ArchivedLogs:Gingersnaps

Gingersnaps
Dramatis Personae Hanna, Jayna, Melinda	2014-01-10 '
Location <NYC> Happy Cakes Bakery - TriBeCa
Happy Cakes Bakery is a cheery little spot of vintage charm amidst the hustle and bustle of the Manhattan neighborhood, a refurbished pair of row homes that hardly resemble their previous selves - the front walls are almost entirely gleaming glass, with the logo of the bakery painted onto the top, and rainbows of cupcakes dancing along the edges. Eclectically styled, it seems homey and welcoming - if the cross stitched sign by the door wasn't obvious enough - "All are Welcome!" it reads, with the "All" underlined in a sparkling bubble gum pink and yellow dotted line, with the logo of the bakery, a cheery smiling pink and white cupcake, beneath the lettering. Once inside, the walls of the combination bakery and coffee shop are covered in crisp clean white ceramic tile, with the occasional randomly placed tile with an color engraving of a tropical flower, or tile made of reclaimed China. Ambient music reminiscent of the Big Band era plays through the shop, loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to make conversation difficult. Tables and chairs in a variety of sizes, colors, and styles fill one side of the room, none of them quite matching each other, but all of them seeming to work together. The other side of the shop is a long series of gleaming glass and chrome bakery displays, filled with colorful sweets and treats of every description. To one end of the counter is a gleaming chrome espresso machine with far more tubes and bobbles than is really necessary, but producing excellent espresso beverages. At the other end is the old style cash register, a chrome and cherry wood relic from a bygone age that dings cheerily with each sale. The wall behind the counter is covered in photos of a tropical island, as well as a pair of shops that look like a smaller version of this one, several including a pair of dark haired women. As the morning draws to a close on another cold, damp day in New York, the breakfast crowd at Happy Cakes is finally beginning to subside, leaving the shop empty save for a small handful of customers sitting and sipping coffee or nibbling on pastries. The shop is permeated with a happy, welcoming warmth that seems to drive away the chill gloom of the city streets, complimented by the smell of fresh baked goods and brewing coffee. All damage from the recent apocalypse has been cleared up, and the front windows are all back in place... now with a thicker glass for the front panes, just to be safe. In one window, just below the re-done "all are welcome" sign, a small placard declares that the shop is 'now hiring'. Behind the counter, Hanna is finally taking a few minutes to stack recently washed dishes back into their appropriate places during the lull in traffic. She is dressed in a pale blue day dress today, edged with a darker blue ribbon, belted about her waist with a thick white belt. Her hair is pulled up into a braided bun, spiked through with dark blue sticks to keep it in place. Jayna, for her part, is sitting atop a stool, a large cup of tea steaming in her hands, but the frail looking young woman doesn't seem willing to move around too much. She and Hanna chat and banter happily, the familiar cheer that they have had in the past. Melinda enters the shop in the peak moments of quiet, her schedule very much determined by the ebb and flow of customers at her own place of business. She is dressed in layers, the outer most being wool to conquer the moisture that seems to be leaking in a messy, slushy, frozen fashion from the sky. A scarf, not especially wrapped, hangs around her neck and a floppy knit cap covers up most of her skull and forehead, obscuring her brows. Her hair is braided and down her left shoulder, brushing against her forearms as she removes her bright green gloves, heading for the register. "Hey Hanna, Jayna. How are you two today?" her energy seems good today, her voice brave, but noticeably so. Hanna glances up at the sound of someone entering, offering a bright, friendly smile at the sight of Melinda entering the bakery. "Mel!" Hanna greets, leaning against the counter to regard her friend, "Anything I can get for you? Got some lovely coffee going right now, or tea. I'm sort of on the hook for making coffee drinks today, but I'm not /that/ terrible at it." There's a bit of a guilty smile at this, and a glance back to Jayna, who offers a cheery wave and a smile the brightens her features; the dryad is bundled up against the chill, even in the warm bakery, with a thick knit sweater and jeans, with heavy looking snow boots, all topped off with a dark green knit cap. Hanna offers a shrug, "Doing better recently. Business is finally picking back up, and I'm pretending that the eviction date for our apartment isn't looming closer than is comfortable." Jayna wrinkles her nose and smirks, "I've been better. But at least the days are getting longer, and spring isn't that far off." Hanna is looking at Melinda with a soft concern on her rounded features, her soft voice echoes the concern, "How are you doing today? Bit of a break from work?" "Well, that's a good thing. This winter... well, fall and winter have been as hard as hell." Melinda breathes out a sigh and pulls off her cap, stuffing it into one pocket, moving forward to rest her purse on the counter as she converses. "Yeah, I'm on a break. Stuff's been so crazy lately... you know how when you're stomach only wants one thing, there's pretty much nothing else you can bother to eat? Well. I seem to have found my one thing for a while: your gingersnaps." Her eyes widen with inner exasperation, her smile remaining as warm as ever. She wets her lips and looks between the two, thoughtful, then asks, "What are you two going to do about the eviction? Are you looking to fight it in court too?" Jayna snorts, running her hand over her own cap as Mel removes hers, "Yeah, normally I'm not this pitiful, but the food shortage heading into winter made things so much worse." She shakes her head, and just hugs her tea closer, smiling, "I have a really good ginger tea you might like, if you're in a gingermood. Tends to go nicely with the gingersnaps, too, in my opinion." Hanna offers a somewhat confused smile, and nods, "Well, I'll make sure to keep them on the menu for you, in that case. Guess Shane got the cookies to you, safe and sound, the other day?" Hanna glances towards the case, then back at Melinda appraisingly, "Stress got your stomach all in knots lately?" Her tone is casual, light, as she pulls a gingersnap from the case, and offers it to Mel, not bothering to ring her friend up for it, "I actually came up with this recipe pretty much for that, way back. Because obviously just ginger drops don't have nearly enough butter and sugar in them." The question about eviction gets a shrug, and a glance towards Jayna, "Well, a friend invited us in on a sort of co-op that looked promising, but, ah, not sure what the status of /that/ is now." She grimaces, rubbing at the back of her neck nervously, her eyes dipping from the unusual blue they have been to a somewhat slate gray, "So we're getting the basement here set to be an apartment, for a time, at least." "Ah. The Co-Op. I wondered if you had been approached about that." Melinda mentions thoughtfully as she accepts the cookie gingerly. She lifts it to her mouth and nibbles, still considering. "I was approached about buying in on that, but I need to figure out how that would affect pursuing the coffee bean business. The past few months, I have barely been home anyway, so it seems natural to move into the Co-op when my lease is up, but ... well, it's a lot to think about and I haven't been backed into a corner. Yet." She continues to chew on the cookie. "Oh. Yes. Tea. Tea would be lovely. I was going to pick up a dozen or two of the cookies to tide me over. I am hoping it passes, to be honest, but appreciate that they aren't going away." "Yeah, Dusk spoke to me about it," Hanna says, her voice dropping lower so only Melinda hears it, "Before all this went down." She sighs, running her hand along her hair, frowning, slightly, her eyes returning to the cool icy blue they had been, "And I had been needing to talk to you about the bean business. Between eviction, and the whole zombie thing, we don't have quite as much in the way of funding that we once did." The baker grimaces, glancing around the shop at the straggling customers and recent repairs, her voice apologetic, "We might need to push back our involvement just a tad. At least until... well, yeah. I hesitate to say 'things calm down' because that seems a decidedly distant hypothetical anymore." She arches an eyebrow at the concept of Melinda eating two dozen cookies, "Glad you like them. Want me to start boxing them up for you now?" Jayna slowly rises from her seat, setting aside her tea, and begins prepping a cup of tea for Melinda, her motions a bit slower and less graceful than normal, but determined to make tea none the less. "No, no. Don't worry about that." Mel shakes her head, finishing her cookie before continuing. "I understand everything going to shit. We would have had to touch base on the beanery after the zombie apocalypse anyway. The eviction and the arrests are making everything ... really tense. Hence the cookies." She fishes around her her purse and pulls out her wallet. "Yeah, I should probably head back soon. I'm pretty much working a little bit every day at all different shifts. We're short on managers right now and I haven't found a soul that is remotely qualified or old enough to promote." She shrugs and starts pulling out the correct amount of cash, already pretty familiar with the price. "I'll look into helping out with the Co-Op for the time being - get everyone settled. It seems like the best plan." Hanna goes about boxing up the cookies as requested, tossing an extra cookie in to make it a proper baker's dozen. The boxes are new - yellow, with a cheery little cupcake sticker holding the box shut, which is then slipped into a neat little waxed paper bag to keep it dry. "Alrighty, there we go. Dozen gingersnaps for you," Hanna starts ringing Mel up, making change and returning it to her. Jayna finally sets the 'to go' cup of hot ginger tea on the counter with a smile, "And some tea for the trip out, since it's so bloody cold out still." Hanna smiles and nods, "Ah, yes, the woes of small business. We lost two employees in the mess, and I'm still trying to find people to fill in. Would be nice to have another manager 'sides us." She shakes her head, leaning on the counter and looking at Mel with another appraising look in her icy eyes, "You be careful out there, yeah? Nasty mess. Take care, Mel. Let me know if you need anything. Even if it's just to talk, alright? Tea, coffee, booze, whatever you need, eh?" The tinge of her Hawaiian accent carries through in her concerned voice, perhaps a touch unusual. "Oh, hun. I appreciate it. Really. But don't worry so much. I'll be okay. Things are just... crazy, you know?" Melinda stuffs the change back in her wallet and places that back in her purse. She pulls out her hat and puts that and her gloves on, then picks up her box of cookies. "And thank you so much for the tea. I really appreciate it. I'll definitely be around for chats and beverages of choice. I... just have to get back to work now. See you later?" She starts shuffling toward the exit, giving a half hearted toss of her scarf to make it rest on her shoulder and wrap her neck a little better.