JGoB, Saturday Afternoon

[stykera]

"We were all tired this morning," the baker explained, bouncing a little on her toes as she spoke. "We all keep waking up in the middle of the night and then again right before our alarms go off. So we figured, coffee in everything. Everything."

The staff at JGoB didn't seem tired now. They seemed like they had all consumed more than their fair share of coffee while preparing the day's baked goods.

Stark, who enjoyed coffee only slightly less than baked goods, especially when the coffee was full of sugar, thought this was an excellent theme for the day. He just wasn't quite sure where to start with the day's specials.

Dark roast cookies?
Espresso chocolate chip cookies?
Mocha cupcakes with espresso frosting?
Literal Coffee Cake?

He was just going to have try the cake now and take some of the others for later.

[very open for baked good and alien interaction. This post brought to you by Discord discussions of how we are all tired all the time.]

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[special_rabbit]

Amaya had passed by in running her errands, stopped after glancing through the window, then backtracked to enter the bakery when someone she'd been keeping an eye out for happened to be inside.

"Hey, there, Stark, right?" If they'd met before, Amaya would be honest in admitting it was apparently fleeting enough that she couldn't recall details, but it was a small island and it was hard to miss a piece like that on a person's face, really. "I've actually been looking for you."

Not very hard, clearly, but still!

[stykera]

Someone looking for him was often a bad sign but Stark was fairly sure he hadn't done anything that would lead to Amaya looking for him for any terrible reasons.

"Right," he said with a nod. "I'm Stark. Did you... need something?"

[special_rabbit]

To the question, Amaya shook her head. "I just felt," ahe explained, "that if anyone should have these, it would probably be you."

At which point she reached into the pocket of her skirt to pull out what she'd been keeping with her in case she happened to run into him, as if she really ever left the shop for anything but her class these days, but she was working on that!

They appeared to be two palm-sized discs on thick red ribbons, each one gleaming steel and intricately etched with decor around the outside. On one side, the centre of the disc was marked with an apparently radiant cupcake, and the other side was marked with the words Superior Snack Recommender!.

Amaya held them out for Stark. "My girl made them the other weekend," she added, and would only later realize that she'd referred to Zephyr as her girl, now, apparently. "Said they were for your kids, for all their help when she stopped in. Guess she just forgot to give them to them before they all left..."

[stykera]

"Oh," Stark said softly as he took the medals. "They're lovely. Thank you."

"I'll keep them safe for them. For if they come back," he said, turning them over. "She did mention making medals when we saw here. I didn't think she meant she really would. They have to leave so soon there's never time for everything."

[special_rabbit]

"I'm sure she'd have something to say about being a woman of her word, to something like that," said Amaya, who would firmly deny any hint of affection in her voice about it; probably just a cold! "Or just pump her fist and remind everyone that she can do it...

"Personally," she added, "I think she missed a real opportunity by not going with Superior Snack Suggestor, but the kid's just fourteen, she's still learning."

Actually, Zephyr had been fifteen, but come on! Was Amaya really expected to keep track of the age of her fake kid whenever she showed up?

[stykera]

"Still a fine effort," Stark said. "I don't know that I would have come up with 'suggestor' either."

He probably would have gone with a similar cupcake design though, unsurprisingly. And he was currently rubbing his thumb over the design on one of the medals.

[special_rabbit]

"And well earned!" Amaya offered, with a small pump of her fist. "They made very fine suggestions...if a little heavy on the chocolate..."

[stykera]

"That they both would have learned from me," Stark said, looking down at the slice of cake he'd purchased. "Other mes, at least."

Gingers with a chocolate obsession, all of them.

"Can't really bring myself to say no requests for chocolate when I only have them for a few days."

The odds of other Starks with more permanent children denying chocolate weren't high either.

[special_rabbit]

"Oh, I've no problem with something like that," said Amaya, now with a wave of her hand as if swiping that idea away. "If I didn't say no to Zephyr while she's here, she'd burn through all my supplies when she's not traipsing around challenging half the other kids and just as many of the adults to duels. Thankfully, she's easily distracted, and my weapons are never shinier as they are after one of those weekends."

[stykera]

"I would have to say no to dueling," Stark said. "Though I don't see that being a concern for those two. I don't want them hurt. But things like desserts, even for breakfast, I have no reason to deny them that."

He spoiled them while they were here. He probably always would, given the opportunity.