Baldwin Breadwinner/IF-140.28

__NOTOC__
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell when she didn't get transferred to the Hawai'i Fridays on Season 7, day 73. She had no memory of ever having met her before becau█e she ha██'█. ███b█ ██ ███ ███u██ █████████, ████ █████i█ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ████.
----
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell when she didn't get transferred to the Hawai'i Fridays on Season 7, day 73. She had no memory of ever having met her before because she hasn't. Maybe it was mutual unreality, with Baldwin only half real and Harrell being ████. Maybe it was a mutual temperament, both having learned to play to the give and take of the world. Maybe it was a mutual interest, long hours of baking bread together, and the in between, where dough needs time to rise. They filled a space in one another.
The dread was there the moment she hadn't laid eyes on Harrell, really. Like tracing the fray of pre-torn shorts. What they must have looked like, had they never been cut, a world removed from when you held them in your hands. The dread only grew when she held her in her hands.
When a deal is cut signed, there is a give, and a take. She will never remember the things that were given away, as she never remembers the things she took; the good gentleman holds the thread, he holds the scissors. He gave you nothing, because it was what you asked for. She can't remember the things that were given, as she never remembers the things he took. But she can infer.
███ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ██. In a diner at the edge of that place, two patrons eat at the finest of restaurants. She cuts history with a fork and knife, and it was cooked to perfection, juicy and peppered. ███ █████████ the taste ██ ██. He cuts ████████ with a fork and knife, and locks eyes with her as he chews.
Baldwin, she thinks to herself when she looks at her. You're sharper than this. You can infer.
...
There is always a price, with you, old friend.
Would she give a stranger to the , for promise of everything nothing? Of course she would, has given more for less before. Except, not before, the deal is the first thing she has ever done.
What value to you is the promise of a loved one, when you haven't even met? There are plenty of fish in the sea, they say. Of course she would, she has given more for less before. Except-
A future for a past. There is always a price, with him.
They were supposed to have a future together.
They were supposed to have a future together.
They w████ ████████ ██ ████ █ ██████ ████████.	
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell when she didn't get transferred to the Hawai'i Fridays on Season 7, day 73. She had no memory of ever having met her before, despite havin█ ███ ████ ███ because she hasn't. Maybe it was mutual unreality, with Baldwin only half real and Harrell being ████. Maybe it was a mutual temperament, both having learned to play to the give and take of the world. Maybe it was a mutual interest, long hours of baking bread together, and the in between, where dough needs time to rise. They filled a familiar space in one another.
The dread was there the moment she didn't lay eyes on Baldwin, really. Like catching a forgotten, poisonous memory of middle school antics ██ years later, and wishing with sour face to let yourself forget again. You let the memory slip from you hands. The dread only grew when she held her in her hands.
A good gentleman promises to do it clean. The is sharp pen is steady, and the line draws straight across. But this world isn't a clean one, and nothing can be perfect, even at the hand of the master. Baldwin and Harrell's fingers clasp together like puzzle pieces, like key in lock, like gnashing teeth. There was a █a█████-shaped hole at her side, where she isn't on the couch.
This isn't a memory, because these things didn't happen. Harrell has never been, especially not at the ████████ ██stitute of Occult Practices and D███████ ████, and if the has anything to say about it, she never will be. Baldwin Breadwinner has never been, up until the moment her hand let go of the good gentleman's grip. It's a fantasy, the things that seep on in between us, things neither of us imagine.
Baldwin Breadwinner is writing fiction about herself by candlelight. Little stories, like, what if we met in season 1? What if we met before we started playing? What if we me█ ██████ ███ thread ███ ███? What if we met be████ ███ ███e██ ██s cut? What if we met?
What if we met?
This isn't a memory, because these things didn't happen. Harrell and Baldwin have been strangers both, up until Season 7, day 73. Then why, when they hold hands, do they find themselves standing together before the ?
They weren't supposed to have met before.
They weren't supposed to have met before.
They weren't s███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████.
Baldwin.
----
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell many years before when she was feedbacked to the Hawai'i Fridays they knew each other for so, so longch passing day would pull them farther apa████ █████████
███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ████, █████████████,
{| cellpadding='12' style='display:inline-block; max-width:100%; overflow:auto; margin-right:-200px'	
██████████████████
██████████████████
█████████████████
██████████████████
███████
████████████████
█████████████████?	
Baldwin Breadwinner made a choice.
Baldwin Breadwinner paid a price.
Baldwin, dearest. You know this wasn't part of the deal.
----
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell when she didn't get transferred to the Hawai'i Fridays on Season 7, day 73. She had no memory of ever having met her before because she hasn't, just like everybody else.
There is no recorded history of any will so defiant before the cosmos that it would carve itself into causality by force. But there is no recorded history of all the wills who fail to do so, either. But if there was something worth being for, why aren't we drowning in the incorporeal? Harrell is taking it a step further, into being.
Harrell is breathing air today, on Season 7, Day 73.
==== ====
Baldwin Breadwinner doesn't lock eyes with Harrell. When their eyes don't meet, a circuit closes, somewhere deeper than bone.
At the edge of that place, the trees grow thin, but they grow tall. Two old friends are sitting by a fire, sharing a bottle of wine. Baldwin Breadwinner is crying, and the paths of her teardrops crawl down her frame and through the dirt, and up to the good gentleman's eyes. The more she recalls to him, the more she sobs, and he cries with her in reverse. They're both laughing between gasps too, like every word is part of a great stretching punchline. When she sees through her tears, through his tears, and looks into his eyes, she █████ █████████ █recious t█ ███.
But despite everything, that something refuses to be lost.
==== The ███ ██ ███ ██ne ====
Baldwin, she thinks to herself, are you really going to let this get to you? She's bested worse foes than he, though few are really worse. She grits her teeth between pursed lips.
For the first time in years, a loaf is burnt.	
==== An Introduction ====
dwinner didn't meet ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ████'█ ███ ██ansf█████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ Season 7, Day 73. By Season 7, Day 74, everything had gone wrong.
Ingr█████ts ███ ███closed as f██████:
* █ ████ all purpose flour, █ ████ bread flour
* ███ ███ sugar, █ ███ salt, █ ███ instant yeast 
* █ ███ █████ oat milk
* ███ ████ silken tofu
* █ ███ apple cider v██████
* ██ █████ soft vegan butter
* For the wash: █ ████ oat milk, █ ███ agave nectar, █ ███ cornstarch
* In a bowl, ██ ████ ███x well until chains form.
* Gradually ███ ███ ██ttercreased by up to 50%. Refrigerate.
* Div██ ████ ████. Place in gr█████ pans and let rise.
* Preheat the oven to ████, ███ █████, ██ ██ █████ ███. Enjoy!
It vexes me, Harrell, to be bested in my own domain. Causality can be such a fickle thing, as can I. But, old friends, I am willing to concede to you here. We can do this forever, or I can let you two have each other, for a price. There was going to be a price.
----
==== An Introduction ====
Baldwin Breadwinner didn't meet Harrell when she didn't get transferred to the Hawai'i Fridays on Season 7, day 73. She had no memory of ever having met her before because she hasn't. Maybe it was mutual unreality, with Baldwin only half real and Harrell not being at all. Maybe it was a mutual temperament, both having learned to play to the give and take of the world. Maybe it was a mutual interest, long hours of baking bread together, and the in between, where dough needs time to rise. They filled a space in one another.
Baldwin doesn't know if Harrell isn't because of her actions, or because of Harrell's own. Or perhaps, Harrell isn't because she isn't, and neither of them have anything to do with it. When things are wrong, or sad, or hurting around Baldwin, she tends to jump to that same scenario: is this the price she doesn't remember that she paid? So of course she would think that this is all her fault.
This wouldn't be the first time she's struggled to keep her distance from those she wants to protect. Nor is it the first time that she'd lose in that struggle. Already, the Fridays look up to her like some kind of team mom, and Harrell is starting to get the same treatment, and they keep ending up having to wrangle that responsibility together, and afterwards, alone together, with the mess of the day to clean after, there she isn't again.
When she looks into the mirror, she sees herself smiling more. She doesn't trust the smiles in the mirror, they could be her own but most times they belong to , and it scares her when he has something to smile about. But she isn't so worried anymore, because she knows. Besides, what would that geezer have to be smiling so much about anywa-
=== Trade to the Baltimore Crabs ===