//ext. outside the barley & rye - late night early morning, 2118. @sunstaiined (ellis)
He is so not equipped to do this on his own. Tomas had been trying to hold himself together having this new responsibility of the entire fucking bakery on his shoulders. He didn't know what he was doing, he's just barely legal. Still, he steadied his breaths, and started off by doing what he's always been doing since he was five - wake up by 4am, knead, proof, score, bake, open shop. Whatever his title was, baker, owner, those were the comfortable steps that didn't change. Everything else.. he'll have to figure it out along the way, temper the anxiety with falling back into his everyday tasks, just.. in a much quieter household now without his parents. Because if he stood around and sat in his thoughts for too long he'd be able to feel his breathing quicken and mind spiral to the overwhelming weight of everything.
He had been alone one morning, long before the sun woke up, to do the exact same chores of kneading dough for their sourdoughs. Usually the silence of the night was calming, the bakery as the only shop with their lights glowing on their street, closed sign was still up but through the windows you could see a baker in the back kitchen working away. He jumped at the sudden sounds from outside, it sounded like a shift of a bin, a ..raccoon maybe? Has he ever seen a raccoon in the city? What if it was mutated? There was a mini panic about it all but still, Tomas, grabbed a towel to clean his hands of flour (or wring it in his hands to alleviate the stress), perhaps despite wanting to ignore and lock the doors, there was a curiosity. He peered through the storefront glass to see.. not a raccoon. (or maybe a huge ass mutated raccoon...) He could've died that night, doing the stupid things he does, but Tomas carefully pushed open the bakery door, the creaking of the wood and the bell at the top announcing his presence to the world as he stepped outside to observe the man, mostly with concern.
"um.." Tomas opened his mouth first, blinking at the other looking through the bakery's trash bin. Really like a raccoon... or a lost hungry kitten. With that thought in mind he plucked up the courage the squeak out words again after a long awkward time of staring at each other.
"I.. I still have bread, from today.. -if you want, those ones in the bin will uh- will make you sick."
