Bake Sale! (OPEN)

[Joshua Bernstein]

When Sean had first mentioned the bake sale Josh had thought he meant to sell at, and he had hurriedly insisted that he simply wasn't ready for that type of scrutiny quite yet. But then his partner had clarified, and the attorney had just as hurriedly agreed to attend.

The weather was still reluctantly changing from winter into spring, but the Sunday of the bake sale itself was (fortunately) quite moderate. Perhaps too overcast to properly be considered gorgeous, but not too chilly to browse out of doors, either.

Even better, Josh loved baked goods. He enjoyed them when he made them, but there was something about other people's baking that added something magical even with his increase in skill. Perhaps it was simply the fact that he hadn't done any of the work, but other people's baking tasted better.

To add to that all proceeds from the bake sale went to a worthy cause. While the attorney may have had some reservations about Hammel's existence and integration he couldn't deny that meta human students did require training, and it wasn't fair to ask parents to shoulder that financial burden. And while the government certainly helped out, as did alumni, there was always a need for more funds.

Funds for clubs, funds for field trips, funds for dances and other student extracurricular activities. Even funds for pocket money for the less privileged students.

That nobility of cause, along with a sweet tooth, were the reasons he wasn't holding back with his money today.

He was already armed with an assortment of cakes, brownies, and cookies when he stopped by yet another table, smiling at the student manning it.

"And what are you selling here?"

[Adrienne Tatum]

Adrienne glided around the bake sale, smile on her lips and wearing lighr colours. Although Ren would feel more comfortable wearing something nice and dark, she thought of the saying, "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar." Or in this case, you catch more customers dressing "prettily" than you do when wearing a black t-shirt that says "Jack The Ripper" on it. So there she was, sky blue t-shirt, denim jacket, denim trousers and white wedge ankle boots. Her messy black hair had been allowed to curtain her shoulders and frame her face. She had decided to wear light make-up for the event. Now her eyes were darting around, looking for a hide away place in case one of her friends saw her and started to squeal out frantically about her "transformation".

Ren didn't know how to feel about the bake sale. She was all for raising money for the clubs and such, but a bake sale to do so? It just seemed corny and a little lame. But Ren pushed those feelings back. She didn't want to put a damper on this day! She should enjoy herself! Help out! Helping out could lead to free food! A cheeky grin spread over her lips. Of course she was kidding. She really did want to be helpful.... But everything did look so good!

As she admiring the treats laid out everywhere she noticed that a stall was unmanned. She sighed. Trust some people to bump off. Ren made her way over and pushed back her hair. She didn't want any strand of hair related complaints. She beamed happily. Being behind the stall felt nice! She felt in control! Oh, a customer!

The man gave her a smile and asked her what she was selling. She blinked, "Good question, sir!" She laughed, giving him another pleasant smile and checking out her
inventory.

"Well it appears we have cookies... With smarties in them! That's some culinary creativity right there! Oh and look! I love brownies! Chocolate brownies with white chocolate chunks! And this looks like some good ol' shortbread! Can't go wrong with shortbread!"

She gave the man her best smile, "They all look really delicious, sir! Would you like to buy some! Pretty sure they have one of those little signs that says the price on it." Ren really loved this. She was a people person after all. Maybe she should think about a career in business.

Actually, while she was at it, Ren couldn't forget to sell the cause, "You know, our Home Economics Department and Culinary Club makes stuff as good as this, even better! I'm sure five star restaurants would serve the food they make!" She smiled. It was the truth though. She gave the man one more smile, genuine too, just to reassure him she wasn't pulling anything.

[Alexis Amaros]

Alexis wasn't much of a baker. She loved to cook, which is why she had joined the culinary club, but baking was not at all like cooking. Cooking was creative, mixing ingredients by smell and taste and changing them on a whim depending on your mood. Cooking was exciting and fun, an adventure with new flavors. With baking your measurements had to be just right and altering a recipe involved math. Math was the bane of her existence. Alexis just couldn't seem to grasp the universal language. An Algebra problem looked like Greek to her, except she thought if it was Greek she might at least have a chance of figuring it out. With baking it was half a teaspoon of this, a fourth a cup of that...not to mention the weirdness of dry measurements verses wet measurements. Why were they different? How did that make any sense at all? A cup should be a cup and that was that!

She looked down at her Pumpkin chocolate chip vegan, gluten free, low-fat cupcakes. Cupcakes were always her first choice with baking because they could at least always be made to look good. She loved sculpting with marzipan and fondant. For these particular cupcakes Alexis had rolled out her fondant and cut it to look like little animal faces, the affect was pretty cute and she always found it fun to decorate vegan food to look like animals. That was the slightly twisted strand of her humor peeking out. She wasn't really a fan of irony, but for some reason eating animal shaped vegan food always tickled her funny bone. She had replaced the oil in the recipe with applesauce to cut out the fat which had made the cupcakes less solid and dense so even though they tasted good, getting them out of the wrapper and into your mouth wasn't the easiest thing to do. They tended to stick to the wrapper and crumble in your hands. The top half stayed together really well thanks the glaze she used to attach the fondant (a cinnamon honey glaze), but the bottom half was another story altogether. She had been warning customers to take care while eating them, but it didn't seem to be deterring anyone. She knew she was lucky that the decorations were so cute, they were her biggest draw. She really milked it too by decorating her booth with a pink table cloth and a zebra print cupcake holder. Her theme even extended to her own wardrobe which consisted of a cute purple animal print sundress and pink heels with a pink hippo necklace. She had even pinned her hair to the side with a pink flower. Alexis was really the girliest of girlie girls.

Speaking of girlie girls, a pretty dark haired girl slid into the booth next to hers and was immediately rewarded with a customer. Nice boots! Alexis thought, glancing down. She didn't even recognize the girl until she opened her mouth. In shock Alexis realized who the girl was, they didn't know each other that well, but had a few classes together and Alexis had never seen her look so...feminine. Without thinking she opened her mouth and squealed "Oh my god Ren is that you? You look so cute!" As soon as she said it she realized she was interrupting and mentally kicked herself. Her mother would be appalled by her lack of manners, but Alexis never could seem to contain herself.

Pictures
Outfit
Cupcakes
Cupcake Stand

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia was so sick of the same old same old. She went to work, she drove home. Took Ike for a walk, ate some food. On the weekends it was the same. Drinks on Friday and doing work around the apartment on Saturday. Today was Sunday and that meant church with her family. She quickly excused herself from the troop of the Tsavaris clan and worked her way back to her car. She was lonely in all honesty but with so many people around all she wanted to do was curl up and hide. Idalia ran a hand through her long hair as she sat down in her car and looked out at the world. The weekend was beautiful and Idalia felt the need to be out and enjoying it, but rather she ran through the things she needed to do that would keep her indoors. She gathered her hair into a tail and smoothed out the bumps as best she could before trapping it in an elastic band.

Maybe Ike would just want to cuddle when she went home. That was when she saw the sign for the bake sale. With a shrug she decided why not just at least check it out. As a Hammel Alumni she always liked seeing old teachers, though not many she knew were still there. But it was always great to go back. Part of her always wanted to raise her head high and let the know what she had done with her life. How she had succeeded in her life. Forecasting had made her one of the least interesting powers at Hammel but a lot of her fellow graduates were not doing as well as she was. No one ever saw her at Hammel and now everyone knew her name. The young forecaster who had rocketed her way past senior forecasters and taken over the job and made the weather in Vermont the highest rated for accuracy. She was not prideful but rather resentful that no one would realize it was her skill not her power that made her such a good forecaster.

She wasn't so great that she was one hundred percent right. But part of her wondered if the bake sale had relied on her forecast to pick the date. She paused in her car as she smelled lightning. She settled herself and let it come. Her eyes blanked and her vision swooped over a glorious spring day not a cloud in the sky. She checked her watch in her vision, tomorrow. She blinked and it was present. She was glad she had learned that trick for telling the time of her power. It was one of the advantages she had. Many people with precognition didn't have the ability to know when it would happen. Idalia had with the help of her trainer here made it so she could check the time in her vision. With a smile she stepped out of the car. She walked toward the sale. Her green blouse was untucked from her slacks and her pumps clicked on the pavement. It was a shirt she didn't get to wear often. One part of her job was that green was not a color for wearing it was a color for the screen she loved green.

She listened absently to one of the girls talk about their product. She was definitely drawn in by the sound of chocolate and after surveying them for a moment she finally broke and glanced at the man standing ahead of her. "Those look amazing," she praised and drifted over to the next stand promising herself that she was going to leave with some of the chocolate brownies. "Oh my goodness! How precious!" She cooed her eyes catching the little animal cupcakes. "Did you decorate these yourself?" She asked pointing to the panda on the cupcake.

[Adrienne Tatum]

Ren kept smiling, trying so hard not to play with her hair. It was a bad habit. When she was nervous, she twirled her hair. When she was thinking, she twirled her hair. When she was bored, she twirled her hair. Hell, maybe one day she'd twirl her hair if she was hungry or thirtsy, using words to express her emotions and feelings just becoming too much.

She saw a figure swoop past into the stall beside her from the corner of her eye. She wasn't going to pay much attention, but maybe turn to the person later... Ren then blinked and turn sharply with the sound of a loud squeal. She gave her customer an apologetic smile and turned. She racked her brain, trying not to show how nervous she was. Keep your hands from your hair Ren... Keep 'em down. This girl... Oh, this girl! She knew this girl from some classes and she gave her a big beaming smile, trying to keep any element of relief out of it, "Alexis! Hi! Ha, yeah I knew someone was bound to say something sooner or later." she pouted, fiddling with the buttons on her jacket.

Ren took the time to examine the goods on Alexis's table. Oh... Do not, I repeat, do not start salavating Ren. They looked delicious. She wanted to draw a little frowny face on the sugar that coated the shortbread on her table. Before she could even comment, a woman had already been capitivated by their delicious, if incredibly girly aroma. She gave a wink to her friend and gave the woman a bright smile.

"Alexis is a member of Hammel's Culinary club, ma'am! She's really talented!" Ren, again, was not lying. She had snuck a bite once when Alexis had cooked something... What was it... Something French? ... Well whatever it was, it was amazing.

She turned back to her own customer and grinned, "So this was what I was talking about! Five star quality right there! I'm sure there are still some fancy restaurants that would serve animal cupcakes. Delicious and delightful. It's a business dream!" She gave a laugh. Thsi was fun.l She honestly did need to consider a career in business, she really did. Maybe her and Alexis could open up a shop...

[Alexis Amaros]

Alexis was grateful Ren wasn't as annoyed with her lack of manners as her mother would have been. She really should have waited for the customer to get his purchases, but waiting wasn't a strong point for Alexis. She didn't get the chance to apologize to Adrienne though because she now had her own customer. As Ren talked her up to the customers Alexis beamed. Ren was always so cheerful and friendly, Alexis loved that about her. And as for herself, well, she had her failings, but making things look cute was not one of them. Alexis really appreciated when others enjoyed her talents.

"I used fondant for the faces." She explained. "It is super fun to work with, kind of like play-dough, but I promise it tastes MUCH better!" Alexis laughed. "Though I must warn you, the cupcakes themselves can be a bit crumbly and messy. They make up for it by being relatively healthy and nearly fat free though." She said, gesturing toward her sign identifying the cupcakes. "I used almond flour instead of regular flour and applesauce to cut out the fat from the oil."

Realizing that talking about fats sometimes offended people she quickly tried to reassure her customer.

"Not that you need to watch out for those kinds of things, but I do and so I like to make things I can eat....eat a lot of." She grinned at the dark haired woman. "Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere before?" She asked suddenly noticing how familiar the woman looked.

She wasn't a teacher, but Alexis was sure she recognized her from somewhere. Alexis wasn't one to watch the news, local or international, but occasionally caught a snippet of the weather if someone else had it on the TV. She just didn't pay enough attention to really register the connection.


Picture(s)
Cupcake Sign

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia turned and smiled to the young lady at the next booth as she started speaking. She nodded along. She remembered the Culinary club. It had been rather small when she was still at school here but she remembered stealing their goodies with a few friend every now and again. Idalia had had a little bit of a rebellious streak starting in high school and traveling into college but she always felt a little bad about snagging sweets that weren’t made for them. It warmed Idalia’s heart to hear friends talking each other up. They were all playing on the same team and people needed to help each other. Her heart felt the ache of loneliness as she recalled faces and voices of people she used to know. It was hard to keep in touch after high school and even harder after college. When everyone scattered to the wind for jobs and graduate programs and parenthood. Sometimes it was hard to find the time to pick up the phone and call.

“Oh, the Culinary Club,” Idalia beamed at them, “You two must have worked very hard to make such wonderful treats.” The girls should be proud of what they did. Idalia certainly couldn’t bake like this. She could make things out of a box mix but that was about it. She could follow directions and make something decent but she could cook. She never did anything very fancy but it always tasted good. For Easter dinner coming up, her father was in charge of the lamb like always and Idalia was making the potatoes, her sisters had other assignments and their mother was making the deserts. The Tsavaris clan was going to be all congregating in one house and it was going to be crazy especially with Tressa’s new born. And Idalia had heard from their mother that Isolade might even make an appearance. It had been years since anyone had seen her. A celebration indeed! These sweets were just what she needed to welcome her home.

Idalia laughed and focused back on the girl speaking. “Those are the best kind of cupcakes,” Idalia joked. Idalia’s eyes widened a little bit. As a Greek woman she was all for butter and oil and everything so it blew her mind a little bit that she used alternatives. “You can do that?” She asked in amazement. Waving a hand dismissively and shook her head. “Nonsense! You look the picture of health!” Idalia cried looking quickly over the girl’s slender frame. When in the world had she gotten the idea that she needed to watch her weight? “Are you vegan?” She asked peering closer at the sign. She was reading then pondering how many she should purchase when she was asked why she looked so familiar. Idalia smiled warmly, she got that a lot.

Now the goal was not sound too prideful. “Do you ever watch News 10? I do the weather.” She couldn’t help raising her chin a little bit and smiling. As much as she hated to admit it she was rather proud of where she had gotten herself. Power or no power, Idalia would have been in the same spot, so she kept telling herself. “Hmmm,” She tapped her lips with her finger. “I know one of my sisters will love these, she’s a vegetarian. I’ll have to give her a call.” She was thinking aloud now. Now she straightened and smiled at the girl. Counting on her fingers Idalia made a quick head count of who would be joining them for Easter. That was a lot of people. “How much are they?” Was her next question.

[Alexis Amaros]

Alexis soaked up praise like a sponge and thoroughly enjoyed the woman's warm words just as much as she had enjoyed them from Ren. She smiled and demurely bowed her head in thanks. She loved praise, but wasn't full of herself and always tried to accept it graciously.

"I'm a dancer and love to eat" Alexis explained, continuing in a conspiratory tone, "As long as what I make is healthy I can eat everything I don't sell. Though I might not have anything left to eat with how busy we have been here." Alexis giggled and shook her head when asked if she was a vegan. Though, she often made vegan food, she still liked chicken and fish and the occasional piece of cheese. She didn't have the discipline to commit to anything completely except for her dancing. "I know it is kind of weird to be baking vegan if you aren't one, but these don't have eggs and I used almond milk to give it an extra touch of sweetness. I bet if they did have eggs that would have helped them stay together, but I found a yummy looking recipe on a vegan website that didn't call for them. I figured as long as they were vegan I might as well advertise it! I decided to make them gluten free since the almond flour would go so well with the almond milk and a lot of people seem to have some level of gluten intolerance. I figure the more people who CAN eat them, the more people WILL buy them."

Alexis' mouth dropped when she found out she was talking to a local celebrity "Oh my God!" She squealed. "That is too cool! I never remember to turn the news on, but I am so going to be watching channel ten more often now! Then I can tell everyone I met you and you complimented my cupcakes! They are $0.75 each, but if you get a dozen I will cut you a deal and only charge you $8."

It was a dollar less than what the total would have been for individual sales, but Alexis was somewhat eager to sell her cupcakes and go out to the rest of her class free day. She only had 36 cupcakes left from her original 60, so if she moved them quickly she could go catch up with friends.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

“That would explain it, at least you exercise and love to eat. I just love to eat.” Idalia said jovially. That wasn’t necessarily true. She rowed, she loved the sport and it certainly allowed her to keep her figure and still eat what she wanted and probably a lot more than she should. Ida listened very carefully to the young woman’s explanation and her smile only grew. “It certainly sounds healthier. And kudos on your business strategy. I never would have thought of that.” Maybe Idalia was laying the flattery on a little thick, but this woman had worked hard and deserved it.

Idalia’s face reddened as the girl looked at her with amazement. She never could get used to this. She didn’t know how celebrities did it. Hell, she wasn’t even semi-famous and the fact that people recognized her both flattered and terrified her. She’d never want to live on camera. That was like her worst nightmare come true. She waved a hand dismissively. “I think you’re one of the few that hasn’t blamed me for a rainy day. I swear people think we control the weather.” She laughed. She occasionally spoke to weather controllers and stressed to them the importance of not upsetting the balance too much. It was one thing to pause the rain for a few moments and another to divert it completely, just as it was one thing to dull the wind and another to spin up a tornado. It threw off the balance and such perturbation could cause consequences far from the immediate area.

She beamed at the girl. “What’s your name sweetheart? I might have to compliment you and your friend on the air.” Anything she could do to help out her old school and help fundraising would be her pleasure. Her eyes went out of focus for a moment as she did the math in her head. It was a quick process and quickly came to the same conclusion. “That’s so sweet, thank you! I’ll take a dozen!” She smiled warmly at the young lady and passed her a 10 dollar bill. Upon receiving her change she glance at the booth that the girl’s friend was manning. “Thank you, now I’ve got to see your friend about some of those brownies.”

[Adrienne Tatum]

Ren grinned as she saw Alexis just take in all the praise. She should be, really! Alexis was so talented and Ren... Well, she didn't even make the stuff at her stand, but the person who did should be very proud. Putting smarites into cookies took some real imagination there. When the issue of fat and all that came up, Ren snorted at the idea of Alexis being considered unhealthy or any malarcky like that, "Alexis, please, spare me. You're a stunner!" her hand waved up and down, motioning at her great figure.

Ren just stood by and let Alexis do her thing. Talking about replacing stuff with other stuff and... Stuff. She wasn't a baker or any kind of chef. She was an eater. Her sister had even been concerned for her at one point, asking if she had an eating disorder. There house had been like an Easter trail, only with sweet wrappers. She hadn't stopped once she got to Hammel. Her roomates wouldn't ever stop groaning about the mess she made, but hey, she was a messy girl! A rare species. She always told them that they should cherish her more, which just led to more groans.

Her eyes widened and she tilited her head to get a better look at the woman's face... Ah! Yes, oh she had seen this woman a couple of times... Oh what was her name? She couldn't just up and ask... Argh, this was going to bother her now! Then the words, "On the Air" rang out through her head. With a huge grin, she swung on arm over Alexis shoulder, "This is the one and only Alexis Amaros, ma'am!" She gave Alexis a wink. Getting mentioned on the news would be so amazing! She slipped away and gave Alexis another wink and two thumbs up. What a great sale... Maybe she'd re-think this business plan. Ren didn't really have much to contribute... Unless she put some gummy bears on a cake.

When the woman mentioned "her" brownies, Ren blinked and fixed herself back into business mode, "They look delicious, no? I didn't bake them, but I'm going by personal experience. Things with chunks usually equals, good!" She giggled. She then whispered loudly, "I would take a bite, but I here that's not what your supposed to do." she laughed and then put on her best smile. This day was going pretty good. She had attracted a semi-celeb! Well Alexis had... Oh well, Ren was sure credit could be shared in one version of this story.