Baker, Baker, Where Are Your Buns?

[Talia Idris]

Flashback: May 124PW

Talia looked up from her small sink, water dripping off her face as sunlight started to creep through her window. Grabbing her old towel she patted her face dry and quickly braided her long brown hair. Stretching out her limbs one last time she took a quick look around the room to make sure everything was in order before giving herself a satisfactory nod and turning to head out her door.

Slowing descending the steps from her room above her work she smiled and hummed a little tune to herself. She had been working at Bepa's Buns for just under a year now and the owners, Vadim Campion and his wife Bepa finally trusted her to look after the place on her own. They head headed out to Shim for a couple weeks to visit with some relatives who weren't doing so well, leaving Talia on her own and in charge.

At first glance everything seemed fine. Talia turned on the lights in the kitchen first. Once the sun came up and started shining through her windows she could turn them off but for now it was much too early and dark to not use the lights. Unlocking and then opening the back door she grabbed some of the wood that they stored back in the alley, bring it in to start a fire so that she could get ready to start cooking the bread.

Most of the dough would have been made the night before and all she would need to do would be to knead it one final time, mold it, let it sit for a few minutes and by then the oven would be hot enough to cook the bread until they were a nice golden brown.

Walking over to the counter she stared at the mounds of 'dough', covered by the almost dry clothes. Lifting one up she bit her lip. It was not dough underneath the the cloth, it was a rock! Talia stared confused at it for a second, it was still early and apparently splashing cold water on one's face was not enough to wake one up. Although after pulling each cloth off what was supposed to be a mound of dough, enough to make 20 loaves of bread, all that she could see was a row of rocks.

Rushing out into the shop area she first checked the front door. It was still locked so she hadn't simply forgotten to lock the doors. A quick look around the shop also showed that the day-old bread from yesterday had also been stolen. A quick look in the register caused her even more confusion for no money was missing.

"Oh Creators, what am I ever going to do?" She moaned to herself, her head in her hands. After a minute she rushed through the kitchen and up the stairs to her room. Quickly grabbing her cloak she was soon out the door of the bakery, making sure to lock it and double check. Running quickly through the streets she made her way to the guards' offices and barracks. Certainly it was early, almost 5am, but this was an emergency! There would have to be someone who could help her out, track down the thieves and perhaps get them to at least reimburse her the cost of everything. She would not be paying for all of this out of her own pocket and she was not about to lose her job over something so odd!

Knocking on the door on one of the guards buildings she hopped from foot to foot. It was a tad chilly this morning, not to mention she was a little nervous about the whole situation.

No one answered so she knocked again, a little harder

Still no answer. This time she pounded on the door as hard as she could.

Waiting another moment she raised her hand to knock yet again, when the door finally opened and Talia found herself looking up at a very displeased looking guard.

[Drayel]

Drayel was a tired mass of man. Snoring away on his bunk, unaware of the banging at the door. He slept in complete snoring peace as another guard answered instead, grumbling and huffing as the he answered the door.

Normally, Drayel would be the first to awaken and answer, hence why nobody got up at first. So, grumpy guts continued his slumber for a little while longer. That is, until the guard who opened the door came over and kicked the side of his bunk. Grunting in alarm, Drayel jerked upright, staring in groggy confusion at the irrated man and the startled looking woman behind him. He glared venomously through his sleepy mind, demanding to know why a woman was in here in the first place and why he was so rudely waken.

"Her store's been robbed." came the flat response. "You take it."

"You lazy fat ass." Drayel grouched as he shifted slightly in bed to get a better look at the woman before turning his eyes to glare at the man. "Why not go for it yourself? You always complain how the high ups put you on patrol too much."

"Because, I'm on patrol today." was the snarky response. "Get your ass outta bed or I'll flip your bunk again."

"I'll smack your head through a wall." Drayel spat though he sat upright with a groan. He glared at the other for a moment longer then peered at the woman again, scratching absentminded at his naked chest. "You're store got robbed eh? Which one?"

"The bread one." the guard snapped. "Quit stalling and get up!"

"Shut it!" Drayel barked as he turned his glare on full and bared his teeth. "I do not recall asking you. Go back on patrol or get drunk, whatever it is you do. I've got a job to do that you lazy slobs won't take. Poor woman would probably be left in the cold if I wasn't taking it!"

The other guard went silent and Drayel snorted before throwing his feet over the edge of the bed and huffing, grimacing a little when the cold air hit his scar. Rubbing it with a wince he glanced up at her from his sitting position, elbows on knees as he tried to wake up.

"Alright, what's your name Ma'am?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia couldn't help but look a little rattled while she watched the exchange between the guards. When the first one had opened the door and groggily demanded what she wanted she had started to explain what was wrong. She didn't get too far before he had turned around, grunting at her to follow him. She expected to be lead to a chair or an office where a little bit more decorum would be shown in handling this matter but instead she stood awkwardly at the entrance to another guards room....she really hoped that he was at least decent underneath that blanket of his.

She opened her mouth to respond the the question before being interrupted by the guard that had opened the door. After getting snapped at for his rudeness, he stood there for a minute before nodding the the other guard, turned around and left the room, not before shooting her a nasty look. Most likely he blamed her for everything. Talia watched him disappear down the halls before turning to look the the remaining man.

Realizing that he had asked her a question and that she had not yet answered, she blushed before responding. "Oh, yes. My name is Talia, um, Talia Idris." She tried not to look at the man staring at her, but there really was no where else to look, she was in his sleeping quarters afterall. "Why don't I go wait, out there while you finish waking up and get ready. I can fill you in on everything if you decide to accompany me to look around the place." Without waiting for a response Talia turned on her heels and attempted to subtlety dash out the door.

Reaching the main room, she took a deep breath. "Well I probably made that more awkward then it needed to be" she mentally scolded herself. Reach up to brush her bangs from her eyes, she blushed a bit before frantically tucking away the wisps of hair that had come loose from her braid while she had run here. Looking down at her clothes she wished that she had chosen to wear a longer outfit instead of her short green dress with the light leggings - mud must had splashed up from the puddles that she failed to avoid and her cloak had not been able to fully protect her from her owns stupidity. She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling as she thought about what the two guards must have thought seeing her half covered in mud and hair flying everywhere.

The sound of a man clearing his voice, caused Talia to jump and turn around. She didn't know how long he had been standing there but she hoped it hadn't been too look. "I might as well make the most of this" she thought to herself before offering a small smile with her apology. "I am sorry to have inconvenienced you, I probably could have waited a bit longer since I doubt I can open shop today anyways. I was just so panicked I wasn't thinking straight." She looked guilty at the ground, truth was that she had also been scared. She was living along after all.

"I don't believe I got your name?" She changed the subject quickly as she looked up at him and got her first good look at who this man was. He was almost a foot taller then her 5 foot, 5 inches. Add a still sleepy and slightly perturbed look, matched up with a scar on his cheek and he did look rather intimidating.

[Drayel]

"I'm called Drayel Morig." came the dull response. Peering down at the flustered woman, he looked her over with unchanging stare. Muddy, ragged, not quite with it herself, and oh so slightly flustered. Of course, he wasn't wearing a shirt still despite having one in his hands, his sword and scabbard in the other. He sighed a little as he rubbed his cheek with his shoulder as he held out the scabbard for her to hang onto. "Hang on that. You said you were from a bakery? Do you live in it, own it? What was stolen?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia raised an eyebrow quizzically at the half naked man in front of her. Of course she didn't have time to let her mind wander because, what was his name? Oh yes, Drayel. He shoved his scabbard at her while he pulled his shirt over his head.

"I don't know why he couldn't have done that in his room....unless he it trying to show something off" she thought herself and out loud answering his question.

"I work and live in a bakery. Bepa's Buns, you may have heard of it? Anyways my boss, the owner and his wife, left the other day to go and visit family in Shim leaving me in charge. I came downstairs to do the daily baking and all the dough was gone, as well as the day-old stock and even some of our stock is missing. The strange things is, the money wasn't taken. And as far as I am aware no one came up stairs to where I live. Anything else you need to know?"

By this point Mr. Morig had ushered her out the door and they were on the way back to the bakery, where hopefully he could be of some assistance otherwise she probably would be in big trouble when Vadim and Bepa returned.

[Drayel]

"All of it? There isn't anything left to sell?" Drayel frowned as he took his sword from her and tied it onto his back with a grunt. He glanced down at her and wrinkled his nose before letting out a sharp snort. "Odd though, no money. What of the other bakers in town? Would they steal anything to harm your business?"

Drayel glanced over at an old begger man and thoughtlessly tossed a single coin in his cup. Not much but he'd known what it was like on the cold streets. He kept walking without a pause, turning his attention back to the young woman... Talia was it? He frowned a bit as he tried to remember her name.

"Can you tell me anything that may help? Any noises you heard last night... anybody acting odd?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia nodded, "I won't even be able to open until the afternoon at the earliest. We always let the dough rise overnight, makes them nice and fluffy. Nothing will be ready in time." She thought carefully about the other bakeries in town before slowing responding. "I don't think so....we haven't had any threats. Although....since I have been working there we have been able to make more sweet treats, cookies and such, which some of the ones that specialize in. That might have made them unhappy." Talia frowned at the thought.

She sighed tiredly as she scratched her head trying to think. "Honestly I go to bed quite early. I get up just before 4 am every morning so we can open in time, and I sleep very soundly. And I don't recall seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary."

[Drayel]

Drayel couldn't help but wince in knowing pity at how early she got up every morning. Of course she would have to, she was a baker. Still, it seemed quite early.... He pinched the bridge of his nose with a grumble, propping his elbow up with the forearm that crossed his belly.

"So, you were... robbed of dough and bread but not of money, heard no noise, are alone, left the doors locked, and yet the thief never went upstairs?" Drayel frowned harder as he sighed heavily. "This case is completely backwards and I haven't even looked that far. No enemies either...."

Drayel continued his muttering as he puffed out steams of air. No, stay calm. Push out the sleep from his mind, get his blood going, and - his stomach gargled and he let out a low frustrated groan. Of course. Being sleepy he forgot to eat again which meant no food for the next couple hours. His stomach moaned protest rather loudly.

"Blast this day to the highest heavens." Drayel cursed as he felt his well known grouchy mood settle in. He turned to give Talia a dark growl, trying to ignore the sudden growing ache in his belly. "When are the owners coming home then and which way do we go, right or left?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia glared back at the guard beside her. Okay, so it was understandable that he was grouchy, she had woken him up early. But that did not give him the right do look at her in such a way! It was his job to do this sort of thing anyways. "We go this way." Talia lead him down the street towards home, and work. After a minute or two of silence she answered yet another of his questions.

"Mr. and Mrs. Campion left just yesterday morning and won't return for about five days. This is the first time that both of them have left, usually one has stayed behind with me but I have worked there long enough now that they trusted me to handle everything properly...which apparently the wrong idea."

Talia reached into her purse and retrieved the key for the door, unlocking it and returning it before ushering Drayel inside. "Here we are. Now if you excuse me, I am going to my room to change quickly. Feel free to look around." And with that she bounded up the stairs.

Slipping her her legging off she paused before deciding to take off the dress too. If she was going to have to go out and grab more supplies she might as well put something a little bit more practical. But first to tame the hair....it was simply unacceptable how messy her hair had gotten from just a couple hours ago!

[Drayel]

Drayel watched her go with a roll of his eyes before setting to work. First thing he did was check around the inventory, looking for marks or some sort of oddity that would give away some clue. Light scratches around the tables but none near the doors or windows. A bit of powder of the floor (probably flour) but that was probably done by the panicking Mrs. Talia. Next, he double checked the money then investigated the rocks. Smoothed but still damaged. He frowned, slotting away in his brain the broken scribble that etched into some stones while in others nothing. One looked almost like it had a date on it but the last part had been broken off. Another thing he noticed was the scratch marks.

Long, thin, claw like. He frowned as he examined them closer, eyeing them with wonder. Glancing around he looked for a pencil and paper, something to mark the paper with anyway. He was crouching behind one of the counters when Talia had come down again, his head turning to glance at her for a moment before resuming his search.

"Do you have any paper and a pencil I may use?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia had come down the stairs in a simple, long, navy skirt and a plain shirt, she didn't want this guard to think that she had only run upstairs to dress up for him. She had just wanted to change out out of her dirty clothes.

"Have you made any progress Mr. Morig?" Talia asked as she walked over to a drawer and started rooting around in it until she found what she was looking for. Handing him a pad of paper and a pencil she took a look around the room.

"Are you hungry perhaps? I was thinking of reheating the stove, if you are done looking around it, and putting on some coffee and seeing if I can't something edible for breakfast. I woke you up so early, I might as well feed you." She attempted a smile. She really didn't feel like being nice to this grumpy man but if she wanted help she had to do her best to be courteous.

[Drayel]

Hearing her offer made Drayel blink, looking up as if stunned that she dared ask such a ruffian to the table. He was about to decline, to try and keep himself as much out of her way as possible, but his stomach decided right then to growl at its at most loudest. Face heating up Drayel stood and gently took the paper and pencil with a grunt of thanks.

"That... would be kind of you. Thank you." Drayel grumbled as he went back to the rocks and briskly set to work. Taking the paper he laid it gently over the scratches on the rock and rubbed the side of the lead lightly over top. Slowly, he made something of a copy of the marks before frowning and going to the tables. Slowly he compared each marking to the one on the rocks, frowning when he noticed a similar pattern.

"Do you have any sort of curved knives?" Drayel asked glancing over at her as he moved on to another spot. "Something sharp at the tip and length, like a flay knife."

Another pair of scratches on a chair facing a table, lightly dragged but still there. Like something was moving it out of the way but tried not to make noise. His lip twitched with distaste but he kept moving. None near the cool area but a couple scratches were on the railing at the bottom of the stairs. He growled. So somebody was thinking of going up.

A scent caught his nose, dragging his attention from his work to sniff loudly at the air. Food! Good food too by the smell of it. Another moan of his belly and he cursed himself before trying to get back to work. Again, his belly protested so he growled at it instead.

Stupid talking organs.

[Talia Idris]

With the go ahead from Drayel, Talia quickly got the stove heated up and put some coffee on. Generally she drank tea in the morning but she doubted that she would find someone like this guard here sipping from a teacup anytime soon. Going to the cooler she grabbed a bit of meat and some eggs that were still in there. placing them in a frying pan it wasn't long before the smell started to spread through out the room. It wasn't anything too fancy but it would do for now.

"I'll be right back." Talia quickly ran up the stairs again. She had remembered that she had brought a couple buns upstairs last night but had not snacked on them like she had intended on doing. Coming back downstairs she popped them in the oven to warm them up a bit. Placing everything on two plates she put it on the small table they kept in the kitchen. With two cups off coffee everything was ready.

"Come eat." she said as she sat in the one chair, gesturing towards the other. "And as far as I am aware we don't have such a knife. Baking doesn't really require much more then a bread knife or a butter knife."

As she ate she looked at the pages that Drayel had been working on, while trying to avoid rubbing their knees together, the table really was too small for all this. Talia really had no idea what this man was finding or what it meant. But she trusted him to tell her when he was ready, she would try her best not to harass him too much even though she wished that this could all be over and she could go back to her regular routine.

[Drayel]

Drayel chowed down his eggs with a greedy purr, trying to remain decent but hunger pushed much of his manners away. Still though, he remember his 'thanks' and 'It tastes good' in between bites. Spotting the bread however he frowned, unsure quite what to think of it. Reaching over he picked up his and eyed it with almost dull curiosity.

"No knife." Drayel repeated with a thoughtful hum. "A curved blade..."

He paused in his eating to furrow his brows, an old rhyme popping into his head. He quickly squashed it down and shoved in another mouthful with an irritated grunt. No, that wasn't real. It was more of a.... a myth. Still, chills wandered down his back causing him to shiver. Dammit, now he spooked himself.

"Sounds almost like a prank more then a serious crime..." Drayel grumbled with a stern frown at his bread. "Those markings-" He glanced at the paper with narrowed eyes, thoughtfully glaring at it. "- and those rocks are pretty good indications of it though the bread thing may have been a bit overboard. Why would they steal dough? It's not like you can eat it until it's baked and who eats that many loaves?"

Then he remembered he was in the company of somebody, glancing up with a startled look before turning scarlette and coughing into his hand. Now not only did he give the appearance of a pig, but an insane man who grumbled to himself. He glanced at her sheepishly.

"I... apologize for my lack of manners. It's not often I eat with such polite company." Drayel said with a shy quirk of the lip. Clearing his throat he straightened, noticing her discomfort with how close he was and obediently scooched back a bit. "I know you were sleeping last night, but did you see anything odd before you went to sleep? Hear a bump or something last night that may have been passed off as rats or wind?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia watched in amused silence as Drayel pretty much inhaled the food. From his mannerisms it was more then a little obvious that he most likely wasn't eating around women lots, or perhaps her was just too hungry to care. Either ways the food wasn't anything fancy but still, it did make a girl feel proud when she saw someone enjoying her cooking so much.

She quickly finished her food and sipped her coffee, staring at him over the rim off her cup while listening thoughtfully to the guard murmurings to himself. He was quiet entertaining at the very least, and it was kind of nice to know that he was not simply going through the motions of investigating like she heard some guards were in the habit of doing.

Apparently realizing that she had been watching and listening to him the whole time, Drayel had turned red and offered her an apology. She grinned, hiding her smile behind her mug. "Oh no worries." Talia said, waving him off. "It's early and besides, I've seen worse." She chuckled a bit at a random memory before standing up and walking over to the stove. She grabbed the warming coffee pot before walking back. "More coffee?" She asked before refilling both their cups.

Sitting back down she rested her elbows on the table and stared thoughtfully at her empty plate. "Well I don't really recall anything....oh wait!" She lifted her head up and looked at Drayel. "Cats. I don't know if it means anything but last night I heard a cat fight in the alley, just a store or two down. It went on for a while. I know they are typically common but we don't really have any cats around here, not enough scraps. They generally prefer the areas around the fish and meat places. I just remember because at first it surprised me. I thought someone was dying." She grinned awkwardly at him. It had actually scared her not surprised her and it had taken a few minutes for her to realize what the sound had been.