thoughtsofvorfreude | Sweet On You 🍭

each sat behind the counter, having lost that delicate posture the first few days held. It had been almost a week and a half since she'd officially opened, and after a few days suddenly all the business had dried up. She had been so hopeful, so sure of herself. When she had ran away from the kingdom, fleeing her responsibilities in favor of new ones. Of a life of her choosing. She wanted to bake-- to breathe! She didn't want to be tied down, only to look pretty until someone saw fit to marry her off to look pretty elsewhere. It wasn't that Toadsworth made her unhappy, he had done such a good job raising her-- perhaps too good of a job. She grew eager for independence, to care for herself, to prove that she was able to live in the real world. She knew he loved her, as much if not more than someone could love their own child, but she also knew he was scared for her. Scared to let her see the world-- and she wanted nothing more than that!

So she had run away with nothing in hand and little more than a desire to make her own mark upon the world. It took everything she had. She sold her jewels, every last one except the small crown she kept hidden under the tiny bed on the second floor of her shop. She put it all into this place, as small as it was-- because she wanted to make herself some kind of a future. She may not have known the 'real world' as Toadsworth had called it, but she wanted to experience it. And for the first few days, it was glorious.

When her shop opened it had been busy, almost, but as each day went by less and less people came. Even those who promised to return stopped coming, to the point she had gone three days without a sale and began to wonder if she'd have to crawl back home with her tail between her legs. She bit her lip at the thought.

Where had everything gone so wrong?

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"You're prepared!" he exclaimed, obviously impressed. Usually he didn't eat his sweets with milk, but that was more about his lack of preparation and less about his inclinations. He gratefully accepted the glass of milk and took a sip, then another. "Are you sure you haven't been doing this for... forever?" He narrowed his eyes at her playfully, another tease he couldn't quite pass up.

"'Yet' is pretty optimistic, he said, and sighed. "No big dreams, no small ones, no silly medium-sized ones." He held up a hand as if to say, sorry to disappoint. "I have lots of things I enjoy doing, but something big that all this is leading to...? Nope. Right now I'm just finishing college, and then...?" He shrugged, and took another sip.

It occurred to him then how odd it was for him to be divulging his frustrations to this woman he'd only met today--sooner, just in the last hour!--but somehow, it felt right. Something about her wide-eyed, curious expression made spilling his guts feel practically expected of him, around her. "Not even something as simple as opening a bakery. No offense."

"It feels like forever," she mused, almost to herself, but her smile was directed at him. The days felt long when there were no customers, just time ticking by, leaving her a little more broke and discouraged. She wasn't willing to give up, however, she would spend every penny she had keeping the lights on in the store before she was willing to surrender to failure. It just wasn't in her nature. She wanted to believe so dearly in herself, in her hopes and dreams, that thinking anything else was too painful.

"That just means you have unlimited possibilities." She offered with a bit of a smile, allowing herself to lean against the counter, lazily watching him, taking in his expression, his stature, thinking the whole thing over. "You could do anything from here on out-- or even nothing, if you wanted. I think that's okay too, it took me a long time to decide what to do with myself because sometimes it felt like I had no options at all-- and now I have so many it was hard to be sure. But then it just clicked for me.

"Maybe it will for you, too?"

"See?" he snapped his fingers. "I knew it. A baker from birth." He didn't miss the slight look downward she gave and the tightening of her lips that came with it, but he didn't quite understand what the expression meant. In the end he decided not to pry: even if he was exposing his soul to her, they really had only known each other for an hour or so.

"Yeah," he sighed, "that's what most people say. You can do anything! And I guess I could, but it's hard when there's nothing in particular that appeals to me. At least if I, I dunno, collected stamps I'd at least have something that made me me. And maybe it'll click, or maybe it won't. I don't know." He frowned and tapped a finger against the plate, then stood. She was easy to open his heart to--but he didn't make a habit of doing it often. It made him nervous.

"I should probably get going for now, but I can always stop in again, unless you're closed at odd hours. Is this enough?"
He fished in his pants for a crumpled ten-dollar bill and pushed it onto the counter.

She might have said more-- briefly looked like she was interested in doing exactly that when he hurried up and put some money on the counter. She was actually surprised by that, giving a bit of a laugh and moving over to the register. Punching in a few numbers she slid him back a five with a wink. "Most of that I gave to you without really asking if you wanted it, so we can split the difference, how's that?" And if he had any issues with it, well it was too late anyway. Her hip bumping into the drawer and with the light rattle of change sending it closed once more.

"The regular hours, they're on the door too, if you're ever unsure." Her expression softened, a sort of warmness that managed to reach her eyes. She wasn't able to resist being so open, it was just in her nature, and probably what caused her so much trouble sometimes. "You're welcome back anytime. It's always nice to have the company."

Sweet On You 🍭

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