Delacroix Bakery was open an hour before most would think to wake for their morning routine. 3rd Street in the West Quarter was full of historical buildings and seemed to transport one back in time. But few woke up so early to go into work. Enzo woke at midnight to begin his usual mixing, kneading, baking, and wrapping. More than half of his business came from custom baked goods and candy, but he had usuals that loved his breads and rolls and would clean him out if he didn't make enough in the morning. And no one liked waiting two hours for something when they had places to go and jobs to take care of. More often than not, however, Enzo was awake even before midnight, and restlessly came to work in hopes that he would get sleepy at some point.

He was dusting flour off his black slacks when the door opened, and Enzo glanced at the clock. Barely six, so none of his usual customers would be coming in at this time. So it had to be Mark. Smiling tiredly, he stepped out of the warm kitchen and leaned on the countertop whose display was stuffed with items he'd made around two in the morning. Mark was older than him by two years, had a tendency to overcorrect his posture, and berated Enzo for his own poor slouching habit. But he was wonderful with numbers and Enzo wasn't, so while his longtime friend was often insufferable, he was a very strong necessity. "So you're awake before God and the sun again. Not surprising." Mark gave him a cursory glance, taking in the powdery white stains and the circles under Enzo's hazel eyes. "You won't be falling asleep on me again."

"Not literally." Enzo gave him a smile. "Not today, anyway. I slept somewhat last night."

"Last night? As in between ten and four?"

"Between six and eleven..."

"That's not good enough." Mark crossed his arms, setting down his binder and giving Enzo a withering stare. "You need real sleep. Medication---"

"I'm not gonna rely on pills to sleep." Enzo was interrupted by a timer. "Ooh, listen to that, gotta get the bread!" He scurried off before Mark could make another comment, breathing in the heavy scent of perfectly baked pastry and dough.

Gale Archer frowned, the expression childish. He was so hungry! His stomach kept rumbling, and there weren't any places open yet. Or so he thought. The man with grape colored, green streaked, hair pointed out the widow excitedly. "Stop the car!" It was a rented taxi. His agent always tried to convince him to go to some chauffeur service, but Gale always refused.

He was jerked forward as the taxi came to an abrupt halt. Grinning, he hoped out of it and made sure his cherry red clothing fell just so. There was a tinkling when Gale rushed through the doorway. Oh the smells! Fresh baked bread, melted sugar and a whole manner of pastries ... Delicious! He nearly started drooling. Instead he crept towards the display case and crouched down to look at everything with childish delight. He just couldn't decide what to get for breakfast, before the long day at the show.

Mark was standing inside the doorway as Enzo mixed a glaze in a large copper bowl. "You need to sleep at night."

"I try to sleep at night." Enzo snapped.

"And when did you sleep tonight?" Mark crossed his arms.

"Between... six and ten, leave me alone!" Enzo huffed, using the whisk in his hand to drizzle the glaze over the buns he had taken out of the oven a few minutes ago. "I sleep when I can!"

"Usually in the middle of the day." Mark rolled his eyes. "Do you ever try anything specific to get to sleep?"

"Yeah... Usually a well placed knock to the back of my head."

Mark huffed, and glared at Enzo. "Look---" He paused when the bell above the front door rang, and was surprised when Enzo shoved the bowl into his hands. "Here, finish those! Don't drown them." Mark mumbled, but did as requested, muttering something about being a math-man.

Enzo stepped out of the kitchen and spied red clothes, and multicolored hair. Enzo faltered for just a moment, but shook his head and leaned over the counter. "Hey, welcome. I don't expect anyone here for a few hours now. See anything you like?" That hair... The colors woke him up.

Gale looked up. Blinked. Then he smiled brightly and laughed. "I see a lot I like! There's soooo much. It's hard to choose. I'd buy everything if I could, but I can't. And I can't get anything sticky, even though those are the ones I want most. I'll probably have to make some adjustments at the fashion show after all, and I can't sew when my hands are full of ooey gooey sugary goodness." With a loud sigh, he pushed himself up from the floor.

"So what would you recommend?" Gale leaned against the counter too. He had an idea. It was a crazy one, but what wasn't? A fashion line all about confections and pastries. This was the perfect little place to do research. He was sure even bread could be turned into a theme for wonderful couture creations. He had his next line! And he'd been worried about not finding inspiration.

Enzo smiled and stepped around the counter, waving his way through cases of displayed items. "I have a lot of much cleaner things. Tarts, macrons, personal cakes and pies, things that can be eaten quickly when you may need your hands. I have sweet bread, cookies, croissants... I usually prefer tagging them with simplistic names instead of anything complex. Oh, here..." He swiveled away from the apparent fashion designer and approached a tabletop display, lifting a small square box and showing it. "This is a favorite of mine I recently started selling, called Chocolat Minuit---chocolate midnight. It's a heavy cake filled with cocoa-infused vanilla mousse and covered with two layers of chocolate-raspberry ganache. You're better to eat this with a fork, so your hands will be free for whatever sewing and such you have to do."

He loved to make new things. Though sometimes he forgot to write down his steps and could never replicate it as well as the first time. This time he remembered, and sold it for just a bit more than he normally would because it was unique to the bakery. "Or were you looking for something simpler so early in the morning?" It was his job to talk up all his creations, but some he simply favored over others.

He looked at everything with a rather dazed expression. Then the cake was shown. Gale gasped and leaned forward to take a peek at it. "Wow, that's amazing!" He could turn it into the star piece of his new collection, he was sure of it! He just had to have it. Taste it, feel it, draw it. And then turn it into a dress. But he had to have breakfast too, and that wouldn't do for it. Nope, not at all. But he would come back. This was the perfect place to find inspiration for his pastry collection.

"But uhm, I'll come back later for that. Right now I need breakfast." Too much to choose from. He wanted it all. "Choose for me?" He batted his eyes and smiled sweetly. Gale knew he didn't have the kind of charm others did, nope. Instead everyone kept saying he was cute. So he played on that instead.

Enzo set the box back where it was, a little behind the others, and smiled slyly. This was new to him, having someone arrive and simply be so... open. And he liked it. "I'm sure I could find something more along the lines of breakfast material. MARK!" He barked the name as he stepped aside, striding into the kitchen as Mark startled with the whisk in his hand. "Where's the ham and cheese croissants?"

"God, you gotta yell at me..." He shuddered. "You put them on rack two, near the top."

"Thanks, love." Enzo patted him on the shoulder and stepped forward, grabbing two of the huge, golden things from the pan and wrapping them in paper as he stepped back out to the floor. "I hope you're not vegetarian." He said, setting the things on the countertop as he fished for a bag. "And I hope you're partial to the ham and cheese combination." He worked without watching what he was doing, folding the paper around the baked items and sliding them into the bag, staring at the newcomer's hair. So many colors. He loved it. He would have loved to touch it, but would probably resort to drawing it with his colored pencils later.

He shifted from foot to foot, and wrapped his hands together. Gale trembled with excitement and anticipation. He just couldn't wait to taste it! And he didn't. Once the bags were handed over, the fashion designer threw down a few dollars and started chowing down. "Hmmm, oh soooo good!" Gale closed his eyes and licked his lips. Delicious! Heavenly!

Enzo laughed, taking the money from the counter and counting it out, sliding a few coins of change across. "First time I ever saw that." He said, shaking his head. "I mean I know people like my stuff and all, but..." He snickered as the door opened again and someone entered. Enzo didn't have to look around to know Will had come in. "Hey you, get in back and get started on today's special orders." Enzo jerked his head toward the door to the kitchen. "And make sure Mark's not drowning the buns in glaze."

Will laughed and nodded. "'Morning to you too, Enz." He nodded to the colorful fashion designer and slid into the back. Enzo turned his gaze back on the colorful man.

"So, have I made a repeat customer?" He asked, tilting his head curiously.

He kept munching on the pastries while Will walked in. The man was probably an employee. Certainly from the looks of things. But the only one who interested Gale was the artist who'd come up with the recipes. The creator of it all, of the kingdom of pastries, now that was the one he needed to get along with. "Oh you bet I'll be coming back. I want to ..." He took another bite, savored it even though a car horn honked impatiently in the background.

"Right, I'll pay you good to bring some of that cake over to the big fashion show in town. Just say you're looking for Gale Archer. And if they don't believe you or don't let you in .. Wait a sec!" Gale stuck out his tongue as he started fishing around in his pocket for something. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and scrawled a note down explaining that he wanted the man with the cake let through, into the backstage of the fashion world. With writing as easily recognizable as his, the security was sure to let the baker through. "Here, take this. I'll pay you when you get there, and maybe show you some of my creations. " The horn honked again. "Anyway, gotta go!" With that, Gale ran out of the store after shoving the note onto the counter, and completely forgetting about his change.

Enzo was a bit shocked. He just nodded a bit, fingering the paper in his hand and looking down to stare at the artistic scrawl. He folded it carefully, sliding it into his jeans' pocket and going back into the kitchen. Mark was dusting his hands, having had Will take over the rest of the glazing. "I hope you're happy!" Mark huffed. "I'm not a guy that works with my hands..."

"Damn right about that." Enzo stepped aside, grabbing something from the shelf nearby. It looked like a glass and green-metal hookah, and he put the black tip between his lips and drew slowly. "Mark, you ought'a stop smoking and buy one of these things." He wiggled the hookah-like thing and puffed a cloud of vapor that smelled like strawberries into the air, where it vanished swiftly.

"Maybe later." Mark waved as he passed. "Or I'll steal your... whatever that is." He laughed as Enzo growled, stowing the item in his pocket and looking at Will. "I've got a new special order to work on, so I'll be back here for a while."

"Oh? New guy?"

"Yep. I'll be taking it into town myself."

Will smiled and winked a bit, but Enzo waved and started work on a slightly larger version of Chocolat Minuit, which he would take on his own rather than send Will as he normally might.

Gale slopped himself all over the backseat of the car. A hard feat, since he wore a seat belt. The taxi driver chose to continue on the way she'd first been told to follow, a wise decision. The fashion designer sat up straight with a glazed kind of look to his eyes. There was no controlling his thoughts now. Different fabrics flashed through his mind, possible designs and glittering things almost crowded out thoughts of his current collection. There was so much to do, and so very little to work with ... At the moment.

Shaking his head, Gale stepped out of the car when it came to a stop at the back of a large building with flashy lights. The back entrance was the fastest ad easiest way to get inside for the up-and-coming clothing designer. "There you are!"
A plain looking woman grabbed his arm and steered the grape haired man to the backstage area.

"What, did my pieces catch fire? Come on Madelynn, I needed to eat!"

"She says she won't go on." She was a finicky top model. And the woman guiding Gale through the maze of clothing racks, make up artists and models was Gale's assistant.

He sighed and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. "Alright, I'll take care of it." Gale really wanted a piece of that cake. At least it wouldn't start moaning at him about the conditions of such a low class establishment.

He was glad he opened so early every day. When the morning rush came through they were utterly swamped with people. Will and Enzo worked in the back while Mark sorted people in the front, running out of things and shouting back special requests for the finicky ones that liked their pastries just so, or without this or that, or with a bit of extra something. Among these men, women, and teenagers headed to work and school, some of the usuals came by to pick up their already-completed orders and put their next day's request in. Before the flood, however, Enzo had slid his current creation into one of his ovens and set the timer.

By the time they had the flood down to a trickle and Will was helping Mark with the remaining people, Enzo heard the timer buzz and sprinted into the kitchen. Happy with the result, he set the two round pans aside to cool carefully and stepped back with a sigh, fishing in his pocket for the vapor-based smoking alternative and walked calmly back into the front. Will was putting on a t-shirt over his street clothes that had the store logo over the front. "Getting ready to deliver the other specials?" Enzo asked.

"Yep. They're all packed up in the car."

"Oh, En, you have a meeting at two-thirty today." Mark called from the register. "She wants to know if it's a go so she left me her number."

Enzo smiled. "Oh, Markie, I think she wants something other than a cake..."

Mark glared at him. "She's engaged. She wants a wedding cake."

Enzo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm free at two thirty. Go for it." When Mark nodded, he stepped back into the kitchen to begin mixing the filling for the cake.

Gale shook his head when he saw the model. Tall, blonde .. and concerned about her dignity. She had her hands over her ample breasts, trying to hide them. The designer shook his head. "Stop it! Stop that right now. You'll ruin the image." He slapped her hands away. Her cleavage was cradled by golden cloth, sprinkled with diamond like things. It was a halter top dress, a long and flowing gown.

"Look, here." Gale grabbed a length of the same golden cloth and wrapped it around her shoulders. It fell over her bosom, and hid it demurely and teasingly from sight. "I want you to take it off at the end of the runway, then put it back on. Alright?" The blonde nodded quickly, with a small smile.