Hey, Don't Sweet it (Solo/Shadow mission)

Richard's stomach was in a pitiful state. Without his mentor to loan him money and with the higher price of the dust he had advanced to food had become somewhat more difficult to come by. Fishing had worked for a while sure, but the grading of his weapon could not be allowed to falter. Rust from salty water was terrible for the blades.

Now... you may be wondering why Richard didn't simply request meals from the cafeteria. Admittedly their nosh was edible, however; having to deal with the teachers who's classes he so frequently avoided wasn't exactly fun. That and, having been reprimanded for "Disobedience toward staff" once he was not in the mood to deal with teachers period. He had however found a loophole in this. A certain shadow mission or two that would most certainly lead to... though this one he thought would gain him the most nourishment.

He frowned at the overly pretty shop, the pun in it's title wounding him. With a sigh he knew what he had to do, he pushed open the glass pane door and came face to face with Honey Ties. He immediately held a high pitched squeal followed by an over excited barrage of welcomes... he was now debating whether this would be worth the food.

215/1000

"So Richard, have you baked anything before?" The bubbly shopkeeper asked.

"Cooked, never baked anything like bread" The short man grumbled back.

Richard stood before a large oven, salivating at the scent of freshly baking bread and constricted by a bright pink apron that was three sizes to big. He had been forced out of his usual combat clothing, apparently they were "too dirty" to wear for baking and as a result Richard had been forced to shed his scarf and jumper in place of a green t-shirt... he had fortunately been allowed to keep his combat trousers on.

"Ah, I see. Well, it's a lot more waiting than anything else" She smiled, "If you'd like you can prepare the dough for the rolls, it's not too difficult. I'll show you how."  

Richard shrugged, not really caring either way as the baker lead him toward a table he would soon make a mess of.

The feeling of dough encasing his fingers was worse than any bog he had fallen into or fish he had ever gutted. The strands, the stickiness... it just went everywhere. He'd had to keep his faunus claws sealed, shut away, just so that his fingernails weren't any more so encased in this white marsh. With a growl the last white dough ball was released from his palms... as completely mismatched amongst it's fellow identical twins as they were to each other.

Richard let out a brief, annoyed, grunt; calling forth the woman who he had long ago noticed was not working but in fact eavesdropping on his work.

"Oh? So you're done then?" The apron wearing sissy brat pranced over, "Wow, good job! That's way better than my first batch came out!"

"SH-SHUT UP!" Richard's face became redder than his own blood in less than a second. With a huff and a slight growl, a laugh from Miss Ties they placed the rolls in the oven and began the waiting game.

"The bread could take some time to rise, the rolls you made ought to take around an hour to cook perfectly," The lovely woman smiled.

Richard simply grumbled, refusing to make eye contact as he dried has freshly washed hands with a tartan tea towel. Admittedly there was relatively little effort required in this job, just cooking morsels for others to eat... but perhaps that was the problem. Richard was far more inclined to make food that he would be eating. He couldn't simply give food away, it went against his morals. You had to eat to live and thus had to eat as much as you could by any means necessary.

"...You seem a little agitated... is something wrong?" The woman asked, "...Is the apron, is it the store, is it me or..."

"Nah," Richard shrugged, "I just don't think the job is for me honestly... only really came here for the food to be frank."

"O-Oh... so it's not me?" The woman asked.

"Nah, you're fine. You're not a huntress so I don't have to judge you harshly," Richard yawned, finally able to draw a claw over the itch on the back of his head, "Calm yourself, if I didn't like you you'd be far far more aware."

Mrs Tassels seemed to relax a bit at that, removing her oven mitts; "Well I'm glad that's the case... well not that you don't think the job's for you, I'm sure you could do fine in the baked goods business, but I suppose you already know what you'll be doing."

"Mhm," Richard shrugged, glowering into the oven, "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, with any luck, by the time we've cleaned up the bread will be done. Then perhaps, if you do well, you can finally get the food you came here for."

Richard shrugged, unable to complain with such a decision. Long as he got fed he wouldn't particularly mind doing a small amount of cleaning.

This was no small amount of cleaning...

It would seem that Honey had taken Richard's dislike of a joy to heart and, knowing that he would not be around to help again, was looking to squeeze all the work out of him that she could... or perhaps it was just Richard's lazy nature jading his perception. Either way, her sitting by the cooker relaxing with a warm cup of tea was kind of ticking him off as he struggled to clean the floor with powerful bleach and a sponge.

"This is the harder part of the job. If the shop does not meet cleanliness regulations then it will be shut down, thus hours and hours must be spent cleaning." She informed him, looking into the oven.

"Hmm," Richard grumbled, finally rising from his knees and plunging the sponge into a sink. He removed the bright green rubber gloves he had been forced to wear and wandered over to the oven, glaring in; "Are they done?"

"I believe so," She smiled, putting on some over mitts and pulling the tray out... the food Richard had engineered was a rather mixed bag. Two of the bread rolls looked more like small black orbs than food. One of them had a rather two faced complexion, seemingly burnt on one side and raw on the other. The last two however looked rather okay, plump and round.

"Well... two out of five isn't too bad is it?" Honey comforted.

"Meh, grub is grub." Richard shrugged, attempting to collect one of the balls only to burn his hand.

The shopkeeper laughed, "I'll get you a bag, you can go now. Thank you for your help."

Richard grew red once more, tearing the apron off in a huff and hanging it up. He collected his clothing and rewound his scarf around his neck, just in time for the baker to hand him his goods.

With a nod and a muttered a thank you as well as goodbye before shooting out the shop like a bullet, glad to be done with work. He'd find a spot to take a nap, by the time he woke up he was certain the food would have cooled.

[Exit]