.

Cassian wasn't being mean, though. He was just surprised. Usually a place could at least narrow it down to 'oh, ____,____, and _____ are our most popular'. Sounded like this guy didn't mind because hey, things sold and people were happy. Frankly, that worked for him! "You'd probably like Sour Cream cookies pretty well. They're a more mellow flavor. It's a good ingredient if you want to cut something strong like ginger." he had no idea if Daniel even had that kind of power when it came to the cookies, but Cassian gave the helpful tip anyways.

When the pinkette pipped up, he looked over towards her with a slight raise of his brows. Well. Someone definitely knew what it was she liked (and was going to let him know).

"Gotcha. Probably for the best. It'd probably be a power hog to have an oven here. Especially one with the gusto needed to make all of these," he motioned with a hand to the entirety of the sweets display. He looked down to the cookie in his hand when it was spoken of. "Yeah, it's got a good zing to it. Raspberries are good for that little extra punch if you get them fresh enough." he nodded. "So it's sweets and..." he finally glanced up towards the menu above head, "...drinks..." hoo boy, "what do people usually get with this one? Do you know?" Personally he liked his coffee just straight up black, but he wouldn't be against an Earl Grey to pair with the raspberry flavor.

Cassian's brows lifted slightly. "What time in the morning would you need me to bring them by?" he asked, clearly curious. Certainly he had his own mess of things to deal with, "I'd also need to have details on how large your orders normally are so I could try to match up with all of it." However, he didn't seem intimidated by the idea. Frankly, Cassian was somewhat allowed to do whatever it was he wanted with his school life because of the looser schedule he kept.....plus summer vacation was about to give him all of the free time in the world.

'Extra' money wasn't really a motivator, though.

"I typically like my coffee black, but that'd overwhelm this. Chai tends to be a little too sweet sometimes, so I think I'll take an um...." shoot, he was going to have to try and convert from metric. It may have been one of his downsides of a move from overseas. "whatever your middle size is of the Earl Grey." he paused after throwing out such a non technical term, cheeks tinging pink. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to a new measurement system," he added, almost sheepishly.

"Out-of-country-er, definitely," Cassian confirmed, "Greece, to be exact." He half-watched the cup as it was passed off to the pinkette, giving the young woman a long look of half-interest (she sure didn't seem to enjoy being there. Why was she there if she didn't like it?) before looking back to Daniel and offering a hand. "Cassian Norris, by the way." Introductions were fairly important and his name wasn't on a badge on his shirt.

"Well, if I make sure to make the dough the night before and let it sit in the fridge, that means come...oh, six in the morning I'd be able to get everything into the oven and warm and fresh over here probably fifteen minutes before opening," he clearly had a science when it came to his methods, "and if I limit myself to two varieties a day - maybe see what sells best of them and make it a day-to-day thing then a secondary 'day of the week' special - then that's really not too bad at all. Start with two dozen or so and see where it goes from there."

Cassian was a meal planner, so while his mouth went a mile a minute (a little slower, actually, but still) his brain was already twelve years ahead of him having planned out ten different types of cookies. This was the same guy who did once a week meal prep for 12 different people at the current time. Culinary school was not going to be ready for him.

"I'll need to compare what is currently on your menu and make sure I don't get too copy-cat or overlap what your current baker offers for sure."

Was Destiny City 'boring' compared to home? Well, he still longed for Greece, but he wasn't certain he longed for it for being Greece more than the people who were there. He shrugged his shoulders a bit, "There's certainly less rich cultural history to admire on a day-to-day basis, but it's still an adventure I'm going through," he took the tea when it was handed to him, smiling as he sort of...left his debit card on the table and waited (he'd eventually be handed one of the Raspberry Rascals as well, maybe and then they could have his money).

When Daniel returned with the menu, Cassian took it, flipping front and back before pausing to look down the listed items curiously. "Whoever is taking care of you guys at least has a nice variety," he said with a nod, quietly adjusting some of the options he'd had in his head. Maybe he'd make something with Lavender, that could be pretty good.

Idly, he took a sip of the tea...just straight up with no sugar. It was probably because he liked his coffee black too. "Is tea a decent seller here?" Cassian could never tell. Some places really liked it, others preferred their more robust drinks. Which was fair. "Some small tea cookies would probably do well if it is." Mentally, he flipped through some more options. "Yeah, I think it'd be completely doable to add to this list. Some things won't be as sweet, but I think there's a place for that."

Cassian stubbornly pushed the debit card back towards Daniel with a frown.

"I insist on at least paying for what I ordered," he said, even if that would still net him a few freebies that would likely end up shared with his younger brother. Dean would be so jealous that his brother had so many cookies - well, some of those didn't exactly look like cookies, but still.

The card still remained firmly on the counter as Cassian took the bag. He didn't open it to peer inside. That'd wait until he was home and could segment them up to try a piece of each (and know fully well the other halves would end up eaten by various family members).

"Is it? I see so many coffee shops that sometimes I wonder. Good information to have." Cassian looked down at the teal menu he'd been offered earlier, "Can I take this as well? I'll bring it back if needed, I just want to make sure first.."