2024-12-01 - Have Food. Will Teach.

In considering the theme of this part of the park, Jett might not stand out in his gothic attire because in fact he could fit in with the whole vibe of a villain out here. He's not part of the jousting team or any of that non-sense and in fact he just looks like a young guy who relies on black far too heavily. His eyes are heavy with black powder and eyeliner, his hair is straight down and in his face, he's covered in piercings (nose, lip, ears respectively), and he's wearing a black shirt with a surprise, black jean jacket thrown over it... paired with ... even more black. The punk goth aesthetic is very original (no really) but the young man does try to bring in a little dark emo cloud with him until the smells punctuate his nostrils. That's when his eyes light up and he looks around the place for somewhere to sit. A foodie has arrived!

Madelyne glances up from where she's finishing paperwork, a smile blooming on her features. "Hello." She greets and gets to her feet. "We're closed to tourists right now, but if you find a place to sit, we'll get you set up with dinner." She glances around, gesturing vaguely. "Sit anywhere that looks comfortable. Our specials today are wedding soup with sausage meatballs, and loaded potato soup. The potato soup is paired with a bread bowl, but the wedding soup is paired with croutons."

"I don't think we've met." She offers her hand. "Madelyne."

Jett pivots toward the motion of Madelyne standing; the smile is inviting at least and so is the greeting. He's about to say 'hey' when she informs the place is closed to tourists, which he replies with a snappy, "I work here." Then with a delayed pause he expounds on that, "Not here... here, but at the park." Maybe she knows that already? His expression shows that he might be wondering if he made himself sound stupid just then and yet he proceeds to go find a place that's open to sit, which is precisely like in the middle of the place.

"Wedding soup?" He inquires over the name like he's never heard soup called that before and does try to wait at least until the last to interject more questions, "What's a bread bowl?" He may be a novice foodie! But he shrugs out of his jacket and hangs it off the back of his chair, "Yeah no, this is my first time here. Like, this place exactly. Here. This shop." He eyes the hand that gets extended to him and decides for a moment and gives her a little hive-five kind of slap, "I'm Jett, nice to meet you Madelyne!"

"Oh, I figured, I haven't seen any tourists around today. The lighting of the tree means that there is so much going on." Madelyne says, her grin still on her face, and she follows when he chooses a place to settle down.

"Wedding soup, it's pretty good." She pauses and then explains. "It's a chicken broth with beef and sausage meatballs, spinach, carrots, and a tiny noodle called acini de pepi." She leans against the table, nodding. "A bread bowl is a bread that's baked in a way to hold the soup inside. Since the wedding soup is not so thick, it doesn't do well with a bread bowl, but the potato soup is thick, and at the end you have a slightly damp bread to eat once you finish with the soup."

She returns the high five, beaming toward him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. We have a few other soups as well, those are the specials. What kind of soup do you enjoy the most, or are you more into salads?"

"Ahh shit, that was today? No wonder it was easy to get up this way," his eyes start to roam around the cottage and take in the decorations of the place. He has a rather naive look to him despite the fact that he's utterly drenched himself in black attire in attempts to look mean and tough; the soft features of his face still work through.

Jett returns his attention to Madelyne when she starts to explain what the wedding soup is, "Oh yeah that sounds good and I'm not going to try repeating that...." he says of the tiny noodles. His tongue does not replicate those sounds and nor does he attempt it; his brain will break trying. "Oh, okay. That's kinda of cool," then he shifts a little, "How much are we talking for the soup?" He pulls out a (surprise) black wallet from his pocket with studs all around attached to a chain that hooks to his pants; the stitching on the wallet is done in crimson thread and says slipknot. He opens his wallet and showcases there's not a whole lot in it; no pictures, no cards, just a few paper bills (mostly one dollar bills). He takes the handful and sets them on the table, "Can I get any with this?" He pushes the money forward. That he's presenting money first is an interesting point to observe.

"As long as it tastes like more than onion, I think I'd eat it," he looks down at the pile of dollar bills and considers Madelyne, "Probably um... chicken?" Definitely a noob to being a Foodie, "I haven't tried too many. Tomato, chicken, beef, just brothy stuff." As for salads he thinks, "Is it just lettuce? If it's just lettuce then no I don't like them. I wouldn't say no to them if I was hungry though."

"Aye, it was today," Madelyne remarks, her nose wrinkling slightly. "I went and drank some hot choccy, grabbed a few cookies, and then came back here to get to work. Getting a head start on things for tomorrow will make me a very happy woman."

"It's not expensive, we're one of the less expensive restaurants. The soup by itself is five dollars, with a bread bowl bumps it up to eight. Drink is another two dollars, and if you add a salad it becomes a combo meal and you can get everything for ten." She pulls a pad from her apron and glances down at the money he pushes forward. "I'm sure you can, even if you were short, I don't like people going hungry here."

"Oh, the tastes here are exquisite." She taps her chin with her pen. "Let me try to make you something, the combo, and we'll see if you like it. We'll adjust until we find something that fills you up. No going hungry here, aye?"

Jett looks a little stricken by the fact he missed the treat lighting, "I missed cookies. Seriously." He goes through a moment of self degradation, half mumbling to himself and the other part looking slightly annoyed. That lasts for a brief moment because he gets curious, "What's happening tomorrow?"

"Maybe I can make it a combo," Jett reaches back for his money and flips through it. He'll have five dollars to spare after! He nods, "Yeah. Let's do it. I'll go with the wedding soup and salad." He smiles lightly and then laughs a little, "uhh..." he scrubs his hand over his neck, "Thanks Madelyne. I would go back to the dinning hall but sometimes, you know, I want to try different places." The dinning hall probably offers a better discount on food for employees. And the dinning hall has a lot of pastas and heavier foods.

"I believe you. Do you um, make them yourself? Like, is this your place? Your menu?" He's curious since he hasn't been in this cottage before. The last remark makes his face go a little pinkish and he glances down, before he peeks back up from under his hair, "Yeah. It sounds delicious."

"We have cookies here." Madelyne whispers, resting a hand briefly on Jett's shoulder. "Tomorrow we reopen and we'll be busy again, and I usually start getting started on the food for tomorrow early in the morning." She pauses, grinning. "Tonight I got started very early. I anticipate actually getting to bed at a normal time tonight and I'm not really sure how I feel about that, but it'll be nice to sleep in."

"You can make it a combo, I'm certain of it." She jots down Jett's order, eyes lifting from her writing. "What would you like to drink?"

"Oh I cook here, I'm one of the line cooks. Not the head chef. I keep an eye on what we have in our freezer and I sometimes make the menu, but it's a rotating many of soups that we've had the the past." She taps her fingers on the paper. "One day though, I'll be a head chef. I'll have my own place, but not here, not yet." She takes a step back, and grins. "Give me five minutes to put your things together, I'll be right back."

"Well that is a relief," Jett says with some wry amusement on his expression, "A cookie a day keeps the gremlins away." He doesn't seem to mind the touch on the shoulder save for the quick flickering of his gaze to acknowledge it. "Oh. I wasn't sure if there was another event going on," that he'd also miss and be mournful over the lack of cookies. Then some hair brained idea comes over him and he asks, "Do you need like, help, doing stuff? Or like... maybe I could come by and see how you... cook?" He looks a little sheepish, "I don't really know how to."

"Uhm, coke?" He wonders if that would be in his price range to get. He definitely has habits of a young man his age.

"So what does a line cook compared to the head chef?" He is actually curious; it shows in his eyes that he's sincere. He considers her determination and he nods, "Yeah you can... but why not yet?" Is that his business... who knows he's asking because he can. "Okay, sure," he then tacks on when she's going to get the soup. He looks down at himself for a moment and his polished black nails, peering around once more at the decorations and the vibe this place has going for it.

"It is a relief to have a cookie. Especially a cookie a day. Today's cookie is fudge chocolate chip, and it's very decadent, but I wouldn't have more than one. I mean, I have, but I wouldn't recommend it." Madelyne jokes, and she listens as he speaks, blinking a few times. "Help. Doing stuff? You want to come by and see how I cook?" She purses her lips lightly and arches an eyebrow. "You don't know how to cook and you'd like to learn? I'd be happy to teach you. What kind of things that you like to eat? It might change how this teaching thing goes."

"Coke." She nods and moves to get him his drink, leaving the door open so she can talk while she gets things ready.

"A line cook is someone who preps everything needed to get a menu ready for the day. Chopping onions, chopping spinach, making the meatballs for the wedding soup." She grins and adds. "Not yet for a few reasons. First, I'm not from here, I'm from Ireland. I'm not really a citizen here, so I don't think it's appropriate to open a business." She shrugs and begins to build the salad. "Maybe one day when I am a citizen, I'll open my own business and be the boss of everything. I'm just really not sure that I'm ready for that yet."

"Did you say..." he pauses here for added punctuation, "fudge chocolate chip....?!" She could probably see the drool forming but in reality he looked like a five year old kid that just heard Santa was coming to town. "I'll have one of those yes," he still had five bucks left after all. As for her response to him helping he nods, "Yeah, is that weird?" He wonders at her arched eyebrow, "Uh... yeah I never learned. Um... I grew up in the foster care system. No one really showed me. Heh..." he admits which seems like a hard thing to do for him and he doesn't go into further detail as if it should be self explanatory. "I learned a little from television since coming here," he does say with a peppy uptake of his tone, especially since she'd be okay with teaching him, "I can help clean dishes or whatever to pay you." Nothing is free; he already knows that. As for what he likes to eat he notes, "Food. Hah. I mean, I don't really even know how to make soup. At least... unless it's from a can."

He watches her go off and he fidgets a bit. "Eating out is getting expensive..." clearly the most understated assessment ever since his wallet was practically empty.

His eyes bilnk a little as she says she's not from here, "Oh, that's cool. What's Ireland like?" So many questions. Jett is a like a five year old. Soooo many questions. "That's fair," he states at her not ready to be a boss, "at least you got a destination to get to!"

"Fudge chocolate chip." Madelyne nods as she watches Jett look excited for the cookie. "I'll bring you one out now, and wrap one up for you to take home?" She picks up one of the cookies, and brings it up, waving away the money. "No paying for this cookie."

"Foster care?" She frowns and nods at Jett, putting the soup in a bowl and getting some bread to go with it. A tray is snatched up and she puts the salad, the soup and the bread on the tray, adding a cup of Coke. "None of that, if you're going to learn how to cook I'm not going to make you pay for your food. The man who runs this place thinks a lot like me. We don't let people leave hungry." A beat. "If I said so, I wouldn't let you pay for this, but I don't want you to think that you're not getting value, but if you're living paycheck to paycheck, we'll figure something out that doesn't require money. You got it?"

"Eating out here can get expensive. If you'd like, you can come over to my apartment, you can meet my roommate, her name is Gianna, and you can have dinner with us. I'll give you enough leftovers so when you can't make it, you won't have to leave your place."

"Ireland is beautiful, and I miss it a lot." A beat. "I'm not going back though, not ever."

"OHMYGOD YES!" Was that too much?! It's probably too much. He de-evolved into his five year old inner kid and the cookie monster for sure. His mouth stays in a winning smile though, so much for playing emo kid - totally failing at it. "That'd be awesome. No really, all the thank yous." And even if she's waving away the money his honest cooking loving self is on full display; there is no packing him back in the box.

Until. He looks aside and then rubs his hand down an ear that has all those bits and pieces of junk jewelry. Even if he was covered in jewelry on closer inspection it was all made from junk; like a bracelet made of bolts, a necklace made out of pop can tabs, rings made out of copper that seems hand beaten and twisted, pieces of wood and stone that are created into objects to wear. The most expensive thing on him is probably his nose ring and lip ring, which have to be a bit better quality so not to cause infection and do seem to be from a piercing shop. As his hand comes away from rubbing one of the wood loops in his ear he answers, "Yeah. I uhm, I was on the streets before coming here." He notes, "I never did get adopted." Which would explain why he doesn't know how to cook. He doesn't protest against her denying his help around here though he would, clearly. "I don't want anyone to think I'm scamming them either," he says with a tinge of pride, and nods, "Thanks. I appreciate that. I work at the games," which means minimum wage, "And I got a place with a roommate at fox run," which means money comes off his paycheck for that, "but it's more money than I've ever seen in my life, so I can pay for the meal."

At the invitation he smiles, "Sure. I'd like that. That's real kind of you."

As for the last, he blinks at the finality of it. "Uh, why?"

Madelyne jumps when he speaks loudly, but she manages not to drop the tray. She places the tray in front of him and pulls out one of the cookies for herself. She takes a bite and gestures for him to eat the food in front of him.

"On the streets?" That makes Madelyne frown, her expression stormy. When mentions that he never did get adopted, her brows furrow. "Well, I don't think that you're scamming me." She tilts her head, watching him as he hopefully begins to eat. "Who is your roommate?"

"I try to be nice, especially to those who deserve it. There are a lot of people here who deserve kindness, and I think that you're one of them." She gets to her feet, and moves to get herself a tall glass of milk to dip her cookie into, when she comes back, she settles back into the seat and sighs.

"I ran out of Ireland like a harpy was chasing me, in a way one was, I was married. Things were not going very well, so I decided on a whim that I needed to leave, and not look back. No more family, no more friends, except the ones that I've made here." Her gaze shifts away from Jett, sighing. "Let's talk about something else, like what you want to learn to cook first?"

"Oops, sorry!" He reacts to her jumping, his hand going out as if that would magically keep the tray from dropping. He has magic but it's not about that! "Cookies are my kryptonite," he admits with a much calmer presence.

"Yeah," he confirms her on the streets question without really going into it much more, considering he picks up on her stormy expression with the furrowing making him shift a little in discomfort, so he looks away and isn't able to exactly meet her gaze just then. It's something of a defensive avoidance thing. Roommate topic brings him back in and he answers, "Theo. He's a performer. Prince Theo... he wears a lot of ruffles. He performs at the Lamplight Amphitheatre. I admit I haven't gotten around to seeing his act lately."

Jett clasps his hands and drops them to his lap so he can fiddle with the rings and things on his person when she say she deserves kindness. He looks at the cookie and then follows Madelyne when she gets up to get a tall glass of milk, his eyes flickering back and forth, before he decides to set into the meal, "This looks great. Thank you." He strays away from 'deserving' and acknowledging that.

Hearing a bit of Madelyne's past has his expression softening a bit more, not sympathetic and yet kind in return, though inquisitive he does not ask anything further when she turns the conversation away. The pieces of the story he will tuck away like a squirrel tucks away nuts for the winter. "This," he says after having a few spoonfulls of soup, "This is really tasty."

"I'm glad that I have good cookies to feed into that kryptonite." Maddie murmurs, and she leans her elbow on the table, listening as Jett talks about Theo. "Theo is a good name, and actors are amazing people, they're able to put on a different identity -- and play it out." She makes a face. "I wish I had the talent for that."

Her face lights up when he says that he wants to learn how to make the soup that he's eating. "It will be a very easy lesson, and you'll be able to make that soup anytime you get a bug for soup. I cook soup anytime it's snowing or raining, because it just feels right." She gazes at the soup bowl, her expression far away. "Soup weather is like when it's sweater weather outside."

"Do you think you'll stay here?" She asks, her tone slightly hesitant. "I want to stay here, I'm also a little afraid."

"Every supervillain has kryptonite," Jett expresses with intention that he didn't mean superhero, his eyes on the cookie, taking a sudden bite of it between a few scoops of soup. He muffles around the cookie, "I found out just the other day you can have dessert first." He takes another bite but then decides by the looks of him putting it back, that he'll save the rest until after his soup and salad. "Theo is the best," he says once he's swallowed, "First day I was here we like made a pact to room up if we both made it through interviews and orientation. And he puts up with me, so, he's good in my books." Her face is regarded as it comes to acting, "I think... from what I've seen of the performers so far... I think, they just.. decide to be one and they do it." It might be a little more complicated which has him accenting his words with the bobbing of the spoon in the air, "In fact Rowan invited me up to volunteer one day if I was brave enough to do so." He considers Madelyne, "But I am not performer material."

Back to his food he does really seem to be enjoying the soup, eating with a savoring slowness and allows the tastes and textures to sit on the palette. "It's a good soup to make right now then, with the snow and all that," Jett nods as if he made a good decision.

"Yeah," Jett admits, "I don't know what else to do or where else to go just yet. Better or not I think I'm staying for the long ride," he sinks his spoon back in and looks up to her after taking a scoop. He licks off the soup that dribbled before he asks, "Why are you afraid?"

"You can have dessert whenever you want." Maddie grins, dipping her cookie into her glass of milk. "I sometimes have cookies for dinner. Only when I'm baking and I do not feel like making something to eat. Being a grown-up means you can do a lot of stuff when you want to. Though, please, don't hurry to grow up."

"I'm glad that you and your roommate get along, I'll have to introduce you to my roomie her name is Gianna. She works down at the mermaid attraction." A beat. "She's very very nice. She will likely meet you if you come over to cook." She tries to remember if she's met Rowan. "I really do hope that one day you get up and try to be a performer, you might not think that you're performer material, but one never knows unless they try."

"I'm afraid of a lot of things. I'm afraid of liking it too much here, and then not being able to stay. I'm afraid that the people I was running from will find me here, and turn the magical place that I'm growing to love into a place where I don't feel safe. I'm afraid that one day, I might want to leave. I guess I'm afraid of a lot of things." She blows out a breath and runs her fingers through her hair. "Sorry. That was a lot, and I didn't mean to put that on you."

"Right? Who knew," Jett explains as he watches her dunk the cookie into milk. He's content on eating the soup right now but you can be rest assured he'll want to try that too. He sits back with an attempt at a manly expression, "I am grown up." But he knows he's a clown and his expression afterward says as much.

"Oh yeah? Gianna hey. I think I may have heard of her show," he ponders it a moment and then nods, "I haven't seen it though. And yeah, I can bring Theo along too. He needs a few more friends, not that I said that." He winks over to Madelyne before he carries on in his meal, accepting the idea of trying one day if he wants to be a former. Then he adapts and changes, "Actually I want to be a sculpture-er..." That doesn't sound right in his head and tries again, "I mean a sculptor." He feels his cheeks flushing a bit from that mess up, clears his throat, then goes on, "I'd like to make big statues and things, probably out of stone. Maybe metal." He's already started by making little ornaments for his person.

If it was a lot Jett doesn't show it. He regards her with a steady gaze then thinks out loud, "I felt all those things too and then I ended up here." He's trying to relate at least. "You know what I do?" he pulls off a ring that's made from copper and it's got a little rose on it and he slides it over toward her side of the table, "I wear things that help me um, ground." If she has any magical attunement there will be a soft earth magic infused into the ring, "It is connected to the earth. You just rub your finger on it and it helps put you back in the moment rather than... all the what ifs." He up nods to the ring, "You should be able to squish it a bit to fit. Keep it."

"You are." Madelyne agrees, biting into her cookie before she dips it again.

"Gianna's show is very pretty, the mermaids are a big hit around here. Oh and I promise I won't say that Theo needs more friends if we do meet." She leans her chin on her palm. "You want to sculpt things? That seems like a wonderful thing to get into, I bet you can find someone to teach you here."

Madelyne's eyes shift to the ring, and she nods as he mentions being grounded. "I can really keep it?" She slides it on her finger and squishes it a bit to fit. She holds her hand out and closes her hand, concentrating. "It feels nice."

"He's probably fine on his own, but I care about the guy," Jett says in a rather doldrum kind of way though he also does seem sincere at the same time, despite the jest of it. As for sculpting things Jett nods, "Yeah like... figures. People. You know like how there's those statues out of marble and they look so alive? It's intriguing to me. I started working on small stuff for now." As for finding a teacher he nods, "I might look to see if they have someone like that through the school programs."

Then he nods, "Yeah. I make so many of them, I can't wear them all." Jett spoons some more soup in while he watches her reaction to the gift, "Cool, I'm glad you like it." He babbles a little, "I collect things from all over the park and make them into stuff like that. Theo calls me magpie for it but I think it's a valiant effort to give trash another chance. You never know what can be made if you just give it a little scrub and polish."

"Trinkets are important, I think. They're in the eye of the beholder. I'll cherish this one, but I don't view it as trash." Madelyne studies Jett while he eats his soup, considering before she speaks up again. "When can I expect you for your first lesson? Perhaps I'll put out feelers to see if we can find some other folks who want to learn. Not that I'm teaching anything life changing, but at the very least, you'll not go hungry. The simplest meals are sometimes the very best ones."

Jett exhales some soft amusement out of his nostrils and turns his lips lightly up to one side, "That's a relief but I wouldn't be offended either; I just started making these things like...last year." He does take a few bites of the salad in between the soup because everything tastes good. The ask about the lesson has him hmm, "My free day off I think is going to be Monday, next Monday. I think I could have time Sunday too, but Monday night for sure. I got the early shift then so I'll be off around like four." He notes, "I only get my schedule two weeks at a time and with the holidays I don't know if I'll get really long shifts. I suspect so!"

"Let's plan for next Monday, I'll come up with two or three things -- short things that we can cook." Madelyne holds up a hand, pointer finger raised. "If you get hungry before then and want something to nosh on, feel free to stop in. I'll set you up, and you can save on some costs. We don't use all of our soup or salads every day, and if you're not sick of it, you can enjoy some food."

"Sound good?" She tilts her head, watching him eat the salad.

"Monday then!" Jett hoists his coke up into the air as if to put the promise out there to the universe. "I always get hungry, no worries about that!" Jett smirks and probably does. "I don't think I could get sick of this," he points down to the bowl with his spoon, dunking it in, "The only thing I'm really picky about is if the whole thing takes like onion. Like, onion soup is okay right, it has it's place... but if it's supposed to be like chicken or beef or even veggie and all you can taste is onion that's what curls my toes. That's the sort of stuff we'd get fed. Everything just tasted like one boiled down onion."

Then he breaks out of that mental reprieve and horror over onions with a blink and a bright smirk, "Sounds great!"

"Yikes. Don't worry, onions have their place, and it isn't in everything." Madelyne grins at Jett, and then she moves to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Want one?" She asks, holding up her cup. She reaches for another cup, just in case Jett says yes.

"Exactly! Ha. No need to have everything taste like one flavor," Jett remarks as he picks up the bowl of soup instead of trying to fuss with the spoon any further and slurps down a good couple gulps of it. The bowl once it's down, is emptied. He watches her get the coffee and he shakes his head, "No I'm good with the coke, thanks!"

Madelyne leans while she sips her coffee, taking a deep breath. She notes the empty bowl and tries not to smile. She loves it when people enjoy her food. It's the best compliment that anyone who cooks can have.