The Butcher, The Baker, and the Temporary Zombie Who Can Bake Cheese Buns (For 5 Days)

[zomboligist]

WHO: Ravi Chakrabarti
WHERE: Bakery
WHEN: August 19 / 20
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Ravi's monthly zombie time, so zombie topics about brains likely

---

The one thing Ravi truly hates about his monthly time is the period in which all regular food starts turning to dust in his mouth. It's not like they're sitting on a goldmine of takeout here, but it's still absolutely disappointing to have scrambled eggs in the morning and find absolutely no satisfaction in them at all, craving hot sauce to try and add some taste.

It's awful because he knows what that means. It's time.

He digs out his baseball cap and puts it on before perusing the options in the fridge, trying not to go wholeheartedly teeth-first into one of them, though plenty of them have already been sliced and diced what with the need to stabilize two and a quarter zombies in a limited population. Sighing, he decides that maybe it's best to go with what he knows (roughly), so he slides out Peeta Mellark's brain from the fridge and ends up having a secod omelette that day.

Ravi hates how god it tastes, he honestly does.

What he doesn't hate is when it starts to kick in. Sure, the whole romantically pining for someone bit isn't amazing (because he already misses Peyton and Helen enough), but when he suddenly gets the urge to make cheese buns, he'll take that over other weird personality traits. It's why he's fired up the bakery's oven in the dead of night, working through until the morning. Anyone who comes by would see the light, but into the morning, they'll also smell the aroma of fresh bread and cheese buns, though he's not working with exactly the right cheese. No matter. He's steady enough and he can roll with that.

Hat still securely on to hide the streak of white hair, he plates them all up and starts to stock the window display like he's been doing this for years. And, really, with the brain in his stomach guiding him? He sort of has been.

Comments

[dann_0]

"Not really no. I was living in a motel, working my ass off and then in the evenings my brother would come over to keep me company. He was a good guy, Matt." He shakes his head.

[zomboligist]

"Only child," Ravi says, gesturing to himself. He thinks that probably explains a lot, but it is why he's a doctor. His parents wouldn't have wanted anything else for their little boy.

"I take it he's not here, then, or I missed out on the motel where all the hanging out happens," he quips.

warn: death, mentions of drugs

[dann_0]

"No. Matt's... dead actually. He got messed up with some drug smugglers." He sighs. "Matt was a good guy, made some stupid choices but a good guy. They gave me his body in an oil drum."

[zomboligist]

Ravi feels a tightness in his chest because he's seen that before. That's what happens when you're tolerating the enemy like Blaine and Mr. Boss just rolls around town like that. "I've not been in the drug trade myself, but I'm a coroner," he says. "I've seen a few bad ends like that and it's never easy."

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he says, and it might be more emphatic for the brain he's on, but he means it. "You definitely deserve some baked goods for that."

[dann_0]

Danny nods. "I should have been able to help him. I am his big brother and more importantly, I am a cop." He sighs and shakes his head. "It is my fault. I knew what he was into and I let him get away. If I had arrested him like I would have with anyone else..." He sighs.

"No, we agreed on a trade, pasta for bread. Besides, it is nice to share."

[zomboligist]

"Yeah, but you're the one who spilled out your emotions on the table," Ravi points out, so he feels like the trade isn't so fair anymore, but if Danny is going to insist, then Ravi won't fight it. "You can be a cop and not be able to protect everyone. Again, medical coroner," he says, pointing to himself. "Trust me when I say I know."

[dann_0]

Danny shrugs a little. "Yeah, but I can't really help out much here in the village, at least a trade is fair." And he smiles gratefully at what Ravi says. "Thanks. And I know you do. The guys working with us... They see a lot of stuff too."