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Sugar Frosted Smiles [Flame and Millie]

Postby MillietheWarrior » 12/20/2010 12:28 AM


Jaal was pretty sure this was his…fourth, maybe fifth day in a row coming to the small, quaint bakery just on the outskirts of town. He couldn’t quite be certain, but he had a feeling he was going against some regulation somewhere just by being here. Considering he’d spent all the money he’d had (He’d won it all playing a mean game of cards with his brothers; clones didn’t have much, but when they bet, they bet what they had), Jaal was fairly sure he was completely and utterly broke (Although that was nothing new). He silently despaired of this; not because he wouldn’t be able to buy his daily coffee and four doughnuts, but because he’d have no reason or excuse to come back here again.

From where Jaal sat in his unobtrusive corner booth, he looked up to observe the goings on of the patrons and the owner and proprietor of the bakery. Jaal didn’t come here because of the kind and friendly atmosphere. He didn’t come here because the food was delicious and the coffee was the best he’d ever had. He didn’t come here because he enjoyed the quiet and the time to think. No. He came here…because of her. Jaal had spent all his hard won money, and all his leave (Being a commander, he never had a reprieve from the army, so a week of leave was nearly unheard of for someone like him) at the shop, hoping to catch a  kind word, a glimpse, or even a brush of the hand from the woman behind the counter. Anything for the slight chance she’d turn those brown eyes on him and smile his way.

Jaal blushed slightly, wishing now for the snug, familiar confines of his armor and helmet. Maybe then he’d have the courage to approach her. For Manda’s sake, he didn’t even know her name. She’d been unfailingly kind to him each day he’d come to her shop, and Jaal would do anything to make her keep coming back to him, even if it meant ordering one more doughnut or another cup of coffee. Just for a smile. Jaal looked down at the half empty cup in his hand, wondering how many times he could get away with asking her to refill his cup in a single day. It would be his last time here, the last day he spent at her bakery. Tomorrow, he was being shipped to Felucia to take over command of the 501st Infantry division, and to begin the assault and re-colonization of Felucia, Ryloth, Christosis, and a few other planets the Republic wanted to re-conquer. It was his job to lead his troops into battle, and Jaal had a feeling that he wouldn’t be coming back from this campaign.

He wandered into town about five days ago, and stumbled on her shop, and inadvertently, her. She was beautiful, she was radiant, and she’d smiled at him when he’d walked into her bakery. Jaal had fallen head over heels the moment her eyes met his, and he’d fallen pretty darn hard. Jaal glanced up from his coffee cup to sneak another peek at the woman behind the counter, busy bustling back and forth as she served other patrons and whirled about the kitchen with practiced ease. Jaal found himself staring, heart thudding loudly in his chest. He smiled dreamily, leaning his cheek on his hand, and not noticing how dangerously close he was coming to slipping off said hand and spilling his coffee all over his dark shirt until it happened.

With a loud curse, Jaal leapt to his feet as the scalding coffee soaked through his clothing and seeped into his skin, burning and smoking the entire way. He grabbed at the napkins on his table and dabbed at his clothing desperately, glancing around as the patrons all turned to stare at him curiously. His cheeks turned a ridiculous shade of red as he quickly sat back in his chair to avoid being stared at, and wiped at his clothing. He groaned under his breath; his only set of clothes was now ruined. He chanced a peek up at the woman behind the counter, face flushing an even deeper shade of crimson than before as he checked to see if she’d spotted his moment of stupidity. He quickly ducked his head, turning away shyly, afraid to know what she had seen. Maybe if he just sunk down in his chair, like so, he could disappear completely.

I love adventurous tales like that. That uplifting feeling that comes from seeing unknown lands and the knowledge that you came across—nothing can replace it! It opens a path from which self-confidence, experience, and important friendships—from the sharing of life or death situations—are born! But hearing it just isn’t the same. I want to create my own magnificent story!



A great adventure!


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Re: Sugar Frosted Smiles [Flame and Millie]

Postby Flame » 12/21/2010 4:38 AM


It was a beautiful day outside today; the bright, warm sunlight flooded in unhindered through the wide glass panels which made up the shop front of the little bakery, lighting up its interior with a cheerful, welcoming glow. The morning rush had already come and gone, and now, only a few customers lingered in the wake of their passing, leisurely sipping their coffee and either gazing out the window at the street outside, or preoccupied with reading the paper. One young woman swept back and forth behind the counter, bouncing between the display case, the coffee machine, and the cash register, and occasionally vanishing for brief periods into the back room. Her light brown frock was covered by a slightly floury white apron, her long, chestnut hair tied neatly back into a ponytail which trailed behind her. She happened to be the owner of this little bakery, and currently, the only one on shift. The only other person who worked here was the young man who occasionally helped her out on particularly busy days.

Luckily though, today wasn’t one of those days, and she had time to work at an unhurried pace, easily keeping up with the flow of customers. She was currently restocking her supplies behind the counter and glanced up to take account of what patrons still occupied the store. There weren’t many of them, but she recognized them all as being her regulars who came here almost religiously, almost every single day of the week. While most of them had been coming here for months or years even, one of them in particular caught her eye. Not that it was the first time it had happened. But that wasn’t the matter at hand. The young, dark-skinned and short-haired man who sat by himself had just begun frequenting her bakery this past week, but he had been here every single day, if she remembered correctly, and he also happened to be one of her best-paying customers. She was certainly happy about the extra business, but there was something about him that seemed to intrigue her. Perhaps it was his shyness; of all of her patrons, especially the ones who came as frequently as he did, he was most definitely the quietest and most reserved. She hadn’t managed to get much more out of him than a hurried ‘hello’ and a somewhat bashful smile, but she didn’t mind. If he wanted to keep to himself, she was more than happy to serve him and leave him to his own private thoughts.

She was just straightening out the pastries on display in the case when a startled exclamation caused her to look up, immediately fixing on the source of the disruption. Abandoning her current task, she immediately swooped in to the rescue, a clean cloth in one hand as she made her way over to the man’s table. “Are you alright, sir?” Her tone was concerned as she took in the extent of the accident, simultaneously offering the rag to him, although he’d probably have to change either way. Coffee stains could be inconveniently persistent things, and dabbing wasn’t going to get rid of it all. However, at the moment, her main concern was the well-being of her customer, and her brown eyes were slightly anxious as she fixed her gaze on his, trying to gauge how bad it was. She could sense the mortification almost radiating off of him in waves, and she sympathized with his predicament, at least reassured that the hot liquid hadn’t resulted in any serious damage. “It could have happened to anyone, you know,” she commented lightly, flashing him a small, encouraging smile.
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Re: Sugar Frosted Smiles [Flame and Millie]

Postby MillietheWarrior » 12/21/2010 5:59 AM

Oh, ha, ha. Fate hated him. Yes it did. Jaal tried desperately to sink into his chair and become one with the furniture. Yeah, that sounded about right. Maybe then she wouldn’t notice him and- Crap. She was heading over. Was it too late to run out the door screaming like a little girl? Yeah, it probably was. And he was certain it wouldn’t do much for his image if he threw dignity to the wind and booked it out of her bakery. Yeah. Jaal shaded his eyes with his hand, hoping she was walking over to the other man in the shop who had stupidly spilled coffee all over himself. But no dice; as if he'd have the luck of someone else being as stupid as him and diverting her attention. She headed right towards his table, and Jaal had the very unfortunate pleasure of looking up into a beautiful, captivatingly concerned face. He felt his stomach drop, a blush rising back into his cheeks as he opened and closed his mouth, looking like a fish out of water.

He immediately leapt to his feet, stammering something about coffee and doughnuts, and tried to straighten his clothes. He failed miserably, as the coffee stains had already set and there was no use in trying to make himself look presentable. “I-I-I…Uh…I’m so, so, sorry ma’am! I didn’t…I mean I wasn’t…and I…” He blushed even darker, and looked forlornly at the door, wondering if there was any way to sneak past her and run for the hills. What did one do in a situation like this? When they had a beautiful woman showing them concern and wondering if they were okay? Was he supposed to salute her? Should he introduce himself? What did normal people do? Jaal stammered and stuttered, feeling like a class A idiot.

“It, uh…thanks?” he began timidly, taking the proffered rag and wiping half-heartedly at his clothing. “This, um, doesn’t normally…uh…happen to me. I…Well, I’m never this clumsy.” Maybe he could just die on the spot, and it’d all be over. He wondered how many bashes with his own coffee cup it’d take to knock himself out and save him from this embarrassment. And why was she looking at him like that? It made his stomach do flip-flops and his nerves shake like a gun turret. His legs felt a little weak, and he tried very hard to pull his gaze away from her face, and how very pretty she looked when she was concerned. He placed his hand on the chair, keeping himself balanced and trying desperately not to fall over and look like an even bigger idiot. He’d rather face a whole battalion of super battle droids than this beautiful woman who was so concerned over his spilled coffee.

“Um, thanks-” he began, and his voice rose and cracked slightly at the end. Jaal blushed darkly, and cleared his throat, staring down at his boots and shuffling them self-consciously. He was a commander, for heaven's sakes. He'd led men into battle, shouted orders, fought enemies, and he'd survived. Why did this one little, beautifully captivating woman disarm him so easily? “I mean, t-thanks, for that. It was, uh, my own c-clumsy fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I put my hands and…um…yeah…So…maybe I should go now…I’m probably bad for business. Yeah, so I’ll just be…going...” he said, trying to edge around her while still looking at his boots. It wasn’t a good combination, apparently, because his hip knocked into his table and sent his coffee cup and the remains of his coffee spilling onto the table and the floor. Jaal groaned audibly and cursed softly, glancing first at the heavens, and then back down at the spill; yeah, Fate really did hate him. “Feel free to just shoot me now, thanks,” he muttered, as he bent down to try and wipe up the coffee with the rag he didn’t know he was still holding.

I love adventurous tales like that. That uplifting feeling that comes from seeing unknown lands and the knowledge that you came across—nothing can replace it! It opens a path from which self-confidence, experience, and important friendships—from the sharing of life or death situations—are born! But hearing it just isn’t the same. I want to create my own magnificent story!



A great adventure!


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Re: Sugar Frosted Smiles [Flame and Millie]

Postby Flame » 12/22/2010 12:15 AM

To say that the gentleman was flustered would be an understatement, to say the least. If anything, he seemed absolutely mortified beyond coherent speech, which puzzled her slightly. After all, it was only a bit of spilled coffee; it wasn’t as if it were the end of the world…but apparently, he disagreed with her on that point. As he sprang out of his seat in an attempt to undo some of the damage, she realized just how tall he was in comparison to her. Was it just her imagination, or did he seem somehow…intimidated by her? Her somewhat diminutive size – and the fact that she made a living out of serving other people – usually led people to look down on her, so she fell easily into the soft-spoken, shy, and meek stereotype. So, the fact that he seemed so daunted by her perplexed her as it was. After all, how was she supposed to deal with a flustered man who rightly should have been furious at her instead (for goodness knows what reason)?

Naturally, she defaulted to her kindly, sympathetic, and good-natured self as she worked to soothe his wounded pride and calm him down. She smiled lightly at him, her expression faintly amused. “Why are you apologizing to me? It’s not like you spilled anything on me, after all.” She chuckled lightly, the sound warm and lighthearted. “Don’t worry, I believe you. After all, it’s not like this happened any other day you were here.” Yes, she had noticed that he had been coming here for the past week or so. As it was, she generally made a point to get to know her clientele personally, so he – due to the simple frequency of his visits – had naturally been added to her subconscious list of people to take note of. She’d found that some people just took a little time to open up, and she generally let them take it at their own pace (partially because she could never pluck up the courage to actually initiate a conversation with anyone).

By this point, only one other patron was still in the store, in the form of a woman sitting by the window facing the street, accompanied by only her coffee and an open book. However, she'd looked up at the unexpected noise, and although her expression had been curious at first, it quickly turned to a small smile, a glimmer of amused understanding in her eyes. She closed her book and picked up her coffee, standing up from her seat. With a friendly wave and a "I'll see you tomorrow!" to Cadenza, she made her way out of the little bakery, leaving the unlikely pair alone. The young woman seemed lost for a moment now that the store was empty, save for her and her unexpected companion.

However, she couldn’t leave the poor man to suffer in misery on his own. As he made to shuffle around her and make a hasty exit, she reached out a reassuring hand to catch his arm and stop him, then suddenly seemed to become aware of just how casually she was acting around him and blushed, shy once again all of a sudden. He was a customer, for goodness sake; she was expected to treat him like one, not like an old acquaintance. Her bashful brown eyes flicked away from him for a moment, as if she believed that if she couldn’t see him, he wouldn’t be able to see her either. It became obvious soon that it wasn’t the case though, and she was forced to look up at him once again when she heard a surprised exclamation announcing the coffee cup’s second successful getaway of the day.

“It’s alright, I’ve got it,” she managed to squeak out hastily before beating a hasty retreat for the safety of the other side of the counter. Darting into the back room, she managed to catch a moment of reprieve and recompose herself once again, feeling flustered. However much she wanted to simply hide in here until he left, she knew that as the shop owner, it was her duty to go back out there once again and lend him a hand, regardless of how much the current situation fazed her. With a deep breath, she grabbed a mop that was leaning against the wall and breezed back out once again, a light flush still coloring her cheeks as she made her way over to the man who was still occupied with trying to mop up the coffee with the same cloth. “Here, allow me,” she said, setting to work on mopping up the spill. “Like I said, it’s alright,” she continued, trying to make her voice sound reassuring. “It’s not like there’s anyone else here anyways, so it’s no big deal. It happens more often than you might think.” Cadenza managed to pluck up her courage enough to glance up at him once again, gracing him with a small smile to show that he hadn’t caused any trouble at all.
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Re: Sugar Frosted Smiles [Flame and Millie]

Postby MillietheWarrior » 12/22/2010 12:50 AM

Jaal’s hand stilled in it’s effort to wipe up the spilled coffee. He looked up at the woman, eyes slightly wide and disbelieving, before he straightened himself up to stare down at her anxiously. He didn’t notice he was wringing the rag in his hand, or the already soaked up coffee was dripping onto his boots. “You-you…you noticed me?” he asked, his voice breaking slightly, as if only daring to hope. Had she…really noticed him? He wasn’t invisible? A soft hand on his bicep had his entire body freezing in it’s tracks. His mind shut down for a moment, and his eyes flickered form her hand to her face and back again. A dark blush crept up his neck and covered his cheeks, and he looked away with a small thrill of elation. She had actually touched him! She’d reached out and grabbed his arm! The strange sense of happiness Jaal felt at such a simple gesture was astounding, and he carefully kept his gaze on the floor as he stuttered and shuffled his boots, suddenly bashful once again.

They probably looked quite a sight; two irrevocably shy people, looking away from each other and unable to form a coherent thought. Or, at least, Jaal was unable to. He felt like an idiot, but he couldn’t help but be ecstatic that she was talking to him. She’d noticed him, and that was enough to make him die a very happy man. He rubbed the back of his head self-consciously, heart hammering in his chest. And then suddenly…she was gone. Jaal was left staring blankly at the spot she’d been standing, confused and disheartened by her disappearance. Why…did he do something to scare her off? Oh shab, he’d made some terrible social gaffe and had completely offended her to the point of fleeing! He’d made some kind of terrible mistake! Jaal placed a hand over his heart, breathing heavily and looking forlornly after her as she dashed away from him and behind the counter, lost to his sight as she entered a back room. That was it. He’d blown his one and only chance of actually getting to know her. “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he muttered, punctuating each word with a smart smack to his forehead. “I’ve ruined everything.” He sighed heavily, placing the rag he was holding on the table, and turning to leave, his expression mimicking that of a lost puppy who had just been kicked and yelled at all in the same moment.

But then, miracle of miracles, she came rushing back, a mop in hand, and began trying to clean up the mess he’d made. Jaal stared at her in blank shock, his eyes slightly wide as he watched her mop up the spilled coffee. “Uh, um…” he began, and then hesitantly reached forward to gently take the mop from her. “L-let me do that. You don’t need to worry about-” His fingers accidentally brushed hers, and Jaal instantly retreated as if he’d been stung. He blushed a dark crimson, scuffling his boots and staring at the floor. “Uh, maybe I can do something to pay you back for being so-so kind to me. This is all my f-fault, after all.” He looked forlornly at the floor, then at the tipped mug, and then back at her, though when his eyes settled on the woman, his blush intensified. “Is there anything you need done? I-I can help. I really can.” He chanced a glance up at her, his eyes wide and pleading, looking lost and desperate as he tried to hold onto this moment and pay her back for the kindness he perceived she’d shown him. Please.”

I love adventurous tales like that. That uplifting feeling that comes from seeing unknown lands and the knowledge that you came across—nothing can replace it! It opens a path from which self-confidence, experience, and important friendships—from the sharing of life or death situations—are born! But hearing it just isn’t the same. I want to create my own magnificent story!



A great adventure!


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