Welcome to the Bakery!

The prompt was “upgrade”.

                  “Come ON!” She shouted furiously at the screen. Ariadne didn’t realize how loud she’d been until there was a quiet knock on her door. Exasperated not at the intrusion but at the impossible task at hand, she called over her shoulder, “Come in!” Her gaze returned to the screen in front of her as she heard the door swing slowly open. Based on the sound of the footfalls, it had to be none other than Maximus. He was easily one of the largest Titans she had ever met but moved gingerly for all his girth.

                  “So, is everything ok in here?”  He asked as he stood behind her, taking in the images on the screen. She flopped her head backwards to look up at him from her desk chair. “No, no it is not.” He folded his arms on the back of her chair and leaned over so his nearly 6”5’ frame was hunched over as if he didn’t have the energy to hold himself up. Ariadne was impressed he had even come out of his room, but too afraid to comment on it for fear that she would steal any peace he’d carved for himself. “What’s going on?” He asked, continuing to take in the images on the screen.

                  She sighed and tossed her hands up. “The economy is in shambles.” Maximus huffed a quiet laugh and continued with, “Can you be more specific?” She twisted in her chair so she could face him without him being upside down. “I know you use, like, the same armor since the beginning of time so maybe you’ve not tried to infuse in a while.” He laughed, a louder richer sound this time and replied with, “You got me.” She joined in on his laughter for two reasons. One, it was nice to hear it coming from him and two, he quite literally never wore anything, but one singular armor set and his beloved Lorely helmet.

                  He gestured as if to tell her to keep talking so she began bringing up images and numbers on the screen, pointing as she narrated. “So, I’m trying to upgrade my Gifted Conviction chest piece because I’m turning into you in that I’m only using a singular armor set…” Ariadne trailed off long enough to smirk at him over her shoulder. “Anyways, everything costs so many unstable cores I can literally never upgrade more than one piece at one time. It’s so FRUSTRATING.” Maximus chuckled and tossed an errant look at the clock at the bottom corner of the screen.

                  “You wanna go hunt some more down or should I leave that to you and Elithia?” His tone was light, but she could tell he was teasing her. Maximus was, after all, her best friend and knew everything there was to know about her. However, she’d not shared much about Elithia with him because she felt like she was rubbing it in his face. His Alistair was gone, and Maximus was still grieving. Who was she to share a crush with him? But it was clear despite her being quiet on the matter, he had been paying attention. Ariadne was his best friend after all. She jumped up out her chair, a massive grin on her face, and said, “Let’s go and before you ask, I’ll tell you everything on the ride over.”