[FIN] Breaking Bread

[Suudonym]

Things had become very "adult life" all of a sudden, it seemed - or perhaps a bunch of goofing off and frivolous spending was finally catching up. Bills on the table and an increasing desire to move to Camphoreon to save on the price of gas found Nate picking up every spare shift he could fit into his schedule, often sacrificing his nights to sleeping in his car to avoid wasting the time driving back to Ambergris. It was stupid and lame and he couldn't believe the cost of things and piddly pocket change his employers called wages. The warehouse was the biggest offender, and if it weren't supplying his only gateway to greener pastures he would have been inclined to drop it and pick up a full time position with the bakery, or look for another part time gig somewhere.

The weather was sort of nice, at least, as sparse a consolation as that was, and Nate had taken up a place at one of the umbrella-shadowed tables that comprised the bakery's outside eating area to take his lunch break. His black shirt was dusted gray by exposure to airborne flour, though the distinct outline of an apron remained across the front side. He sat with his elbow on the table and his chin propped against his palm, his other hand holding a little foil pouch of juice within mouth access. On the table in front of him was a bread roll of a decent size, and on his expression was a vacant stare, either bored or outright tired.  

[Tori Honoo]

While Nate had been overworked and found himself desperately bored and or tired, Dove had been quite the opposite, well traveled and busy with new adventures, though she appeared just as stressed as she arrived at the bakery, a few bags already on her arms as she made her way up toward the door. Spotting a (somewhat) familiar face, however, she paused, then backtracked, stepping over toward the table where the young man now sat, leaning a little to catch his gaze if at all possible. "Hey... You okay?" she asked, her voice bright, her tone curious in suspended greeting. The bags slid to her wrists before she sat them on the opposite table seat, at least for the moment as she spoke to Nate, smoothing the sleeves of her light sweater as she waited for his reply.

Lovey paused next to her girl, looked up at the boy, but only offered a wave of her tail in hello, waiting to see just who this young man was. She had seen him once before, a long while ago...  

[Suudonym]

He wasn't paying particular attention to his surroundings and wouldn't have noticed that someone had stopped before him - it was a shop, after all, so passersby were to be expected - were it not for that feeling of being looked at, though a voice and the addition of some bags or something to the table were more than enough of a hint that he was being addressed by someone. His eyes snapped up to his unexpected company, his posture straightening slightly in attention, as he stared with an absence of familiarity. If he thought about it hard enough she did look kind of like someone he might have met, but how many brunette chicks had he known in his life?

He realized soon enough that he was wearing an air of mute stupor and forced an expression of friendly recognition and nonchalance into his demeanor, "Oh, yeah, yeah, totally fine. Long day and it ain't even over yet, you know?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She couldn't help a slight grin at his blank look, though her cheeks did turn pink as she laughed. "You don't remember me at all, do you?" she asked somewhat bluntly, immediately feeling a sinking in her stomach that noted she might have mistaken him for someone else. But no... She'd seen him more than once before...she hoped.

His response received a slightly skeptical and amused look, but she nodded all the same. "Yes... I know what you mean..." she said sympathetically, looking toward the door and then his attire once more. "You've got a break, at least?"  

[Suudonym]

"Well hell yeah I do," he said, feigning offense at the accurate accusation. He waved his hand dismissively. "You think I'd talk to a stranger like this after all my mama warned me? Pff." He squeezed the remaining contents of the juice pouch into his mouth and tossed the remaining trash into a nearby bin. "Yeah, the breaks are a damn oasis, and I drink 'em up like a fish."  

[Tori Honoo]

It was now her turn to stare with a blank look before she raised a brow. She was sure he'd talk to any stranger, given his approach the first time she had met him, so long as it looked remotely female. "Alright, Nate, where did we meet, you and I?" she asked, deciding to take a seat upon her knees on the seat across from him, at least for now. "Don't you dare say 'in your dreams," she added, hoping to connect to his 'suave'--drunken-- persona he had adopted during their first meeting at the club her first few weeks into her time in Kodo.

A smile, though, as she watched him toss the juice pouch into its desired receptacle. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, at least." The answer was simple, but offered with a tilt of the head and a slightly coy look.  

[Suudonym]

More like in his nightmares, if she was gonna keep this up. Jeez. He turned his hand to rest his chin lightly on his fingers, bright eyes half-lidded and wearing a mirthless smirk. "Why, my dear, how could I ever forget that fateful encounter - though admittedly, I may be so inclined as to ascribe it as a dream. 'Twas an evening most grand, myself certainly underdressed in the presence of your radiance - for whosoever could have foolishly hoped to match it?" He stood suddenly, raising his leg to rest his foot in his seat and lifing his hand in a skyward flourish. "Whosoever could dare to misremember that evening of splendor, as the lights danced as do the Illumise and the Volbeat? I daresay the memory is carved into my soul! In short--" Abruptly he dropped back into the chair, shedding all his grandiose mannerisms, "--a club." Because where else would he meet chicks.  

[Tori Honoo]

The girl, before having felt at least slightly confident in her way of handling the encounter, now felt and looked properly abashed, her shoulders sinking and her cheeks deep red after she jumped in surprise at his sudden burst of spectacular storytelling.

With a sigh, she tucked her hair back as was her nervous habit. Clearly she didn't have the skill to match this boy. "I'm Dove, one of Sera's--" She stopped herself, surprised her tongue had even slipped so far. "I know your friend Sera." Maybe he could at least connect the hot springs, if, in fact, he was still friends with the girl. If not, she wouldn't be surprised, nor could she be offended.  

[Suudonym]

Maintaining his cool disposition, he pointed to her sharply, unwilling to depart from his elaborate ruse, "I am well aware." If asked he was planning to go with Hawkgirl; good to know he was kind of close.

"Well then," he leaned back in his chair, pulling a fluffy bite from his bread roll to consume, "what brings you to these parts, apart from to question my memory of you? Gettin' all your Ducklett in a row to make some sandwiches? French toast? Bread pudding? I'm contractually obligated to inform you that you'll find finer bread for your needs absolutely nowhere else."  

[Tori Honoo]

She flinched backward a bit at the sudden jab of his finger, then sighed again, nodding.

She watched with a deadpan expression as he leaned back, about to pick up her bags until he continued the conversation. "Making the sandwich joke because I'm a woman, or...?" She shook her head, looking off for a minute toward the others around them. "No, I'm actually just looking for supplies. I'm leaving town in a few days, and figured I'd have to take at least the basics with us."  

[Suudonym]

He shrugged absently, "I mean I figured you were probably gonna make something with bread since it's a bread shop, but sure, why not. Want me to go ahead and understate your value in society as little more than a baby-maker or imply an innate absence of ability to play video games too?" He leaned back as well, his arms folded across his chest and his chin lifted in the vague makings of a smirk and building bravado into his voice, "Ah yes, the bare basics of any adventure: high-quality artisan bread loaves."  

[Tori Honoo]

"Well, I'm horrible at video games and yes, that actually was supposedly going to be my eventual role given my upbringing, but I was just making a joke," she told him, mirroring his shrug slightly. His smirk nearly made her roll her eyes, though she grinned instead. "I've got expensive tastes and we'll be gone a while, so... better stock up while I can."  

[Suudonym]

"Oh I see, well then I beg your pardon for not commanding you back to the kitchen and slapping your a** as you go." He unfolded his hands to lift them in a dismissive shrug, then occupied them once more with the bread he had left on the table. "You know we toss the bread that doesn't get sold at the end of the day, right," he said, his attention more on the roll than on his conversational company. "Granted that's pretty excessive, but it's fresh bread, you know; it doesn't really keep. It'll go stale in a few days tops, if not moldy."  

[Tori Honoo]

She took his 'apology' with stride, slowly adjusting to his way of conversation. When he noted that they tossed the bread at the end of the day, she frowned deeply, however, and tilted her head a little. "Seriously? They don't...donate it, or anything?" She knew plenty of people--now, anyway-- that would have loved a handout, or even discounted bread for their families. Those in the lower quarter of Grande ile, and the comparable areas of Camphoreon had opened her heart to a sensitivity on the subject.

It wasn't Nate's fault, or at least, she suspected it wasn't his fault. He didn't appear to have anymore sway in the atmosphere than the customers around him. She added to what she had said, tucking away the information in case she was able to speak to a manager or something later on. "Just looking for supplies, not just the baked goods. Though I guess I might get a few treats for fun..." Yuri liked sweets, and she was sure the kids would too.  

[Suudonym]

"They donate it to me, but they don't know about that. CEO would have a fit if he ever saw my trunk." He paused to eat the rest of his roll, then leaned forward on his elbows, linking his fingers and resting his chin on them. "Here's the thing about bread - real bread; handcrafted, fresh baked, artisan bread: It don't last. We don't stuff it full of the preservatives they load into that supermarket s**t. Shelf life of baked bread is two or three days tops, and one of those days is spent sitting on display in our shop, so if you go handing it out to folks, there's a huge possibility that someone's gonna get sick. You ever had food poisoning? People die from that - people with cars and access to healthcare. So no, it doesn't get donated. It sucks, but it would suck even more to kill some kid whose organs turned themselves inside out from eating expired bread."

He moved his hand to reach for the place where he had previously kept his juice pouch to find, to his great disappointment, that he had eaten his modest meal out of order and the pouch was already out a drink. Damn. "You keep using that word," he said, slipping into a brief Princess Bride reference. "What kind of 'supplies' are you thinking you're gonna find, out of curiosity? I mean, it's a bakery. We sell bread."