capeandcowllogs | stew stew stew stew stew OPEN

WHO: the Monster in the Darkness and OPEN
WHERE: Just inside the front doors of the MAC
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday afternoon
WARNINGS: adorableness?
SUMMARY: Monster is offering anybody who enters, leaves or passes by the MAC
FORMAT: TAGGER’S CHOICE

The Monster had made stew. And it was terrible. Okay, it wasn’t that terrible, but no one could say it was a particularly good bowl of stew. But it was edible! Mostly.

The problem was, he had made too much of it. If he was back home, he’d be able to eat all that stew no problem, but he wasn’t back home, and his tiny kid’s stomach couldn’t take all that stew. He kept leftovers when he made stew and lived on it for days, but today he had forgotten he already had leftovers.

The stew was hot and totally yummy, he thought, so maybe other people would like it. Yeah, that’s it!

On Saturday afternoon he grabbed the really big pot of stew (enhanced strength helps with that), and brought it to just inside the main doors of the MAC, with paper bowls. He stood by it with his umbrella and looking like a very darkness-free cheerful kid, very enthusiastically offering it to anybody who came by.

The next day he still had some left so he heated it up and brought it down again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A twinge of recognition - he knew this person, right? Oh yeah, he's talked to her once! (Twice). He holds out a paper bowl, smiling. "Hi there! You're the princess, right?"

"I made stew. You want some? 'Cause I'm not gonna eat it and if I keep it it's gonna go bad and make me sick."

"Uhm," she looked a bit embarrassed at that but nodded, smiling weakly. "I think so but, uhm. Just call me Rapunzel, please."

Rapunzel could smell the stew, and while it didn't smell terribly appealing, she'd discovered a number of foods in the city that smelled strange but tasted delicious. "I'd love to try it."

She genuinely meant it too, shifting her bag into one arm again and leaning it on her hip.

"Okay! I'm Monster."

He grabbed the ladle and poured a bowl, and just before he handed her it, he paused. Huh, Rapunzel. He shrugged and held out the bowl.

"There was another lady named Rapunzel, but she had really, really long hair."

Rapunzel paused at his name, reaching out to take the bowl he offered her...and now being stuck with both hands full because of it. After a few seconds of careful shifting, she managed to set her bag on the edge of his table.

"Oh, that's me too." Now that she had a free hand, she reached up to tug on her short hair lightly. "It was all cut off. And, I think we spoke before but you were just...eyes on my screen." She considered the stew carefully without actually making any attempt to eat it. It certainly smelled...interesting.

"Unless there is someone else here named Monster."

"I don't think there's anybody else named Monster. Nice to meet you again, miss Rapunzel!"

He smiled at her, not really caring if she ate the stew or not now that she had it.

He played with a bit of his hair. "I'm sorry about your hair. It was pretty. It's pretty now too, just a different type of pretty!"

She just smiled in return at the compliment about her hair, forcing herself to tug her hand away from it. It was a nervous habit she'd picked up, touching the short hair...it was just so strange to feel it like that, instead of this constant weight upon her back. "Thank you, Monster."

And then she turned her attention to the stew. She sniffed it without being obvious, and then took a careful bite.

Hrm.

Chew.

Cheeeew.

........swallow.

"Well!" She managed another smile, sort of weak and a bit green. "It's, uhm. Certainly a very interesting stew. W-what did you put in it?"

"Umm, well, there's beef --"

He began to count things on his fingers, trying to remember. "And vegetables, and potatoes and chocolate and carrots --"

Well, none of that seemed particularly out of the-

"...Did you say chocolate?"

"I had some so I put it in. Oh, and parsley! I put some parsley and spices in there too."

He was certain this was something you could put in stew, because he'd been told that stew is adjustable. Clearly that meant that chocolate was a perfectly legitimate ingredient.

Rapunzel just looked more and more bewildered as he spoke. When he finally finished, she slumped a little thinking about it, just for a moment, and then stood up straight, the stew shifting in her hand.

"Well, it sounds..." what was a nice word for unappetizing... "Interesting. I've made stews, and there are some ingredients people don't...really put in them?" That worked.

"But if you like, I could teach you sometime!" All the earnestness.

"Oh, really? 'Cause I've eaten stew with all sorts of things."

He looked a bit disheartened for a moment, visibly drooping. He perked up almost immediately though. "But if you could teach me that'd be really nice of you!"

"Well...most people wouldn't put chocolate in it. At least, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't." She seemed to get more sure of the idea after a moment of thinking about it. "Chocolate is more of a dessert."

She smiled brightly at his agreement. "Great! I haven't taught anyone to cook in months. This will be fun!"

Monster looked down for a moment, scraping the ground with his foot. "Y'think so? Aw man, but I love chocolate."

But he brightened up almost immediately. "Yeah! It's gonna be great! Thanks, miss Rapunzel!"

"Well, there's lots of things you can put chocolate in, like cake and cookies and ice cream. But stew isn't really one of them."

She nodded happily, carefully reaching out to pick up her bag with her free hand again. The stew was getting thrown away as soon as she was out of sight. "When would you like to come learn?"

stew stew stew stew stew OPEN

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