Participants:
| Scene Title | Afternoon Delights |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The first day of Oh So Sweet turns out to be a steady day, and promising until Niklaus ruins the strudel. |
| Date | October 5, 2010 |
The interior of the dessert bar is lit enough to see the drink menus and the tables but dim enough to preserve the intimate atmosphere that is evident in small tables made for two populate the dessert bar that is Oh So Sweet. Here and there, espresso colored wooden tables are pushed together to seat larger groups, straight backed black chairs surrounding them. Single lights on long cords drop down just out of head bumping range, lighting up the darker regions of the bar.
A massive oak bar takes up one side of the main room, a part of the building from ages past when it was just a bar, mirrors lining behind it to give the illusion of more space and reflect what light there is available. Glasses of varying types and sizes hanging down in holders, stacked against the mirror or under the counter and waiting to be used. And old fashioned looking machine rests in it's copper gleaming glory, capable of producing a variety of drinks like coffee, espresso, latte's, the list is endless. Backless stools line the customer side of the bar, red fabric to match the red damask fabric that hangs down the walls to help dampen the sounds of customers when the place is busy.
Across from the bar runs a glass faced refrigerated counter, shoulder height, filled with just about every possible dessert that one could desire and want, lit up and with little placards dictating what they are. The offerings rotate daily, sometimes every few hours and a door to the kitchen behind them gives access to staff to fill the orders and fill the showcase. The back room opens up to the main area, a small raised area for live entertainment to be had when the times are right. A door marked staff only in the far back leads to the kitchens and another to the restroom's and a private area that can be rented out for private parties.
It's now hitting half past four in the afternoon and while things have picked up a little bit with the opening of Oh So Sweet in Soho it's four and change hours in, it's not the turnout that the owner nor the employees were hoping for. But it's not bad either and has been steady thanks to it's location in the more populated portion on canal street and it's corner lot. There's still 4 more hours left in the day and opening for the morning to catch the breakfast rush with a supply of muffins and pastries is looking like it might not be a bad idea.
The sign painted onto the barr'd windows of the gothic looking building proclaims in cream and raspberry, that it is Oh So Sweets, a dessert shop. Serving coffee, alcoholic drinks, it's main claim is the other scent wafting out that accompanies the scent of cappucino's and latte's. Desserts. A sandwich board outside proclaims that the weeks specials are a dark chocolate souffle, an apple bread pudding and vegan peanut butter cups. Something it seems, for everyone.
Of the twenty tables in the shop, only 8 seem occupied, more in the front than the back, light coming in from the windows and the lamps that hang down from the ceiling. A red haired familiar face to some, wearing more make up than is decent for this house, fills orders for coffee's behind the oak bar, and the odd drink at this hour. The current climate of the city, the curfew making pocketbooks hurt, are certainly evident in the lack of excess people to come in and treat themselves. It's what prompted the change in the business in the first place and maybe it's this little niche and uniqueness in the market that will set it apart and get it noticed with time.
Abigail's wiping down a table as someone leaves, a raspberry colored shirt with the logo that's across the window, screened high across the chest, black apron tied around her hips and making sure that no trace of anything sweet or bitter remains on the table with a wipe down of water and vinegar. A small tin can of colored pens is rearranged on the dark surface along with a notepad for customers to doodle in or kids to and a votive that has yet to be lit.
Two people sit in the back room of the place hunkered over computers and books, having discovered the joys of free wifi (God Bless Linus) - provided they purchase something to justify their taking up of the tables. A woman and her toddler take up the front, on their way home and sharing a stolen moment and some hot chocolate. A businessman off early, but still working and typing away.
The blonde seems happy with it, with how things are going, even if they're not going to the best that she had hoped. This is New York after all. Restaurants open and close in a week and if you can stay open a year, it's considered a success. Something in her life, besides Robert, seems to be going well.
Savannah has a date. Nope, it isn't a business thing. It's a real date, which means that, despite hanging out with Kam on a regular basis, the blonde is slightly nervous, slightly giddy, and smiling charmingly. Stepping inside the shop, the author's eyes go wide. "Oh, oh. Good choice. Guilty pleasures all around and there's… alcohol. Have I died and gone to heaven?" A half-step behind her, and led by the hand, is Kam Abbot.
Another such couple entering shortly behind is Elaine… who hasn't quite been entirely honest. No time like the present to come clean. "So, um, I picked up a second job the other day! I forgot to tell you." She smiles winningly as they stride through the door. "Hey, what a coincidence. It just happens to be here." She peers over at Magnes with an innocent smile.
The door opens and in steps Daphne at a sedate and normal pace — there is no rustle and rush of wind to accompany her, since she's planning on actually being seen on this errand as something other than a blur of color. Her eyes take in the decor and the menu boards, her cheeks rosy from no doubt rushing around the city prior to this.
"Hey!" she says with surprise, her eyes alighting on Magnes and Elaine and giving them a grin before moving closer to Abby. "This place looks great! I heard you were opening a new bar. This is totally my kind of place. What sort of French goodies do you have I can take to go for a certain gloomygus?" Abby may know she means Corbin, though she's not going to name the rogue agent by name. "I don't know if a souffle will travel well." Especially at high speeds. "Financiers, maybe? Any charlotte? Or I can just try one of everything…" It's not like she lacks cash.
"Wait, what?" Magnes asks as he looks around the shop, taking one deel inhale of the desserts. "You work in a… bakery… shop." He looks up at a sign. "Dessert bar. Is that Abby? What's going on here?" Yes, he's confused and just a bit brain-addled for reasons beyond his mental compulsion. He's wearing a black t-shirt with a red X-Men X on the left of the chest, blue jeans, and his black sneakers. Then, suddenly Daphne steps in. "Daphne's here too!"
Savannah and Abbot. Strangers. Which is an oddity when you know Abby, in that she seems to know everyone. "Take a seat, any seat" She calls out to them with a smile. "Someone will be with you soon" Likely her, not Brenda who's content to fiddle with the beast of a machine and get the hang of making stuff.
Daphne she knows and straightens up when the speedster appears. "Uhh we got some apple charlotte's and some…. There should be Macaron's too. Lots of stuff Daphne, if you want to look" She plucks up a little folded card menu, listing the regular stuff that's available. "Something should make gloomygus smile and thanks. It's finally open" After ages. There's a glance to Elaine and Magnes, waiting to see what they do, heading to the counter so she can deposit her rag and spray bottle.
Only an event of some importance could draw Kamber Abbot from the performance of his duties, which duties, today, chiefly involved tearing through the newly released 'Behemoth' by Scott Westerfeld, something of a phenomenon in the young adult science fiction scene. The difficulty of reading such work is that it's so terribly hard to step out of the charm of the prose long enough to figure out just what about the prose is charming, which is really why he's reading it. Officially.
But it's not literary charms that hold his interest tonight. At least, not the charms of literature, so much as the charms of a literateur which is not a word but please, don't be such a picky reader, no one should try to be that guy. A date, yes, which is why Kam is wearing a jacket and tie in bold Welsh Dragon red. His eyes sweep around the room, then flick over to Savannah, who receives a smile that he must be toning down from a grin. Not wanting to be too expressive in public, demonstrating the composure expected from the son of an island nation.
"Heaven holds no such decadence," he states, if grandly, "pretty sure we made it here in one piece. Though some of the taxi drivers out there…" He squeezes Savannah's hand. "Glad you like it. Got tipped off by one of my school friends. Real sweet tooth. Knows about every last dessert restaurant and pastry place, and he said this was the one to wait for," he glances around, "though I don't see him anywhere. Maybe he had conflicting plans?"
Savannah smiles as Abby suggests taking a seat, and she moves towards the table with Kam, looking back towards him. "Well, perhaps he's already been and gone, aching at home both hungover and full of overly-sweet desserts." As she slides into a seat, the blonde author's still eying what desserts she sees. "I believe you may have to carry me home after I pass out in a food coma."
Elaine looks kind of guilty for not having mentioned it before, but she smiles at Magnes. "Yes. I work in a dessert bar, and yes, that would be Abby. I happen to like baking. And I happen to think this place is pretty cool. We should go say hi, at least." She offers a small wave to Abby before she drags Magnes in that direction.
"Well, I liked the old place, but this is fabulous. I have a sweet tooth. I'll probably stop by a lot when I need a pick-me-up," Daphne says, opening the menu and reading the litany of sweets. "By the way, lemme know if you need any special ingredients that you can't get in this country, and I can maybe make a run for you. No taxes or tariffs, free of charge. Just pay me for the actual purchase." Like she'd actually purchase the items, whatever they may be! But a girl needs to make a profit, right?
"You do do to-go orders?" the petite speedster says. "I mean for the bakery items. I'd guess not for the drinks." She flashes a grin, then turns to look over her shoulder at Magnes and Elaine as they approach. "Nice place, huh? We're all going to get fat and happy, thanks to the nun here."
"I like it, and, wait, this is Abby's place? I'm always the last to know in Abby news." Magnes playfully rolls his eyes once they approach the owner, then starts scanning the room for a table. "I think Isabelle would have liked it."
"If it can go in a styrofoam cup, we got the lids for it and yeah, we can box up stuff Daphne and.. I'll let my head baker know about that. I'm sure he'll wave his spoon in delight and produce a list of stuff. Just let me know what you want and I'll make sure it's boxed real good for you" Withstand the use of Daphne's ability. She props a little notepad over by the petite platinum blonde. "Write down what you want, free on the house for gloomy gus, make sure to let him know it's to cheer him up?" It wouldn't be Francois, Francois's gone to save his errant boyfriend from certain institute horror.
Savannah and Abbot in their chosen seat, Elaine and Magnes getting a wave from Abigail and a gesture for them to find a seat. The table will start to fill up a bit more it seems. Possibly. "Hi y'all" Southern as they come, deposited in New York. "Welcome to Oh So Sweet, my name is Abigail, but you can call me the nun. If you want to see what the desserts look like, you can hit up the counter or consult the list. Mirror has the specials" Abby gestures to where they're written on the mirror behind the bar that lists both edible and drinkable specials. "Do you know what I can get you to drink?"
"Oh, oh, thank you," Kam answers Abby, a bit too late, really, and with a touch of fluster. Too late, also, to pull out Savannah's seat. Whoops. He takes his own seat, fiddling with his tie with one hand as his other takes up the menu. "I must say, I'm a chocolate die hard. I really don't know what Europe did with itself before it trampled the Aztecs… or was it the Mayans? I can't keep my colonialisms straight for the life of me." He peeks over the menu at Savannah. "I'll use a fireman carry, if that's alright. If I do the 'over the threshold' carry I just know I'll bonk your head against something."
Oh, but now they're being asked what they want. He knows, luckily. But he can't order yet. Ladies first. It's an iron bound rule. His eyes lift, expectant, to Savannah, before moving over to Abigail, giving her a grateful smile. A tacit thanks for her graciousness.
Certain things can draw teenagers like iron filings to a magnet. Great sales on shoes or silly hats. Wet t-shirt contests. New bakery openings! Teenagers aren't so old as to have lost their sweet tooth yet, and so the sticky sweet of a bakery opening will pull them in.
So its no surprise when a burly teenager opens up the door to come on in. Its Brand! Athlete and high school walkabout. You can tell by the letterman's jacket! He looks around, searching for the right counter.
Savannah's grinning. "Just what we need. A food coma and a concussion." She peers back towards Abby cheerfully. "The nun? Don't quite seem like the cloistered type to me, but… I won't pry too much into the nickname." The blonde author grin's grin remains before her eyes flicker to Kam. "Think it's too early to get started on a hangover too? No, no, I think it's not." She proceeds to order some ridiculously sweet mixed drink and a red velvet something-or-another. "Thank you so much, Abby."
"Glad you approve. I was practicing on Linus since he doesn't have a huge sweet tooth so I'd bring him cookies and cakes and things and if he liked them, I'd know for sure they were good." Elaine's eyes flicker towards some shiny-bits near Abby's neck, tilting her head to admire for a second. "Those are pretty." She comments before she lets Abby go about her business, moving towards a table she caught Magnes looking at. "Well, I guess I keep in touch with Abby now more then you do, huh?"
Taking the pad and pen, Daphne pauses a moment to consider — a moment for her is much longer for the average bear, of course, and it's not long before her quick scrawl fills the page with several items. A dozen eclairs tops the list — her personal favorite, of course, but she'll share with Corbin. "Not on you — you can't start a business and give away all the cookies for free! I have cash. You can give me the free stuff after I run a few errands to France for you, right?" Daphne says, handing back the notepad and grinning.
The speedy pixie glances over at Kam. "Aztecs. It was cacahuatl, but the Spanish already had the word caca meaning something else, and chocolate being brown and… yeah, they changed the name. Did you know avocado comes from ahuacatl which means testicle in Aztecan? Think about it! Very apt name, right? Especially when they're a little old and wrinkly. The avocados I mean."
Does this woman really need any sugar?
Magnes sits at the table with Elaine and flashes Brenda a friendly smile, then turns his gaze mostly in between Abby and Elaine. "I knew it! I've been saying this forever; I knew you two would be friends! You're both way too awesome not to be friends." He crosses his arms with a mock cocky smile. "Magnes one, everyone else a million."
Baked goods need to be baked before they are devoured by yonder mouths; that is where the kitchen help comes in. Well, until they want to take a break and leave the rest to someone else, or simply take the opportunity provided by everything having been baked. Delilah is mushing together the best of both worlds, thanks to Abby being very gracious. When the very pregnant redhead comes ambling out from the kitchen, she takes a quick look over the room, noting faces both familiar and not. There is some dusted flour- or sugar?- on her shirt cuffs and the pockets of her long skirt, but that seems to be the only hint that she was back there helping make a mess at all.
Delilah wears a cardigan over her long-sleeved blouse, of the same color as Abby's shirt- and rather than somehow mash herself into one of those, she has sewn a patch of the bar's title logo onto the back of the cranberry cardigan. It works, right?
"Old joke when I used to own a bar, but it burned and so.. I opened up a dessert bar. Name sorta stuck" The sweet drink is noted, the red velvet too. No fawning over the author, she can enjoy some anonymity from this corner at least, Abby's not really ever read Savannah's books. "Well Nik loves to make chocolate things. I swear three quarters of all he makes, has chocolate of some sort."
She pauses to glance at Daphne, dropping her head left, then right and conceding to the blonde. "Deal" An apologetic smile to her even as she's looking back to Kam. "Need a minute?"
Brenda's easing past the bar, a murmur to Daphne about how spoiled gloomy gus is damned lucky to be getting all that and heading to give Brand the spiel about choosing a seat or the counter, letting the teenager know he's been seen. It's when Delilah appears and Brenda's heading back, elbowing Elaine and pointing to Delilah. "That she blows, who let the whale out of the kitchen?" All good natured, that's just Brenda of the flame hair.
"Cognac," is what Kamber Abbot wants, and that is precisely what he asks, "mid range. I'm a man of others' letters, so, you know… be kind to my budget? But not too kind. Yes… thank you. Ahem." Nervous chatter to run underneath Daphne's informative chatter, which draws Kam's attention necessarily as he's clarified on the point he was so vague about before. And on a few other points, involved etymology. He blinks, momentarily stunned by the speedster's verbal bombardment. "Oh… well, thank you very much…" he says, not knowing what else to say. He glances over at Savannah. "Dessert and education. Can we ask for more? Dare we even conceive of more?"
"Entertainment. Friday nights."Abby gestures to Magnes and Elaine. "Live band, for a few hours. "Good friends of mine and they're pretty good. And that's saying a lot since I tend towards stuff you find in a church" Cognac, she can do that, laughter from her as he's begging Abby to go easy on his wallet. Anything else desired, it's written down and the southern drink of water is heading back, taking up Daphne's ticket so she can bring it back to Nik and rush that order for the speedster. Pun intended.
The teenager nods at Brenda, looking around at the people that are cruising around. He looks at the tables. No friends of his there. He shuffles a sneaker, looking down at the floor. He starts to kind of amble toward the bar, to enjoy something solitary style, apparently.
"Knowledge is power," Daphne says chipperly. "The more you know~" she adds in the singsong voice of the NBC Saturday morning informative bits for kids watching cartoons from the '80s. She is a child of the '80s, after all. She waves to the strangers looking at her oddly, hands Abby a bill large enough to cover the purchase and then some, and moves toward the counter to wait for her order. Once it's delivered, she'll zip off to feed Corbin into a carb coma of oblivious bliss.
Elaine looks towards Magnes. "Well, it's not like we're best friends or anything. We just like baking…" Magnes clearly seems to be exaggerating things. Not surprising. She rubs her neck awkwardly, but then she looks towards where Dee emerges from the kitchen. "Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you that Dee's here too. She's pretty darn good at baking."
"Tragic. Bars should never burn. I don't know why adventurers always end up doing that first, if something's to be torched…" She muses idly before chuckling at Kam's mention of budget. "I guess I'll just have to become ridiculously popular and make sure you can hash out a decent living… but you have other authors too, you cheater you. Don't make me do all the work." She grins at Daphne's informative lecture on avocados and Aztecs. "Well, I was hoping the avocados were the wrinkly things. I'd like not to imagine old Aztecs." She glances back to Kam. "Fantastic. If only there were shelves of books, Kam, and you could die happy."
"All my favorite redheads in one place, cake, Abby. The only thing that could make this better is if Kitty Pryde walks right through the wall." Magnes is silent for a moment, staring at the wall, expecting. Then disappointment as his head droops. "Can you order for me, Elaine? When it comes to desserts, I'm on shaky ground."
If the Whale heard it, she'd knock out all of someone's teeth! Or at least say she would. Delilah braces her hands on the back of her hips when she takes stock of things, moving soon for the sliding door behind the glass counter to search for something. When she stands up with a small tray of the vegan peanut butter cups, Delilah finally makes herself able to offer a small wave to the more familiar faces. She has work to do! And incidentally, it is to start going around with samples of those crimped treats she just fetched from the case. She makes sure to get the wifi-bugs first, and then the others she doesn't know- you can't say no to Delilah- maybe that is why she is the one passing them out and making sure they want to come back. With Abby at the author's table, the next to last table she waddles up to is Magnes and Elaine.
"Am I going to see him here every day now?" She asks of Elaine, thumbing towards Magnes with a tilted smirk on her lips.
"Bar burning adventurers is a trope?" Kam says, inferring this from Savannah's words, "I'm not familiar with that. Examples?" He isn't challenging her. He sounds genuinely curious. Literary commonalities are of no small interest to him. "Abigail, I'm sorry, but I can't possibly use a nickname this early in our acquaintance. However…" he offers his hand, "Kamber Abbot. And this vision sitting across from me is Savannah Burton. I would, for my first dessert, like to entreat you to choose for me. Just as long as its utterly unabashed in its chocolate content. No amount of scatological etymology will divert me!"
Scatological what?. There's an incredibly dumb look on her face when Abigail returns with the respective drinks and settles them down. She gets that it needs to be chock to the brim with chocolate and with red cheeks, a nod to the editor, she's easing away from the table and leaving the sweet drink and the cognac in her wake so she can pat Delilah's shoulder, glad to see she hasn't dropped the kid from her belly onto her floor yet today. She'll let Delilah and to the counter. Sidling up to the bar, she starts to scribble something on the notepad regarding Kam's order and looks over to Brand. 'Hey there. You look like a mud pie kinda guy" She offers, trying to make nice. She doesn't remember him, at all.
"Magnes is more than welcome to be here every day so long as he buys something, same as any customer," Elaine teases. He's lucky! She's withstanding a comment about how he'll have to pay for the company of beautiful redheads now. She grins at Dee. "Excellent job on things, it's looking like things aren't going too badly." She looks towards Magnes, squinting as if trying to determine psychically what he wants to eat. "Chocolate mud pie." She states after a moment. "That's what you're getting. And you know it's kinda your fault, Magnes, that I'm into baking. You always cook but you never make enough desserts and I'm always wanting desserts, so… I just started making some stuff."
Savannah's face flushes. Oops. She's just admitted to one of her nerdy habits. "Ah, just some stuff back in college. I wouldn't know off the top of my head if there are any literary references to bar burnings. I'll get back to you on that." She takes a long sip from her drink.
Brand shrugs his broad shoulders a bit. "Maybe. I don't know what that is." He looks at Abby a bit closer. "I recognize you. You also waitress at a little diner. You work at a lot of places. You have a lot of friends, too." He looks towards the tables. "You seem to know everybody."
After Kam mentions scatological etymology, Magnes raises the Finger of Wisdom and states, "The scientific study of excrement, especially in medicine for diagnostic purposes, and in paleontology of fossilized excrement. That or he means dirty jokes." he states for the audience before looking over at Elaine, then to Delilah. "Uh, I hope mud pies are chocolate. And I'll totally be here every day if you have milkshakes with cookies inside."
"Yeah. As long as he's a regular customer. Here, you two." Delilah puts down two of the peanut butter cups, practically dangling them for Magnes as she does so. "Vegan recipe. So if they taste a little different to you, that's why. Still delicious though." Free samples! Always delicious.
"Sure thing. Don't pick any cookies that turn into shrapnel though. And atop talkin' shit, this isn't the place, sweetie." She's practically a mom now, she's allowed more reprimand slots than she used to have, right? It's like a level up.
"Write me a paper, darling," Abbot says, steepling his fingers on the table before him, "I expect it on my desk, properly cited and with a full bibliography, by next Monday. Your wild conjectures will not go unchecked in this ever so academic environment. Speaking of which…" he takes his drink in hand and takes a small sip, "Oh, that's wonderful, thank you Abigail. This tastes quite exactly like affordable excess…" and now Magnes is playing educator. "And thank you good sir. Dear Lord, this is a very well informed clientele. I feel positively impoverished, intellectually. I'm sorry, everyone! All the trivia I know is about the Bene Gesserit…"
"Nite Owl? No, I used to work there a long time ago. I just help out now and then when I stop in. I own this place" Abby peers at Brand, gracing him with a smile. "Mud pie, chocolate and chocolate, and more chocolate. Out of everything that's here, it's the Mississippi mud pie that I love the most, right with a cup of cappuccino with a bit of cinnamon freshly shaved over it" She misses out on the definition of scatology and likely happy that she did. Noticing the necklace having fallen out of the neck of her shirt, she's tucking it back in, leaning to pass the orders to Brenda. "I didn't see you at the Owl, when did we meet?"
Savannah and Kam are at a table drink in hand, Abby and Brand with Brenda at the counter, Delilah over by Magnes and Elaine. Somewhere in the back of this place, baking up a happy storm is the German terrorist, a business man is leaving money on his table and heading out, mother and toddler finishing up their afternoon treats and the wifi nerds in the back clack away and drink their drinks.
Abby looks over to the conversation happening between Magnes' group and Savannah's. Bene //what?
Elaine raises an eyebrow. "You've become a dictionary? My goodness." She takes the vegan peanut butter cup, taking a bite. "Mm, you were right Dee, these did turn out good. I'm glad our vegan recipes are working." The comment about shrapnel and cookies causes Elaine to smile towards Dee and give a stern gaze in Magnes' direction. "Oh, I think he's done with the shrapnel cookies. Too much to stomach. He's on a strict diet of non-shrapnel stuff." Yep, I think she's being pretty clear there.
"A paper? Kam, are you daft?" Savannah scoffs. "I'm not writing you a paper and you are not talking about Dune on our date!" She shakes her head. "I'm disappointed. Besides, this is not an intellectual battle of wits. Doesn't that usually happen after a date?" She sips her drink casually.
Brand is a teen-aged male. So of course he looks down at her necklace, and cleavage, when it flops out. The necklace, not her cleavage. "I guess I could have that. I won at that Cash Cab thing, so I have some folding money." He fiddles with the bartop, slightly. "First paycheck isn't in."
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Magnes clears his throat, smiling up at Delilah. "She'd be angry if I got shrapnel in my stomach again. And these really are good, but definitely different." He sniffs at it after biting it, then slides the rest into his mouth.
Delilah shifts away from Elaine and Magnes, one hand going to pat the latter on the head as she turns towards Savannah and Kam at their table. Whatever, Magnes! She has no idea what he's talking about. She did recognize Savannah, of course, but this isn't the place to say it(again), and she handles them just like she did Magnes and Elaine. Two peanut butter cups, virtually floating down with her hand.
"On the house, vegan peanut butter cups. Never know when we'll be giving out samples, I suppose that in itself is a reason to check back." The redhead gives the pair her friendliest smile.
"Forgive me, I beg," Kam says, lifting hand to his brow and striking himself, lightly, "Mea maxima culpa. I will refrain from further Herbertisms, and ask no more of you. We shall, I trust, resume our battle when the venue is more appropriate." He slides his hand across the table to Savannah, offering it, palm upwards. "What shall we discuss then? I admit, my mind is a mess. Just a… melange…" Ooo, bad joke. Stupid and esoteric. Delilah's arrival is, thus, a fabulous chance to distract anyone who might possibly follow his play on words. Kam smiles back at Delilah, eyes flicking momentarily down at her swollen stomach. Man, Abigail is ruthless. What about maternity leave? "Why thank you. Might I ask… is that a genuine Manchester accent you're sporting, or are you simply a big 'Shameless' fan?"
"I remember waiting for my very first paycheck. It takes forever and you bite your nails until you get it in your hand, and then… you blow it all and then you have to wait for your next one. Always save part of it. For rainy days, or a piece of mud pie here" Denied a glimpse of cleavage. The shirts don't go that low, not in the least. "Cash cab though? How much did you wi-" and she's cut off as Brenda's bringing out desserts that have been placed and she's setting about to gathering them from the flame haired woman so that she can deliver them. "Lists are there, pick something. Half off. In celebration of your first incoming paycheck"
And there she goes, plates balanced with delightful confections on it. A big red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a dusting of white chocolate curls for savannah, and a tall martini glass of chocolate trifle with crushed and not so crushed whoppers in them, and all sorts of chocolate. Mud pie it seems, got substituted in the back by the cook. German temperament we'll call it. "Enjoy" Cookies and whip cream brought over to Elaine and MAgnes for them to nibble on. "He sticking aroudn the rest of the day? I can put him to work. Dee could use some help in the back probably, or he can wash dishes."
Elaine blinks for a long moment at Magnes. "Well, at least you aren't spouting the Green Lantern pledge or whatever it is." The redhead seems relieved when Abby brings over cookies and whipped cream. "Sticking around? I'm sure he could use something to do. He's good at washing dishes. Slave labor's always nice." She grins mischievously towards Magnes. "You're doomed now."
"I'm sure I'll be checking by. Anywhere that I can have a drink and decadent desserts? Kam will have to drag me out." There's a pause, and Savannah grins. "I remember you! Miss Trafford! You were at my signing at Borders a while back. I remember you because you sat in the front row and had that first edition that was very… well loved. I remember I gave you Kam's card!" She looks back over towards Dee. "Well, you're clearly keeping busy. I'd still like to chat sometime, though. You seem like one of my biggest fans and I certainly don't mean that in terms of your little one." She laughs just slightly.
Brand listens to her story, attentively. He may not get a good look at cleavage, but being a young man he'll not pass up a chance to oogle, at least subtly, some nice chest. "Yeah, Cash cab. I won like 11 hundred dollars. There was this girl and she…" He trails off as she just zips off. "Oh…well I guess I'll have the mini-baked Alaska, the parfait, and coffee."
"Oh man, cookies. Thanks." Magnes immediately begins to devour, just nodding at everything Elaine says like a good boy with his cookies. "Yeah, sure, I'm used to washing dishes. Especially if it's helping Delilah." he agrees, and stuffs a cookie into his mouth in the process.
"Yep, totally real, just like my rack." Kam's answer from Dee is a bit more succinct, but for no reason other than there's little to say. She gives Savannah another grin. "I shared it around like I said I would, I guess nobody wanted to bite though. I would be happy to chat though- I'm gonna be in and out of here the next month or so, or maybe we can get lunch?" Delilah, balancing one edge of the tray on top her belly, puts her other hand down over the front of her blouse. "I've got a good idea of what things are okay to share now, too."
That means nothing about all the super-spy missions or raids, or anything of that nature.
Life of a waitress is never done, heading off in mid conversation. "I'll also" She gestures to the front where there's a bit of elevated seating that can be cleared to make place for a small band. "Give you guys a place to play. It might help with business. And given how this week turns out Elaine, we're probably gonna open in the mornings, to sell pastries and such, to folks who are on their way to work" Which means getting up and being out the door as curfew lifts. Horror of horrors.
"I gotta go see to a customer" A gesture to Brand and Abby's going. There's a pause to lift a foot, scratch at a leg and in the process, the black GPS tracker is seen, otherwise hidden beneath her jeans. "That was… mini baked alaska. Parfait and … coffee. Excellent choices. Nikolaus has been dying for a baked alaska order"
Elaine opens her mouth to comment, then reaches and shoves a cookie in her own mouth, chewing quietly. She peers between Magnes, Dee, and Abby, and finishes chewing the cookie before she looking to Abby. "Works for me. I could do some mornings. Incentives to get up. I think it'll keep business busy here, too, if we hit the commuters." She watches, smiling as Abby heads off to help more customers. She shoves another cookie in her mouth.
Savannah laughs at Dee's words. "I'll be around. I can always catch you on a break sometime I'm in here." She shakes her head. "Oh, but don't worry too much about what's okay and not. Be as secretive as you want. Lord knows I don't need any more government secrets. Got plenty of those to sort through these days."
Oh my. Kam has absolutely nothing to say vis a vis Delilah's other natural qualities. It actually takes him a minute to even process what it is she means. And when he does process it, well, topic left as it is. He watches Savannah converse with the redheaded server, brows lifting a little. They know each other, fancy that. He waits a bit, receiving his dessert with a soft 'thank you very much' before interjecting with unfortunate by wholly necessary fine print. "I have the disclosure agreement and release waiver and all that horrible paperwork drafted. If I could have your address, Miss Trafford, I'd happily forward it all to you. Get it out of the way."
Brand nods his head ever so slightly. "Yes ma'am, that is my order, thank you." Nobody else at the bar to talk to, so he lapses back into silence. No table to sit at, or pals to chat with.
"Hey, I'll help out with things right now if you want. Nothing like working in a dessert bar for a date." Magnes stands up with a cookie and reaches down for Elaine's hand. "How about it? This is the first day, couldn't hurt to help."
There's an ungodly noise in the back of the bakery, a humming noise like the sound of a large engine running, followed by a crackling zap as the lights flicker in the dining area, followed by a rattling crash of what must have been every single pot, pan, and piece of silverware in the entire establishing falling on the floor at the same time.
Immediately following the riotous noise there's a shout, muffled by the closed door, "Du arschgefickter Hurensohn!" Which Elaine immediately recognizes as a fair slice of profanity. A moment later, the door to the kitchen bursts open, followed by an explosion of flour erupting like a cloud. A clatter, a clang comes as a cooking pot bounces out of the doorway and a man in an apron covered in flour and sucking on his thumb as though he'd injured it is stumbling out, choking between ministrations to his injured finger.
Waving one hand around, Niklaus Zimmerman turns back towards the kitchen with a baleful expression, a spoon happens to be stuck to his right cheek as though by super glue. "Hurensohn!" he noisily grunts again, lifting up a hand to take off his round-lenses glasses caked with flour, followed by a clink as the spoon falls from his face.
Niklaus pauses there, silently, then slowly turns to look over his shoulder with wide eyes at the remainder of the bakery. Lips twitch, creep up into a smile, and a shaky, "Hhh— Gut— Guten tag?" is offered with a twitch of one of his brows.
"Mine might- uh- be more testy than anything you stumble over on the internet." Delilah laughs, but that's really all that she's going to allow herself to say. "Yeah, sure." It so happens she has a pen in her pocket, and there are extra napkins. She scribbles down her mailbox address for Kam. "Send it over anytime. And you can just call me-" Her number goes down under it and she leaves it for them. "Whenever you feel like it."
Insert Blitzkrieg here.
Needless to say, Delilah cringes when the noise generates out of the kitchen, nearly dropping the tray that was balanced so carefully between hand and stomach. She stares at the door and the cloud of flour, brown eyes almost deer-like. She'll be around Niklaus long soon enough, and she'll figure out some vernacular then, but for now she only knows that it is probably swearing. Her jaw is a little slack, not quite sure if she wants to laugh or not, especially when he has to take off his glasses, leaving a perfect outline around his eyes.
"There's your first job, Magnes." Just saying. The tray of cups gets put down on the Burton table- free samples are free- and Delilah immediately moves over to intercept the German disaster, one hand going out in an offer to take and clean off his glasses on her skirt, the other going to hover at his flour-caked arm. The best help is the kind that you just don't have words for. Not right away. "Are you okay?"
Order put in, Brands coffee cup filled and slid over, it'll be easy to get the parfait, they're halfway prepared in the back, the Baked Alaska will be a bit longer given that it needs to be assembled and then baked. Dee seems to be taking care of the cognac people and so Abby sidles over towards Magnes and Elaine, bringing her own cup of coffee with her, toying with the chain that disappears beneath the neck of her shirt. "Washing dishes it is. Just don't get in Nik's wa-" Too late. Something did.
Abigail turns, staring in horror at the electricity flickering and the drama that erupts behind the kitchen doors. Please. Please do not let that be the death knell for her shop. She's still staring Nik and the ruckus that he caused as he emerges from the flour fluffed depths, jaw dropped and coffee cup tipped at an alarming angle and threatening to spill. The mother and her kid are bolting for the door, money left on the table and there's the sound of squealing nerdgasms that are not positive in the back, possibly a shorted laptop or two.
"No.. no no no no no" Nothing was going to go off right. Nothing in her life was going to be easy but Robert. "please tell me that I still have a kitchen back there Nik. Please tell me that you have just not shorted any of my machines back there. Because I am this close to just igniting and I don't want Homesec crawling up my butt about a melted tether." No, not really, she took her drugs, but he gets the idea and Delilah is being mother hen.
"I don't mind working now, and—" Elaine stops, mid-sentance. There is crashing. And German. Oooh, and it's German that makes the redhead turn red. She's on her feet, then glances to Magnes. "Clean." She looks towards Abby. "Take a deep breath, it's fine." She promptly moves towards the kitchen. Seems she can oddly take initiative when she needs to. Surprising Elaine is surprising.
"Clearly there are other worries…" Savannah murmurs as she looks back to the kitchen. She takes a long swallow of her drink, offering a bit of a smile, possibly a wince at the slight mishap. "Ah, the first day of anything always goes wrong somehow." She'll enjoy her cupcake instead.
Brand takes his order to go, and leaves in a hurry. He leaves enough bills to cover his tab.
Just give Kam a heart attack, why don't you? The electro-magnetic event is, luckily, spread out enough to avoid making Kam topple his dessert, which he ends up wrapping his arms around protectively. Niklaus's emergence, flour-dusted and spoon-stuck, is viewed with a nonplussed stare, one that swings slowly around to Savannah. Did she… did that man… did…? "You," he says, "have a very sensible view on things. Be careful. Sense is a dangerous thing for a writer of fantastic and speculative fiction."
Delilah's information is pocketed neatly, and cognac liberally sampled. If all hell breaks loose again, he'll want to be in a state where maybe he won't care so much.
Magnes' eyes widen when he spots Niklaus there, and he immediately heads over to Abby, and hunches down to whisper lowly. "Why is Zimmerman in your kitchen? Y'know, guy I helped break out of a secure government facility." He is whispering very lowly.
"N— no I do not— it ah," stilted German accenting peppers all of Niklaus' words. "It was the mistake," he explains with a grimace. "I burned myself on the stove, and then I— " his blue eyes flick around the unfamiliar (and largely blurry without his glasses on) faces, then clears his throat as he fumbles over the word, "tripped. I— tripped, and terrible disaster befell the strudel."
A frown creases Niklaus' flour-powdered face as he begins wiping off the lenses of his glasses on the front of his shirt. "I tripped and the fuses all blew in the kitchen, and thus— I left for the basement." Just like that, and spoken in past tense, Niklaus strides across the floor towards a door marked staff only as if nothing suspicious happened.
Sometimes, Delilah wishes she made nitrous oxide instead of that toxic sludge. Would come in handy! She is hesitant to get too close, as he has gone Pigpen with the flour. Her hand does find his arm for just a moment, at least, and he doesn't seem to want her help in dusting his glasses out- he does a rather poor job of it, seeing as his clothes are also covered in it.
"Well, let's not- trip anymore, okay?" Delilah offers just as he rambles on about something something, the basement- "Do you need help- ah- with the fuses?" She follows after him a few steps, though the movement is sort of hesitant as well.
Breath Elaine says. There are fuses blown, her kitchen is a disaster, there's an angry looking college student holding a laptop that she wishes Linus were here to take care of. And Magnes is saying something that makes the blonde turn quickly in her seat and clamp a hand over his mouth, leaning in close. "Magnes J Varlane. I will castrate you slowly with a demitasse spoon if you event thing of uttering any observances about my main baker again. Are we clear?" It's whispered under her breath to him, verbal dagger point. Her lips pressed and pinched together and if she wasn't negated, she might very well 'flame on' as it were.
There's some concern from Elaine as she notes the low voices from Magnes towards Abby, but given that there isn't much she can hear, it's momentarily ignored. She takes a moment to putter around the kitchen before returning, offering Abby a warm smile. "No harm done. All the appliances seem to be in order, but stuff needs to be cleaned, yes." She peers over at the fact that Abby's hand is covering Magnes mouth and she sighs. Heavily.
Magnes swallows, cheeks red as he quickly nods his head. He doesn't question Zimmerman's presence any further, instead looking around at the bakery, then to Abby, and finally back to the people with their computers.
"Eh," Niklaus pauses at the door, looking back at Delilah with flour-fogged lenses still, though his expression is one that may be afforded to a mewling stray cat. Too adorable to shoo away, but it is sure to get underfoot and hair all over your clothing and— that analogy seems to have disintegrated somewhere.
"If you can hold a flashlight for me, I would be most appreciative. I do not imagine the basement fared any better. All on the same circuit, you see." Opening the door, Niklaus offers a look back to Abby and Magnes, noticing her covering his mouth. Blue eyes narrow subtly, and Niklaus looks back down to Delilah. "Follow me into the dark, dark basement, beautiful and very pregnant young woman." Niklaus' sense of humor is not entirely appropriate, though he does retrieve a flashlight from the shelf near the cellar door on the inside, offering it out to the redhead.
"Use less adjectives, snickerdoodle." Delilah can hold a flashlight. She looks back at Abby and Magnes when Niklaus does, though her interest in that does not last terribly long, once she is offered the light. Not so dark basement, with a not so bright flashlight, it seems, and she is more than ready to spotlight the German's journey downstairs for him, just a couple steps behind.
"I hope this doesn't mean the water pipes burst when you sneeze."
"Good. I'm going to remove my hand. We will not speak of what he has and has not done, where he is from and what he can do. He is Niklaus. He is my baker. He is my employee and my friend. Like you are my friend, like Elaine is my employee and maybe some day we'll be more than acquaintances, but if you so much as speak, about what came before now regarding Nik, I will demitasse your nuts Magnes and you and Elaine will never have babies"
With that, she's gesturing to the forlorn nerds in the back, for him to go help, breaking away from magnes to head to the front doors so she can flip the open sign to closed. Till they can fix the damage Niklaus did and get the kitchen in working order again.
With Niklaus and Delilah taking care of making sure there aren't any issues, Elaine's scoped out the kitchen and is already headed in, silently picking up pots and pans from the ground.
With things in the process of being picked up and straightened, it seems Savannah and Kam have finished up their dessert and drinks, and after paying, they head towards the exit, with Savannah only lingering behind half-a-second to leave a nice tip on the table for Abby.
"I can't believe you said 'nuts'." Magnes seems to be more in disbelief about that than anything else, and immediately starts heading to the back. He may not be Linus' level of tech geek, but he's still a geek.
The kitchen looks like much as could be expected, an entire mixing bowl full of flour appears to have struck the ceiling fan while silverware is everywhere. Pots and pans and everything metallic in the kitchen is moves around, some things on entirely opposite ends of where they should be. It looks like a whirlwind swept through, and unfortunately laying on the floor in a smooshed mess is the flaky pastry of strawberry jam filled strudel, the worst casualty of this accident.
At least nothing looks broken.
Down in the basement, past creaking stairs and in the dark, his shadow cast long by the illumination of the flashlight Delilah carries, Niklaus searches for the fusebox for a moment. Stepping over, he pulls it open and releases the smell of burned circuitry, his lips downturning into a frown as he flips the circuit breaker back, forth, back, forth.
"This is coming out of mein paycheck, isn't it?"