Baker, Baker, Where Are Your Buns?

[Talia Idris]

Talia shot him a glare back, she didn't like being told...or implied, what to do, much less in her own home. She quickly shook it off though, he didn't understand her past and so he didn't understand her feelings about it. Likewise she didn't know the whole situation from his end so there was no use judging that.

Plus, it might be amusing to have a shifter around if he was like how Drayel described him. It had been a while since a man had shown interest in her, besides the old man who came in once a week of course (but he didn't count). Even though she wouldn't consider going out with a playboy, and a shifter at that, the attention would be nice.

Talia's head snapped up from her thoughts as Drayel spoke to her. "Of course we know I locked the door. I'm not stupid, I would never forget since I live upstairs and would rather not have some creep In here or up there." She glared at him with her hands on her hips before turning around and walking to the store front. Someone had knocked and It looked like she was finally going to be able to sell something today.

After the transaction she deliberated whether to walk into the back or not. Something about this man both made her happy yet at the same time, want to throttle him. She rolled her eyes, men, they never seem to realize what they do and say. Of course we don't make it easy for them either, with all our reading between the lines and such .

With a grin she walked back into the kitchen...might as well make sure he didn't cause anymore trouble back there.

[Drayel]

When Talia all but stormed out of the room Drayel stared in disbelief. What had he done? She was mad at him again? He grumbled a little before shoving his hands in his pockets and scuffling over to teh window to peer out at the front. Normal customer and certainly had a bit of money on hand. Didn't look the type or even act like it. Not that person.

He sighed and walked off back to the back where he glared at the door handle, demanding answers on who broke into it and caused such little damage. Somebody who wasn't skill with their own powers yet, so a youngster maybe? Not somebody older that was sure. He growled lowly.

That is, until a heavy knock hit the door. Startled Drayel jerked his head up before frowning as he pulled open the door. Sure to his suspicions Shade stood at the doorstep with a grimace on his face. Clearly displeased by the cold he started to growl out complaints as Drayel sidestepped and allowed him in.

"Find any scents?" Drayel asked closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, quite a few." came the snuffly response. "Cats, old men, ladies, 'tata' ladies, bread man, delivery man, flou-"

"Anything with magic?" Drayel interrupted knowing full well how long the list could go. Shade blinked before frowning, allowing the question to sink in to his defrosting brain for a moment before glancing up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Yeah, three or four." Shade answered frowning. "Two were shifters and I don't know about the other two. Magic got strong around the door though."

"Yeah, somebody broke it open with magic." Drayel answered sighing. He glanced up when he heard Talia entering the room and cleared this throat. Catching on Shade turned to glance behind him, eyeing the new addition with curiosity. "Talia? Meet Shade, you're new guard dog."

"A pleasure ma'am." Shade purred as he sauntered over and offered her a hand. He smiled warmly at her and chuckled, his eyes half open as he stared down at her. "I see the guard caused you trouble in the kitchen? My apologies on behalf of his bad cooking abilities. Never taught by a female I'm afraid."

[Talia Idris]

Talia was a little surprised when she walked in to find another man standing in her kitchen. It was definitely an unusual day for her. "He doesn't look like much of a dog." Talia quirked an eyebrow as she quickly took in the sight of Shade walking towards her.

She smiled at him as she offered a small courtesy and shook his hand. "First, don't call me ma'am, it sounds like something you'd call an old woman." She wrinkled her nose before laughing a little. "Thanks for the apologies, I don't trust many men to be decent cooks anyways." She shot a grin at Drayel, hoping he would see the goodwill behind it...she really needed to control her emotions a bit better. No matter how much this guy bugged her.

"So has Drayel given you your orders for tonight yet? Or do you just plan on doing your own thing?" She thoughtfully contemplated the situation. "Will you be inside out out? I'd prefer one or the other so I can keep the door locked. I can provide you with a thermos of coffee if you decide to stay outdoors and perhaps a little snack either way, sort of a thanks for all this."

Talia leaned against the doorframe if the door that lead to the store front, her hands behind he back. Might as well relax a bit while they men figured out what was happening and she waited for customers to come, or for it to be time to make up tomorrows' batch of bread.

[Drayel]

"I'll be-"

"Outside." Drayel said flatly as he glared sharply at the other man. Shade pouted but didn't argue, his nose wrinkling as he huffed. Drayel snorted in response. He glance at Talia with an almost quirky smirk before returning his face to the regular scowl. "No peeking in her windows either Wolfman, I'm serious."

"I won't, I won't. Jeez, I'd think you're almost paranoid." Shade sneered as he rubbed the back of his head irritated. A loud crack and a yelp sounded out as Drayel thumped Shade hard on the side of his head with a bare fist. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Being an idiot." was the dull response. He glanced up at Talia and sighed. "If you wish for me to leave and get out of your hair, I shall. Otherwise, I can.... attempt to help around here."

[Talia Idris]

Talia shot a glare at Drayel. "No roughhousing in my kitchen! I don't need another mess in." She shook her head, contemplating the situation. What was this man going to put her through next!

She thought for a moment before nodding thoughtfully. "We'll unless you have someplace else to be, or are simply want to get away from here," she grinned at him at this point, "Then you could stay up front and finish selling today's bread. I don't trust you in my kitchen anymore and that way you can scope out who is coming in and out."

"And you," she said turning to Shade, "are you okay?" She didn't know if he had deserved that smack or not but she still didn't like violence in her home, or work place. Tossing her long braid over her shoulder she looked at shade trying to figure him out before finally turning away to gather supplies for making more bread for tomorrow.


"If you desire, you can sit at the table there until you have to start work. We are going to be open for a little while longer so it would be useless for you to be kicked out now. Just don't get in my way while I'm working." From Drayel's reaction earlier she doubted he would be happy about being excluded from the kitchen, especially if Shade was still there. But she was not one to be bossed around, and he had proven himself to be useless in the kitchen.

Looking up at one of the shelves she looked over to where the two men were still standing. "Could one of you grab that sack of flour? Actually, Shade, could you grab it? Drayel has proven himself a little accident prone with flour." She smirked at Drayel before innocently smiling at them.

[Drayel]

Drayel growled as he turned and stomped heavily towards the front. Damned women didn't realize how much dignity he'd just saved her and still he was kicked out with the snippy joke of flour. Behind him he heard Shade laugh merrily at whatever was going on in there as he pulled up a stool and sat stiffly on the edge. This wasn't even fair.

He kept his arms crossed, glaring at the cash register with a stern look as he brooded. Brooding so long and hard that he in fact never noticed the old man wobble in until he was nearly at the counter.

"Excuse me...?" Drayel blinked as he glanced up into gray eyes and a wrinkled face. Seeing he got the 'ex-guards' attention he smiled though this one had more humor then fear in it. Frowning Drayel eyed him warily. "Sir, I'd like to buy some bread though first... could you put on a shirt? My wife was too flustered to come in."

Drayel blinked before slowing staring at his naked chest, his face heating up until it felt like it was on fire. Jerking up he glanced at the windows to see not only 3 woman gaping at him drooling (creepy crones that is) but another two joined the 'want to grope' fan club. Only one poor lady stood away from the others, face as red as his as she smiled awkwardly at him. Huffing in embarrassment he turned on his heel and marched back into the kitchen, grabbed his shirt and stamped back out without even looking at the other two. Pulling it on over his head he grunted a little then stood rigid by the counter.

"What kind of bread would you like?"

"

[Talia Idris]

Talia stared at Drayel's retreating back until he had left the room. Honestly! The man couldn't take a bit of teasing. One minutes he is on the verge of destroying her kitchen yet agin and the next he is pouting like a little boy who had his pet cow taken away.

Talia shrugged and turned to Shade who had been laughing at Drayel's retreating figure. "We'll sir, would you do me the honour?" She asked him, ushering up to the sack of flour. As Shade was reaching up for the flour she opened her mouth to tell him to be careful for the bag was still open when Drayel came storming in, grabbed his shirt from the table and stormed out.

Talia didn't know what happened next but one minute she was standing there wondering what to do about the grumpy guard in her building and the next she was looking at Shade with both of them covered in flour.

Talia whimpered. She really didn't know what to do. She wanted to laugh at the look on Shade's face, yet at the same time she wanted to cry about yet another bag of flour being wasted. With those mixed emotions all she could manage was a soft whimper as she locked around. At this rate she would be lucky to still have a job at the end of the Campions holiday.

"We'll I guess I should not allow any men in my kitchen." She said with a feeble grin at the stark white man in front of her.

[Drayel]

After serving the man with a dark grunt, Drayel retreated back into the kitchen in search of a couple answers, only to discover he wasn't the only one covered in flour now. Startled he looked at the two of them with a curious tilt of his head before turning on his heel and marching out the door.

Popping his head out for a mere second to retrieve the brush he'd left behind, he picked it up and wordlessly walked back into the kitchen where Shade sneezed out white dust. His lip twitched as he silently handed Talia the brush, took the bag from the floor (which had almost half still there oddly enough), folded it in and put it up where he assumed it was to go. Then, turning he grabbed the broom and began to sweep up the mess they'd made.

"Guess I'm not the only useless male in the kitchen, eh Shade?"

"Shut up Tin Can." was the frosty response as Shade tried to shake free the dusty white crap from his body. "Ugh, this stuff feels weird!"

"I suggest dusting it off out front." Drayel suggested as he paused to glance back at the shifter. "More room out there and it won't blow back in here."

"Out front...?" Shade frowned for a second before shrugging and pulling of his shirt, slapping it cheekily against Drayel's side as he pracically pranced out the door. Only when he heard the second door close did Drayel's lip turn up in a grin, his eyes narrowing in glee as he simply continued to sweep. Taking a glance over his shoulder at Talia however he felt his grin widen before he hummed merrily under his breath and swept on.

[Talia Idris]

Talia just stood there in shocked silence. After everything today, it was all she could really i this situation. She watched the exchange between Drayel and Shade with a weak smile, a quizzical look crossing he face at Drayel's recommendation to brush off up front.

She simply shook her head with a small grin when Drayel looked at her, grinning like the cat who go into the cream. Flour puffed out around her, reminding her about her situation. With the brush the Drayel had passed to her she headed towards the back door to attempt to get the worse off.

"Umm...I'll be right back. thanks for helping." she said before closing the door behind her. leaning against the closed door she looked down at herself with a heavy sigh.

this is just not my day. She thought to herself as she started to unravel her braid. It was always best to start for the top and work her way down. Bending over she flipped her thigh-length hair over her head and attempted to shake the flour out of it.

MaybeI should just cut it off, it would make it easier to handle.

A chorus of crackles, alerted to her why Drayel had sent shade out the front. It was obvious he had sent him to a whole other type of wolves. This time she actually grinned at his antics. She debated going out and rescuing Shade but decided to wait and finish brushing off first. From what Drayel had implied Shade could handle himself around the ladies.

Talia finished brushing of and headed around front. She might as well go through the front door and make sure everyone was okay. After all, she couldn't have a spectacle distracting people from doing business. Not to mention she would rather not have her night guard running away before the night even began.

She just hoped that Mrs. Grundi and her fellow ladies (if you could call them that) hadn't succeeded in striping another man.

[Drayel]

Shade by all appearances loved the attention, not by the old hags of course but by the passing ladies that's attention was drawn due to the loud noises and odd merrymaking. Each looked over, gasped, gaped, then quickly turned away to mutter gossips of him to their traveling companion (usually another female). So, Shade simply laughed as they patted at him and gave his butt a grope.

"Now ladies, don't handle the merchandise too much." He mused as he gave the buttocks duster an amused chuckle. "We don't want it to be overused in case of emergencies, yeah? After all, who else is to train the young baker lady the way of men?"

He laughed pleasantly with them before ushering them back. "Come on, back up. I have flour in my hair and I'd much rather you ladies didn't get covered in said white stuff. It would do no good for those pretty complexions of yours."

Seeing them far enough back he hunched down and gave his head a vigorous shake, much like a dog would when its pelt is wet. White flew from him in a shower of snowy crap, covering the dirt with a thin layer. Inside Drayel made his way to the front to see if his plan worked.

Coming close to the window he noticed Talia walking forward as well, eyes intent on the door. He gave a short low whistle to get her attention and waved her over to the nearly concealed window, pointing out at the now squealing ladies with a roll of his eyes.

"I thought if they had some fresh man meat, I'd be safe for a while." He rumbled with a sheepish look. "Though, I should have suspected Shade to love the attention. Stupid dog really doesn't have a line to draw when it comes to females I guess."

[Talia Idris]

Drayel's whistle caught her attention as she was heading to check out how Shade was fairing. Walking over to the window where he was and glanced through, making tsking sounds at the sight. "We'll, I don't blame you, those women can be ruthless when it comes to good looking men." Talia started, not really realizing the fact that she had referred to both Shade and Drayel as good looking. It was true though. Some of the younger men had started rating their looks on Mrs. Grundi's antics, at least those of them who could actually bear the feel of old lady hand groping them.

"We'll, I was told once that men were really after one thing." She said under her breathe. Blushing slightly she looked up at Drayel, hoping he hadn't heard her repeating what Bepa had told her one day when they were discussing men while baking.

"Hmm, I think one of us needs to go out there and reign in that dog." She said, this time loud enough so that Drayel could hear. "He is gunna scare away all the decent customers." She pushed her hair behind her ears and reached into the pocket of her apron. Pulling out a 1/4 bishan she held it up with a grin.

"Flip for it? I don't know if I want to go out there with Shade acting like that, and if you head out there you are sure to be mugged by the ladies again, so this is fair." She laughed as she tossed Drayel the coin.

[Drayel]

Drayel caught the coin with practiced ease, barely glancing away from her face as he captured it in midair. Cocking an eyebrow he turned his eyes downward to stare at the metal in his hand thoughtfully then glanced back at the kitchen with a thoughtful 'Hmmph.'

"Perhaps we can make use of him yet." Drayel mused as he tossed back her coin and headed for the front door. Popping his head outside he cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of both dog and ladies... if you could call them that. He kept his eyes on the dog. "Want to run a couple errands?"

"Huh? Why?" Shade frowned as he tilted his curiously. Drayel snorted.

"Because you idiot, between the two of us we wasted a good amount of flour. The least we can do is pay for it." Drayel stated with an irritated growl. "I cover the cost, you do the running. Or would you rather the other way around?"

"No, No. I'll get it." the male conceded as he stuck out his hand. Drayel snorted before tossing him his entire pouch. "Eh? You think that's smart Drayel, giving me all your money?"

"No but I haven't the foggiest how much flour costs either." came irritated response. "Besides I know where you live, remember? I'm friends with Lucy."

"Touche." Shade chuckled as he tied it firmly to his belt before turning and smiling at the old bitties. "So, who want to lead me to place where flour is sold? Hmmmm, darlings?"

Drayel rolled his eyes and closed the door with a firm click, ignoring the vile taste in his mouth as he gave the ground a disgusted glare. "Damn idiot."

[Talia Idris]

Talia caught the coin, cunfusedly holding it in her hand before dropping it in her pocket. Following Drayel to the storefront she watched as he had cautiously stuck his head out the front door and talked with Shade. She rolled her eyes at the shifters' attitude with the ladies.

"You don't have to do that." Talia said with a soft smile, after Drayel had closed the door. She opened her mouth to say why he shouldn't help her out but honestly could really think of one.

"I really appreciate it." She said instead, pretending to examine the floor. "You know, you don't have to stay here." She suddenly blurted out looking up at him. "I know you guards are busy and you've already have spent so much of you time and money here. I really wasn't expecting this kind of treatment."

"Not that I don't appreciate it." She blushed, not wanting to sound like she was trying to get rid of the man in front of her. "I just don't want to take you away from your friends or family."

The store door opened and Talia smiled in relief at the customer who walked through the door. She didn't know how long Drayel would have let her mouth run on if he hadn't walked it.

"Mr. Oestmann! It's a pleasure to see you!" She grinned at the old man who was hobbling in with his cane. "The usual? Two loaves, one white one whole grain?"

"Of course m'dear. And...do you have any buns for me? I love your buns." The old man said with a straight face, but his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Sorry sir! We are all out! Let me just go in the back. I saved your order for you since we didn't have as much as we usually do today." Talia went to the back and resisted the urge to hit her head against the wall for how the conversation with Drayel had gone. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as she felt it was. Now where did the put those loaves....

When Talia had left the room the old man had turned around and eyed Drayel suspiciously, not saying a word. Two men glaring at each other is what Talia walked back to. Mr. Oestmann's head swung around to look at her. "Talia, there is a man in your shop!"

"I know!" Talia said with a laugh.

"Well he doesn't appear to be here to buy bread. So why is he here?" The old man poked Drayel in the chest with his cane, as if to probe him for his true intentions.

Talia opened her mouth and once again found herself to be speechless. We're they still pretending the Drayel was her asisstant? Instead she just shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

"And you hair is down!" The man gasped, looking back and forth from Talia to Drayel before resting his glare on Drayel. "You lay a finger on my baker woman and I'm gunna give you a good what for young man." he finished, shaking his cane under Drayel's noise, making Talia burst out laughing.

Mr. Oestmann liked to think that he had 'something special' with her, or maybe he just found it entertaining to scare young men away. Whatever the case this was not the first time she had seen routine this happen. It would interesting to see how Drayel handled this one!

[Drayel]

"Remove the cane from my face or I'll break it over the counter, old man." Drayel said coldly as he raised his chin to peer down his nose at the man. He took a step from his corner as he palmed the cane away from his body with a gentle touch while his lips curled in a threatening snarl and his eyes narrowed into flashing slits. "My reasons for being here is none of your concern, so buy your breads and leave."

The older man paled visibly as Drayel came to a stop mere inches from the smaller man in two shallow steps, eyes never leaving his nor the aura lightening. Drayel growled a little before glancing over at Talia, the coal burning eyes brightening for a moment before returning to the dark smolder. Then he stepped back to his corner with crossed arms, taking his time to lean against the walls without breaking gaze.

Let's see what you do old man. Drayel thought dully. Come on... Run or fight? What is your reaction...?

[Talia Idris]

Talia had about all of this exchange she could take. Stomping over to Drayel she administered a swift slap across his face. Standing between him and the old man she glared up an him with her hands perched on her hips. Looking up at him like this she realized how tall he was and for a second she thought to back down.

Quickly she remembered why she was so upset and snapped at Drayel. "How dare you! Honestly, coming into my shop and harassing my customers! I'll have you know that Mr. Oestmann is a regular around here. He is simply being protective of me, not every man comes in here with the best intentions." She paused to catch a breathe before continuing.

"I know you are here to help out but if you can't treat my customers with respect then you can leave right now! When serving other people you NEVER threaten then, no matter how stupid, mean or rude they are to you. It's part of the job to always be polite and kind."

Turning to the old man who had been turning from his original pale colour to a bright red she smiled at him. "And of course I wasn't talking about you. Now you head along home, I'm sure your sister is waiting for you. If you stop by tomorrow I will make sure to have some sweet buns saved for you, on the house."

"No worries, m'dear. I can see now you can handle yourself." And with that he headed out the door. Before it was fully closed Talia and Drayel could hear the hoots of laughter that he had obviously had been hold in while she had been scolding Drayel.

She turned back to Drayel. "So what now guard?" She felt guilty for slapping a guard and scolding him in front of someone else but she held his gaze and waited for his reaction.