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 Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 12:35 pm
For the first time in a long time, Caius was thinking about what he was going to do over the summer and wasn’t dreading any aspect of it. He had a home. He had a future. He had a safety net and he had plans.
The bakery was doing well, and he was getting support for his art and–honestly, things couldn’t be going any better.
The menu had changed a bit to incorporate some summer sweets, and he had some summer fruit themed charms hanging up. He was feeling fresh and excited for the future, and he’d already, tentatively made plans to attend a convention. With his own table. His own booth.
He was nervous and excited and–maybe getting ahead of himself, because they hadn’t sent out the email about attendance yet, but it was this week. Maybe even today. He pulled out his phone again between customers to check, but still no email.
Yet.
He hadn’t been this excited in a while and was trying not to let it distracted him.
Except, it was distracting, and he had to shake his head. “Hello, welcome,” he greeted, maybe a few seconds slow, but there was a lull in customers so he hoped it wasn’t too insulting to his new guest.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:17 pm
Sophie had heard only good things about this bakery, and she had several things that she wanted to buy. From sweets for her siblings and herself and Rose for the night, to everything single charm that they had in stock for Kelly, she was ready and grinned brightly as she moved to the counter.
“s**t! They’re even cuter in person!” Her eyes had found the charms first and swiftly, she plucked one of each, and then a second rabbit one for herself, plopping them down on the counter. “Okay, how much do you know about what the different things taste like? I came for the food as well as the charms, though…obviously the charms were most important but.”
Crouching down, Sophie hummed softly. “...If you were an older brother, which one would you get? And if you had an older sister, which would you get for her, which would you get for a girlfriend, and…” Her eyes lit up as she noticed a large éclair. “And that éclair for me, please!”
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 5:26 pm
Caius’ eyes snapped to hers and he looked nervous for a quick second before he remembered that he was at his job, that he was good at.
The éclair was the only easy thing about it and he quickly set about grabbing one for her.
He was a little flustered about her grabbing all of the charms, and a part of him wondered if it was some sort of prank, but he was hopeful that she actually wanted them, anyway.
“I know what everything here tastes like. Um. I don’t know if there’s a taste specific for brothers or sisters or girlfriends, but I can give a few suggestions. Um–like, our cookies come in all sorts of flavor. The birthday cake one tastes just like batter, and it’s got a light, fluffy texture. That and the red velvet and the lemon are my favorites right now because it’s a lot of flavor and I like how it crumbles in my mouth. Uhm–cake, we have a really, really good orange cake right now–and some dark chocolate cherry cupcakes, that aren’t too sweet? –Oh, and a mocha coffee cupcake, and–”
He hesitated and then laughed, a little nervously. “Sorry, I’m not really a good judge of who might like what. I really like everything here. Even the carrot cake. Oh–we’ve got a mocha cupcake, too, and–what do they like? I can probably just give you better suggestions like that, otherwise I’ll just keep listing off all my favorites.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 6:20 pm
“Oh! I’ll take the mocha coffee cupcake for my brother…and for my sister, whatever that pink cupcake is, it looks like one of her dresses…do you have anything that’s…spicy?” Rose liked things hot after all, so some kind of spicy sweet treat would be…fantastic. If there was such a thing.
“If nothing spicy, then something…salty? Like a salted chocolate…something if you have one? She’s…she’s funny and just deserves something to match her personality.”
Well, she wasn’t really funny, but she was something, that was for sure. “Can I also have one of the birthday cakes…just because you made it sound amazing and I’m really hungry for sweets now?”
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 6:31 pm
“Spicy,” he mused, and then pursed his lips and nodded. “Do you want to try a chocolate chili cupcake? It’s got a bite. Especially the cream inside, and the icing. It’s good to have a cup of milk. I mean, my limits aren’t a lot, but just in case. I can get you that, or sea salt caramel chocolate cupcake. They’re all good,” he said, and looked like even he was getting hungry right now.
But, it was easy enough to pluck the other ones she’d ask for by name. “Is it your first time here? I hope you like it enough to come back. You, um–you said about the charms, you liked them more in person?”
He tried not to sound too eager or hopeful for conversation on them. “Did you see them online and decide to come in?”
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 6:50 pm
Her head snapped up and she nodded eagerly. “Hell yeah! That would be perfect! A chocolate chili? Yes please!” Sophie looked so completely won over and nodded. “It’s my first time here, I did see them online, one of the people I follow on Instagram had them and was showing them off and linked this place, and I just had to come for myself and buy all of them for my sister. She adores cute things. You should see her room, she has about eighty stuffed animals, and these bunnies are just…ugh. She’s gonna die. In the best way.”
Sophie finally drew in a breath and looked back at the boy. “Are you the artist? You’re very talented! Do you do like, normal commissions? I don’t have any characters or anything, but..oh! I make bows, which…isn’t cool at all but if you’d ever want to do some kind of collab, I’d love to do some bow designs that you could sell and maybe put on your charms? If that…I mean literally that’s just. Pulled out of nowhere but.”
She shrugged, beaming. “...Worth a shot, yeah?”
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:23 pm
Oh, the pressure was back. Caius nearly dropped the chocolate chili cupcake but managed to save it without even smushing the icing. “A…collaboration?” he aksed, and seemed like his brain suddenly scrambled. “Um.”
It took him a few seconds because he had to process things.
“Well, I–yeah, I do commissions. Um, if you found us online–here,” he passed over the business card. “I don’t really get to make those types of decisions on my own–I mean, not entirely, but if you want to contact me, email that address and say that you were talking to Caius and that we were talking about the bows. Would it be possible for you to make, like, some summer themed bows? Pineapples, watermelons, strawberries, um–we can talk it out online. But I could probably make some charms wearing the bows you design, and we could maybe do something like that? We could advertise about it online, and if you’ve got a business card or stickers or something we could maybe throw them in? And we can figure out, like, the business details later–if you’d be interested! I still have to clear it with the owner but he usually trusts me. Um–but we could work something out maybe!”
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:00 pm
Oh! He was really interested, and that fact alone made Sophie brighten. “Seriously? Hell yeah! I’d be happy to make whatever you were interested, but summer bows sound fantastic.” Her mind was already thinking about watermelons and berries and sunshine, and Sophie nodded again, eager. “Yes. I would love that very much. I’ll message you tomorrow, or maybe when I get home. That would be amazing…I don’t want like. Money or anything but I’d love a set of the charms when you make them? If that would be okay? Ah! Sorry, business details later, yes!”
She grinned and eyed the cupcake, half wanting to just take a bite of it too but…
No, she had two treats for herself, and she would eat the birthday cake one here so that nobody would learn of her shame. And that was okay.
She deserved it.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:10 pm
“Oh, really?” He seemed surprised by the offer, but–they could work it out. He couldn’t help that now he was a little extra excited about all of this, too, and he couldn’t want to go find Nick and ask him what he thought about all of this.
He finished packing quickly and tallied up the price of everything together. He told her the price–just to get business out of the way–and then found himself feeling a little extra jittery and excited. “I’m looking forward to it. I put a business card in with the charms. When you send it in, I’d love to see some pictures of the bows you’ve made so far! I think it’s really neat to have a creative skill. I’m hoping to do, like, craft fairs and things. We’ll see what the future holds! But I’m really excited.”
Today felt like it was just overflowing with good news and positivity so he really couldn’t help himself, even if he tried not to beam too much.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:16 pm
“Your art is amazing, so I can see why you’re excited! Thank you for the service today! I’ll be in touch, okay?” Sophie grinned and took her stuff, heading to a table and all but tearing into the cupcake, her eyes closing in delight as she ate it and before she left the bakery, she flashed Caius a grin and a thumbs up, hoping to let him know that his suggestion had been a good one, and the treat had been utterly perfect.
For now though. She had to figure out how to make a collab possible…and how to get free treats out of it.
And prepare for Rose to visit!
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