Fantasy One Jump Ahead of the Breadline

Apr 27, 2021
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There was a method to this madness, somewhere, she was sure of it. One finger slid across the page, the tip hovering just below the words, as her eyes followed the movement. Reading. Quietly reciting the words to herself as she worked out the exact nature of what she intended to do here. The ingredients were ready, the cauldron was bubbling, and all she had to do was double-check that everything was as it should be. Lest she repeat the problems that happened yesterday. Most of that mess had been cleaned up, there were still a few parts that would need a far more thorough treatment that she didn't have time for. At least not today or the day prior.

"Ah-hah!" Karin sounded rather pleased with herself when she had mixed all the ingredients in there together, in order and while taking the appropriate amount of time between each step. It wouldn't be long now before her concoction was done... though a part of her really did wonder if this was overdoing it a little. Cooking dinner in the cauldron. It was the perfect size! A smaller one that just fell between the ranges of some of the pots, making just the right amount of the gooey, cheesy, substance that she decided to have that evening... Just enough for her and the present, unfortunate, guest.

"Hey, do demons eat Mac'n Cheese?" Glancing over to her 'guest' she couldn't help but wonder what he would eat. Did he need to eat while here? There were a few other questions that flickered through her mind at that moment, but it passed as she received little more than a grunt in response. A noise that she just about mimicked back at him, just to earn a little, yellow eyed, glare.

Dinner was a quick, quiet, affair. The demon she had accidentally summoned that morning was far more calm, and had instead been looking over some of her other books to try and rectify the situation. That is, to go home. The entire thing had been one massive accident, which she had apologized profusely over, an attempt to summon something a little smaller for some assistance. When it had been happening, before Karin was completely aware of what she had done, she had felt the strangest sense of déjà vu over all of it.

Come morning, having gone to bed soon after her nightly tasks were completed, Karin had the strangest sensation that something was... different. While she couldn't quite put her finger on it at first, the feeling was there. It wouldn't be until about halfway through her morning routine when it struck her what it was. The demon was gone, her guest had evidently flown the coop last night. A few questions lingered, but when it came time to make sure everything was prepared for the day, that the bakery was opened on time, they were all pushed to the side.

It was recent, actually, that the bakery had become a part of her daily life. A dream of sorts helped by her parents, leading to her acquiring the small bakery she now lived within. The shop was a small space just on the corner, connected to the lower half of one of the tall buildings which made up the city. It wasn't fancy, it would probably never make her rich or be more than the quiet little place that it was. That didn't matter, Karin liked it. Sweet's Shack was a nice little home she had become proud of.
 

Irredeemable

Situation Normal; Everything's Fucked
Nov 11, 2020
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Rule number one of being a summoned demon: Never reveal your true name to anyone except the summoner. Actually, if you could avoid it, don't reveal it to the summoner either. A lot of summoners didn't actually know their sumonee's full name, and instead used one of the many, many pseudonyms that a demon picked up over their long 'lifespan.' So far, Nic had done a pretty good job at this one. 'Nickhar' was a pseudonym he'd used on Earth before, and its shortened form had even less power over him.

Rule two of being a summoned demon: Don't, for the love of heaven and hell, get your ass stuck on Earth. Nic had horribly failed on this second one. It had been thirteen years. Thirteen years of him stuck on this rotating rock filled with overgrown apes whacking each other with oversized rocks, and none of them had been particularly enjoyable. The primary problem was that he was, essentially, an unperson. He had no identification, no address, no life, no record, nothing. He was a blank slate, a stateless individual, and he was stuck in a giant city.

Getting paperwork would have been damn near impossible, and to be honest, he had been more concerned about what happened when he suddenly vanished off the face of the Earth when he finally did end up back in Hell, and suddenly Earth was now looking for someone. He had an advantage of not needing to eat or drink of course, and although spending so long in a realm where physics were quite defined had atrophied some of his more supernatural instincts, he was still, mostly, 'healthy,' for a demon.

It had been getting a roof over his head that was difficult. As much as he wanted to get back to Hell, he would prefer to not end up Banished there. That had meant he'd needed to find under-the-table work, and then a slumlord skeezy enough to accept him paying in cash every month. Then, there had been the fact that over the course of the thirteen years he hadn't aged a bit, and...

Life on Earth was exhausting. He didn't understand how mortals managed it.

Still, throughout all of that, he had had one simple anchor. Her. Thirteen years ago, the witch called Karin had brought her into this world and had inadvertently bound him to her with a protective ward. That had meant that even when the circle was broken and he ended up stuck here, he had still needed to stay near her, and stay near her he had- in all his years of scraping a living in the mortal world, not once had he ever lived more than two hours away from her.

For over a decade he had watched over her from a distance, making sure that she was alive. And now, now, after all those years of dutiful servitude, she had summoned another demon? Dismissed him rapidly, yes, sure, but the point still remained. Clearly, she had learned nothing from when she was a child, and worse, she had actively forgotten about all that he had done for her.

Maybe it was time for a reminder?

He walked through the doors of the Sweet's Shack, hood up and hands in his pockets. He had spent so much time in a human guise that he had practically forgotten what his actual appearance was; black hair and almost-black eyes had been him for all this time. She was there, behind the counter. He approached, looking over the selection of pastries, then cleared his throat. "Hello there. One croissant, and, are you hiring by any chance?"
 

Aipocalypse

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Apr 27, 2021
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The little bell above the door chimed slightly when it was open, and again as it closed behind the man who had come in. Were she more inclined to judge people based on their outward appearance she might have considered him suspicious, or shady. However, there was probably some kind of story involved. Perhaps he was shy, or wasn't a fan of the position of the sun this morning, and his hands were cold. That made sense, right? Alternatively, there was also the potential that he actually was suspicious. However, that would have been a poor way to treat a customer.

"Welcome to the Sweet's Shack!" She offered up her typical greeting to a customer, any customer. Then when he spoke she smiled, and would have gone right into getting his order for him, except his question happened to throw her off. A pause, one hand hovering over the sliding glass she needed to move to collect the flaky delicious pastry. Did she need to hire someone to help her? Fortunately, Karin would be rather quick to recover.

"Well first let's get your order, we can do some business talk after~" That chipper tone was back as she went about extracting one of the croissants that had been freshly prepared for the day. Pondering the nature of her business, if she would have really benefited from hiring someone to help out. The wrapped up treat, in a thick napkin to help preserve the warmth, ringing it up and passing it over to him with some change once the official part of the transaction was done.

"I haven't really ever hired anyone... and I can't say that it gets that busy in here, but..." It would have been nice, sometimes, if she had a hand and could head into the back to take care of some things. If she had the ability to step out for a few minutes without closing the whole place down. There were a few other factors in there she could have added to the list as to why it would have been a good idea, and far fewer drawbacks...

"It is a little hard to hire someone if I can't see their face though." There was a part of her that recognized she should have been a little more cautious in all of this, put more than a minute thought into it all before settling on it being a fine idea. However, she had good senses for a number of things. When a person was dangerous she could usually feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise, feel a part of her wanting to run. Right now? Something was off, but she couldn't say in a bad way. There was a faint sense of familiarity, rather than seeing a complete stranger.

Then there was... right!
"I'm Karin by the way, Karin Starling~ It's nice to meet you."
 

Irredeemable

Situation Normal; Everything's Fucked
Nov 11, 2020
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The order came first. Yes, of course. He nodded at her and gratefully took the pastry, before listening as she explained about hiring. The hanging 'but' said that despite her words, she was still considering hiring him. "My apologies," he responded, setting the croissant down to lower the hood. He looked... Average. Plain. That was the point of a human guise- it was meant to escape notice, not draw it to them. Only a handful of demons- mostly those extolling the virtues of lust in particular, had guises that were conventionally attractive.

"Nic," he replied. "Nic Adams." It was a nice bland name too, and easy to pronounce. Both, he had learned, were important when handling people. Although the counter made it a little awkward he nonetheless reached across to offer her his hand, shaking it firmly a few times and then pulling it away to slowly chew at the croissant.

"A little about myself. I've been working catering for about six years now- mostly food vans, but I also did some work at a restaurant. I've never been in a bakery before, but I'm a fast learner and I know what it means to be careful around food, around allergens, and so on and so forth." His pitch was simple, but hopefully confident. "I only live a few blocks away, so it shouldn't be an issue for me to make it here on time, and I can work flexibly too- I imagine you might start early to prepare for the day."

The croissant was nice. He didn't strictly speaking need to eat, but demons had a full sensory suite and then some, so it wasn't like good food was wasted on him. It was light, fluffy and flakey and he said so. "On an unrelated note, this is a really nice croissant." He hoped it didn't make him sound like he was trying to butter her up, and she instead took it as exactly what it was meant to be- a compliment on her baking. Other than that, he wasn't really sure how he could proceed in such a way that would make his chances more likely. Magic was right out- she was a witch, and she'd recognise infernal casting immediately, and if he was honest, he was almost entirely relying off of just... Convincing someone the old fashioned way, something he hadn't done in a very long time.
 

Aipocalypse

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Apr 27, 2021
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"Nic Adams..." She repeated quietly to herself, sounding the name out. It was simple, easy, though... off in a way? Karin couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but deciding to drop the notion instead of worrying too much about it. Instead she focused on what he said about himself, the information was all valuable and helped fill in why he might have wanted to work in a bakery. Everything did seem to fall into place to make him a good fit for an employee.

"Why thank you, sweet talker~" Karin replied with a playful hint to her voice, making her way around the counter to look at him more fully. "It's the butter, it makes a world of difference." She could easily see herself working with him, getting along, having a hand on a few things that were slightly harder to do alone. It was her magic that she had some reservations about though, she used it while working but... there were probably a few ways she could get around that little issue.

Sometimes she just needed a third hand while cooking, it made everything so much smoother! Such as a few basic levitation spells to move something without having to stop what she was doing. Creating a spark to add just a little something extra to brown a treat to perfection. Swirling a little air in to help increase the fluffiness of everything that required some good ol' fashion whipping! However, locking the door might have been enough to keep him out for some of it. Maybe she could claim to be shy, or...

"There is just one little thing I think we should talk about... So I'm pretty sure this place is kind of haunted. I've seen some strange things about but it seems like if you're nice to them they don't care. Does that freak you out any...?" An excuse if he happened to spot something unexplainable. It was something at least.
 

Irredeemable

Situation Normal; Everything's Fucked
Nov 11, 2020
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"I can imagine," he responded pleasantly... And then he had to try oh so very hard not to smirk when she talked about the place being haunted. There were many supernatural things going on here, but ghosts were not one of them. Letting out a confident chuckle, he simply shook his head. Best play it off as if he didn't believe her and that it didn't bother him. "Sure, the place is haunted," he commented, sounding rather blasé. "I don't think they'll bother me any." Was that really the best she had as a witch? No memory adjusting spells? No concealment wards? She didn't even manipulate eye blindspots to conceal extraordinary events? Or, maybe she did and this was just a way to dissuade someone from investigating strange noises and her speaking hocus pocus.

"Equally speaking, there's something I... Well..." He paused for a long moment, trying to sound unsure, like he was dragging out something. "I can't be... legally employed. It's... It's not that I've done something wrong, but it's..." He looked around shiftily. "Living arrangements are not being very kind to me right now, and I just need cash in hand."