JGoB, Sunday early afternoon

[stykera]

After stopping in the park for a bit had Stark made his way to the bakery. He'd given out a small number of cookies at the Perk yesterday and saw no reason not to expand on that today should he encounter any more tiny versions of his friends and neighbors. Or the same ones he'd seen yesterday, that would be fine too. The bakery just seemed like somewhere that might be attractive to small children who might need someone to keep an eye on them for a bit.

Of course, it turned out some of the bakery staff were also quite a bit younger (and shorter) than usual this weekend and one had come to take his order as soon as he walked in. The cupcake he received had clearly been decorated by one of the children and had more frosting than even Stark thought was reasonable. That would not stop him from eating it, obviously.


[Ooooopen. Stark will be happy to fuel your weetiny escapades with sugary treats!]

Comments

[fates_jaye]

Sure enough, after radio, there was Alexis, leading Jaye into someplace that was... just gonna be a bad idea for everyone.

"COFFEE," Jaye demanded.

[stykera]

Look, he was happy to give everyone all the sugar their little hearts desired but even Stark had to draw a line somewhere. That line was fuzzy though.

"You drink coffee?" Jaye, you don't look nearly old enough for coffee.

[lovethatjourney]

"Apparently," Alexis said, giving Jaye a little shove further inside before turning for the door with a, "Your problem noooow..."

[stykera]

Oh. Oh dear. Stark was definitely a little concerned by that, Alexis. Which was wise, really.

"What do you mean my problem now? Why? Are you a problem?"

Jaye was so tiny. How much of a problem could she really be?

[fates_jaye]

One year she ran away from a ninja. So.

"How much sugar do you have on you?"

[stykera]

"One cupcake," Stark told her, pointing to the very colorful one on his table. "But we are in a bakery. There's plenty to be had."

[fates_jaye]

"Can I have three cupcakes? And a coffee?"

Oh god Jaye no, you were gonna rocket into space.

[stykera]

"One cupcake to start," Stark countered. "You can't eat 3 at once."

Maybe if he just ignored the coffee request it would be forgotten.

[fates_jaye]

Spoiler: it would not.

"Bet I can!"

[stykera]

He'd shared a room with Rygel. Stark really ought to know better than to underestimate tiny hungry people.

"Let's start with one. What flavor?"

[fates_jaye]

"Pink!" Totally a flavor. "And make the coffee blue!"

[stykera]

Pink is absolutely a flavor and a very distinct flavor from red!

"I'm not sure they make blue coffee," Stark said, giving the man behind the counter a questioning look. He got a shrug in return. "There are pink cupcakes. Which one?" Choose wisely, Jaye. The ones with sprinkles might be best.

[fates_jaye]

She had bigger plans than sprinkles. "The one with the biggest frosting."

[stykera]

"Excellent choice," Stark said, nodding and motioning to the guy behind the counter. He could respect that. Frosting was delicious.

[fates_jaye]

"Put frosting on the coffee!"

She was just gonna stick on this. She had a Mission.

[stykera]

"Then your coffee will be pink," Stark pointed out. "You wanted blue."

Jaye, you were probably going to win but he was going to try and put up a fight here.

[fates_jaye]

"Now I want pink coffee," Jaye said, feeling this with her whole self now.

[stykera]

"You can't have pink and blue," Stark said. "It will just be purple."

This was not a helpful statement, was it?

[fates_jaye]

"I want pink coffee!"

This was unreasonable, and yet also probably how frappucinos got invented.

[stykera]

"And the pink cupcake?" It seemed important to clarify before giving her anything.

[fates_jaye]

"Yes." She didn't even like pink that much but this was important.

[stykera]

"The pink cupcake with the most frosting," Stark said slowly. "And then you want the frosting off the cupcake and in the coffee?"

Maybe if there were enough frosting they wouldn't need much coffee in the cup.

[fates_jaye]

"No, all the frosting on the cupcake and in the coffee."

Which let's all be real, was disgusting. If she got her way, this was going to be disgusting.

[stykera]

"It can't be on the cupcake and in the coffee at the same time," Stark said gently. "If you take it off the cupcake and put it in the coffee it's not on the cupcake anymore. And if you took it back out of the coffee it would be..." Gross? "Unpleasant."

[fates_jaye]

"You're not listening," Jaye said with a sigh, and announced to the barista. "Just pink coffee!"

She made her choice.

[stykera]

"I am listening," Stark told her. "You said to put the frosting in the coffee!"

[fates_jaye]

"And more frosting on the cupcake!" All the frosting! So much sugar her grandchildren would automatically be born diabetic!

[stykera]

Stark sighed. "I'll see what I can do," he said. Like making the weakest coffee imaginable and adding a little pink frosting to it.

[fates_jaye]

Jaye watched him eagerly, trying to make sure he got it right. She wanted one thing here. Okay, she wanted two things. Okay, more like three things, and then some extra cupcakes. But!

[stykera]

Stark had a very quiet but hurried conversation with the man behind the counter about the best way to achieve "pink coffee" without actually giving any tiny children real coffee. Because most people knew that was a bad idea, Five.

Hope you liked milk with a splash of coffee and a whole bunch of strawberry frosting floating in it, Jaye. It's certainly pink!

[fates_jaye]

"Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme," she said, holding her hands out for her prize.

[stykera]

"Remember you asked for this." And try to resist the urge to throw your beverage at the nice alien, Jaye.

[fates_jaye]

Jaye didn't answer, because she was too busy trying to drink a milk/frosting/coffee thing.

And then she paused, and tasted it.

And then her face said it all.

"Ewwwww."

...followed by her mouth saying it, yes.

[stykera]

You brought this on yourself, Jaye.

"Is it that bad?" Stark very clearly knew that it was, in fact, that bad.

[fates_jaye]

"You can have it," she said, holding out the cup.

[stykera]

He took the cup and wondered if he could put it directly in the trash or if he ought to wait until she wasn't looking.

"I'm sorry it was terrible." He was not that sorry, really. "Would you still like your pink cupcake?"

[legionqueen]

Back home in Wolf Spring, Jules was considered old enough to go anywhere she liked within the town and the surrounding forest that she liked. This was most decidedly not Wolf Spring, at all. In fact, as far as Jules could tell, it was even smaller than Wolf Spring (which wasn't all that big to begin with). Therefore, obviously, she was allowed anywhere she wanted here too.

"Hello!" she announced as she pushed open the door, mismatched eyes going very veeeeery wide as she noticed the display case full of baked goods. "Chocolate cake! I'll take one, please!"

No, she didn't have any money. Grandma Cait or Aunt Caragh usually took care of that part.

"Oh! And anything you have that's safe for cats!" After all, her mountain lion cub familiar deserved something nice too.

[stykera]

Lucky for Jules Stark was here to purchase things for any and all wandering adorable children. Even the less adorable ones, really, but he hadn't encountered any of those in here yet.

"You can have chocolate cake," he said. At least she hadn't asked for coffee. Yet. "Cupcake, or a slice?" He wasn't giving you a whole large cake for yourself, Jules. There were limits. Probably.

"I don't know what's safe for cats. What's safe for cats? Do cats like cake?"

"Kitties like cream," one of the newly small employees shouted helpfully from behind the counter.

[legionqueen]

"Cream would be good, probably," Jules agreed. Big cats like Cam liked meat and fish, she knew, but she knew bakeries were not the place for things like that.

"And strawberry cake. But I'll have a slice of chocolate."

But probably also like half of Cam's, let's be real.

[stykera]

Bakeries were definitely not the place for meat and fish, no matter what those scary people on the Food Network might try to tell you at times.

"Cats like strawberry cake?" Stark asked. "Didn't know that. But I don't know much about cats." And nothing at all about mountain cats other than this one was quite cute. "I like chocolate best," he added. "We'll get you a slice."

[legionqueen]

"Is this your shop?" Jules wondered.

[stykera]

"No no. Not mine." It belonged to Jeff! Who might or might not be a real person. Stark had never really been sure on that point. "I just come here often. For the baked goods. Cupcakes mostly. Or cookies."

[legionqueen]

"Ooooh," Jules nodded. That made sense. "I'd like some cookies too."

[stykera]

"Cookies and cake?" A girl and a giant kitten after his own heart. "That's fine."

Everyone would be normal sized and eating slightly more balanced diets by tomorrow. Probably.

"More chocolate?"

[legionqueen]

"Yeah!" she nodded excitedly. "Please."

She might be excited by the prospect of more than the typically allowed amount of sugar but she still had manners.

"M'Jules," she told him. "Well, Juillenne, but most everyone just calls me Jules."

[stykera]

"I'm Stark," he said, turning to the counter to get the (small) slice of cake and a couple of cookies, a well as cream for the giant kitten. "Hello, Jules."