ArchivedLogs:Fresher than Fail Cakes

Fresher than Fail Cakes
A peace offering, and sounds of distant violence.
Dramatis Personae Hanna, Marrow	2013-06-12 This takes place concurrent to the Shadow Puppets log, just on the other side of the bakery.
Location <NYC> Happy Cakes Bakery - TriBeCa
For all the fancy glass windows and shining chrome cases visible from the storefront of Happy Cakes Bakery, the rear of the building has not received quite the same level of transformation to seamlessly meld the two former row homes into one cohesive building. A small garden with colorful plants fills the space between the two back doors to the building, while a single doorway leads to the basement of the house on the left. In the same place on the right building, the door seems to have been lost beneath a massive concrete slab, which currently houses a series of relatively new looking dumpsters - one for compost, one for recycling, and a much smaller one for the remaining garbage. The composting dumpster appears to have been recently vandalized - the word FREEK scrawled in massive red letters on the bin, spray paint still seeming to glisten with dampness. Hanna isn't usually the one to take out the trash, but today she is again short staffed, and as such, the proprietor of Happy Cakes makes her way out the back door, carrying a small yellow bucket towards the compost bin. She is incredibly colorful today, wearing a silk cheongsam in a dizzying silver and rainbow brocade, paired with simple green flats. Her long hair is pulled up into a bun and secured with a series of pins and clips, sparkling in the sunlight. The sight of the defaced dumpster gets a heavy sigh from the curvy woman, and she glances nervously around for a moment, as though expecting something worse than badly spelled grafiti to happen. Unless you have an unhealthy love of the smell of cheap tobacco and sewage Marrow can perhaps be counted as something worse than grafiti. One of the few perks of being a Sewer Knight is that when everyone else is confined to the tunnels you can still wander off topside in search of tasty treats. Even if you have to raid an upmarket dumpster or two to get them! "You don't go in for that shit where you soak everything in bleach do you?" she asks, slipping out from the shadows. "Because I can't be fucked walkin' all the way over to the next decent smelling bakery and raiding their trash." Her own outfit is rather less colourful. Black jeans, Rammstein t-shirt and a black leather jacket all of which have seen better days. Thanks in part to the numerous bone spines sprouting from her body. Hanna startles slightly at the voice adressing her, and she fumbles, nearly dropping the bucket of composting she holds, but thankfully catching it. Upon locating the source of the voice, Hanna relaxes visibly, apparently happy to see that the girl is an obvious mutant, and not someone come to set her shop ablaze. The question gets a concerned look, and a slight frown on her rounded features, "Oh, goodness no. People who do that are horrible, especially bakers. Seriously, no, my dumpsters are safe." She offers a little bit of a smirk, adding hesitantly, "Although, I don't really throw out edible food. Stuff that goes in there is usually moldy, or accidentally got something decidedly not palatable spilled on it. I've got stuff set aside that I drive over to the shelter at the end of the night - it's safe, and a bit fresher than what I throw out. If you're hungry." The older woman is explaining this as she brings the compost bin around, holding it out in evidence, "Or, in this case, an experimental cake that fell to the point of no return. Middle is almost completely raw - not sure what went wrong in the oven." Marrow shrugs. "Moldy isn't so bad," she assures with a narrow smirk. "Penicillin and shit. 'S good for you. But if you've got things going spare...." She waves her hands. "Then it'd be rude not to, especially if you can spare enough for some of the others. Kids mostly. Maybe in return I could find who wrote that and have some polite words with them for you, if you'd like?" Hanna nods, "Sometimes mold isn't bad, no. I've done some really interesting savory cheese buns with moldy cheese, but," she trails off with a shrug, "Neither here nor there. Do you want bread? I've got some fresh loaves that I overbaked a little bit - a little on the crunchy side, but it's still good. And you're looking for food for kids?" Hanna's features soften even further, as she dumps the flopped cake into the compost bin, "How many? I'll get you set up with a box of treats - any preferences on cupcakes, or food alergies? Flavor preferences?" The look on her face isn't one of pity or even disapproval, it's more concern, and she frowns at the grafiti, sighing slightly, "I... I know I shouldn't say yes. I'm nervous that we'll get targeted next, after Evolve last night. But," Hanna sighs, offering a smile, "No need to track them down. I overbake regularly - I don't mind the cupcakes going to people who will enjoy them." "Hah. Hungry," Marrow repeats with a short harsh laugh. "I'm /always/ hungry. You know how much it yah gotta eat to grow these babys all the time?" She tweaks at a rather viscious looking spike poking out around her elbow. A spike which didn't seem to be there a few moments ago. "And yeah sure why not, food for the kids. Maybe then no-one will bitch about me heading out to buy smokes." Her hand is shoved into a pocket and fishes around for a crumpled hand rolled cigarette. "Probably for the best I don't talk about how many of us there are or where. Not safe for either of us." Hanna raises an eyebrow at the presented spike, "I'd honestly never thought of the additional caloric needs that some mutations would require. Huh." She muses on that for a moment, then shakes her head, "I'll toss in a bit extra. Business has been a little slower today - no way I'm going to make it through all the baked goods today." Her cheeks color at the denial of numbers, although her eyes remain a uniform dark brown black color, as she stumbles over her words"Oh. I'm sorry to have asked, I didn't, I, didn't think about it that way. Understandable." Eyeing the cigarette, Hanna shrugs, "You ok waiting out here for a moment? I need to go check on Jayna and the front end. There's been," her lips draw into a thin line, as she eyes the dumpster, "There's been trouble lately. In the area. But, I'll be right back with some food, ok?" Hanna takes a few quick steps back towards the door, double checking that the spikey girl isn't just going to run off, before ducking inside with her bucket. Marrow clicks away with her cheap disposable lighter until she coaxs the end of the cigarette into a spark of fiery life. "You're pretty jumpy yah know," she mutters, shaking her head. "'S not like I'm gonna shank you for a crust of bread." She leans back against the wall and takes a long lungful of smoke "Although if this was a steakhouse all bets would be off." Ducking back into the bakery, Hanna is gone for several minutes, although the sounds of shouting and a scuffle can be heard from somewhere else in the neighborhood, several voices raising to yell, echoing indistinctly through the buildings. Several long moments later, Hanna emerges from the back door again, this time her arms laden with a double stack of crisp white boxes, a reusable shopping bag from some local chain looped over her arm, bulging with goods. The brightly attired woman smiles nervously, making her way down the ramp, "Ok. I've got a dozen cupcakes - one of each that we've got in the cases today. The second box is cookies and a few donuts. They'll stay fresh longer, in theory, than the cupcakes, which can go a bit wobbly when they get really warm." She sets the boxes down on the edge of the concrete platform, placing the bag beside them, continuing to explain, "The bag has the tray of bread I screwed up. Just a bit burnt on the bottom, but it's good crusty French loaf, so it'll still taste the same." The baker woman quirks an eyebrow, and shakes her head, "Sweetie, I'm not nervous about you. I'm nervous about what the rest of this city is going to do to us." She doesn't elaborate on that matter, but instead leans calmly against the wall of her building, "There's also a bacon maple cupcake in a seperate box in the bread bag. Figured you'd appreciate that kind." "Has done," Marrow corrects, blowing out smoke rings. "You help out shelters with mutants visiting then you must have heard the Pigs were kidnapped mutants to make 'em fight to the death. Serve, protect and all that crap. At least this'll be an honest little war." The gunshots in the background don't seem to phase the Sewer Knight, although her little patch of wall is in a nice out of sight spot. "Bacon.... in a cake.... Fuck are rich people crazy or something?" If the horrified look on Hanna's face is any indication, she had not heard about the mutant fight ring. For the briefest moment, there is the slightest feeling of utter sadness and betrayal in the air, like an unseasonably chill breeze, although it is almost immediately gone as Hanna closes her eyes tightly, leaning her head back against the wall. "No. I... I hadn't heard. I knew there were kids missing," she looks at Marrow, sighing slightly, "But I didn't know it was anything that... that brutal." The baker rubs the bridge of her nose, her eyes closing again, "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the one who died was involved in this?" she snorts shaking her head. The question about the bacon cupcake gets a raised eyebrow, and her smile returns again, banishing the horror that had previously pulled at her features, "Not crazy, no. Well, not all of them. Nor am I rich." This may be a blatant lie, but, eh. "It's a bit of a craze right now - bacon in freaking everything. I had enough people ask for them that I gave it a try - they sell well enough." She shrugs and grins, "Try it - if nothing else, free cupcake?" "You own enough stuff to fill a closet? Then you're rich by my standards," Marrow jokes mirthlessly. "And you might be onto something... I could understand a mutant wanting a little revenge for something like that." She shrugs. "Free cupcake indeed. I guess even if it tastes like crap it's extra..." She snaps her fingers. "What's it called. Protein that doesn't come from rat meat." Blushing and looking down at her fairly fancy vintage dress, Hanna looks appropriately mortified, "Ah, fair enough." The response about the revenge thing, gets a decidedly pointed scowl from the curvy woman, in no particular direction, her voice very quiet, "If he was involved in it, good riddance to bad rubbish." Hanna snorts at the statment about protein, and smirks, "Ah, there's minimal protein in it. It's mostly sugar. I'm worthless when it comes to making savory foods - so unfortunately all I can provide is a fairly tasty sugar buzz." Marrow frowns. "Bacon is mostly sugar? Guess you learn something new every day," she says skeptically. "Isn't bread savory though? Or is this fancy cake-bread?" The questions stop quick enough though, as she ducks down and begins searching through for the baconcake. "If I hear anythin' bout people causin' any trouble for you I might drop in again to offer 'help'. As payment. Like stealing is fine, but you got debts then they gotta be paid." Hanna shakes her head, "Nah - bacon is meat and all, but the amount of bacon in that recipe is still kinda small compared to the sugar and flour and other stuff. It's mostly just a flavoring, but there's bits of bacon all through it." Hanna continues leaning contentedly against the wall, although another raport of gunshots makes her wince slightly, apparently something she is not yet used to. "If you feel the need to repay me, that is fine. I appreciate the offer of keeping an eye out - there was an attack and a fire at another openly mutant friendly coffee shop in the area. It's got me a bit on edge." "If shit goes really bad grab all the cash from the register and throw it all over," Marrow suggests, shoving the cupcake into her mouth with three ferocious bites. "People stop thinking when there's a load of easy money to be made. Should buy you time to slip out the back and hey, if the burn the place at least you've got insurance." She licks her fingers, then shrugs. "Needs more bacon, but then what doesn't?" "I'll keep that in mind," Hanna says with a laugh, shaking her head, "Jayna's gonna look at me like I'm nuts, but if it gets her out of the shop safely, I'm fine with it. Distractions are a lovely thing." The look on her face is a bit more gaurded and considering than the jovial response to the suggestion would imply. "And I'll see about tossing a bit more bacon into the next batch. It tends to make it too salty for my taste, but if I replace the butter with bacon fat, it may work a bit." Hanna is musing to herself, mostly, although she falls quiet at the sounds of sirens in the distance, frowning, "first time I've heard those this close to the shop." Marrow tilts her head, listening in. "You should be fine," she decides. "They're close but not getting any closer, which means whatever is going on ain't moving this way. And I'd have said needs more bacon no matter what it tasted like. Need the calories. Flavour comes way down the line." Hanna chuckles and gestures at the collection of breads and treats, "I don't skimp on the calories. This is, ah, decidedly not health food." She laughs at that, resting her hand on her hip as she does, emphasizing the slightly more than healthy curves she sports. As the baker woman opens her mouth to speak, the back door slams open, and a rather frenzied looking young woman, her skin a warm earthy tone, with what looks like a deep green hijab fallen to rest around her shoulders, exposing her hair, which is more of a collection of braided and arranged willow fronds, bursts through the door. She looks nervously between Marrow and Hanna, catching her breath, "Hanna. You need to come inside. Now. There's, there was a shooting outside. The crowds are, they're." The panic in the woman's sapling green eyes is obvious, and Hanna moves towards her quickly, reaching out to touch the woman's arm comfortingly. She glances back at Marrow, frowning, "I. I am really sorry to have to run, but, ah, yeah. I hope your friends enjoy the bread and treats. And I hope you do too. Stay safe, miss." "Safe is boring," Marrow proclaims with the confidence of the young. "I'll survive though, it's what I do." Hefting the supplies without any real effort she ambles off, whistling death metal as she walks.