stew stew stew stew stew OPEN

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

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.

Comments

[magicalworld]

Calvin was going by the MAC, and smelled something... yummy? He smelled something at least, and decided he needed to investigate if only for the sake of curiosity.

When he entered the building, he saw the kid with the umbrella, who had apparently gone into the fast food business. "Hey Monster, what have you got there?" He asked.

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

The Monster grinned at Calvin and rushed to get a bowl for him. "Hi Calvin! I made stew. You want some? It's totally good!"

He said it with all honesty but his taste was, of course, questionable.

[magicalworld]

"You made stew? You cook?" In Calvin's worldview, culinary arts were exclusively reserved for grown-ups, his own disastrous attempts at making eggs and pancakes notwithstanding. What he saw when he peered into the stew pot did not do anything to change this view. "What kind of stew is this?" He asked, wrinkling his nose as he tried to discern what formless shapes lurked within. "Interesting aroma."

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

"Um, I can make stew and popcorn and stuff but not really anything else."

Monster peered into the stew pot after Calvin, as if that would give some glimpse into what Calvin meant by 'interesting aroma'.

"It's stew! There's um, beef and stuff in it."

[magicalworld]

"And stuff?" Calvin leaned in further. Calling upon his amazing Porter-granted powers, he applied his stupendous vision to the task of examining Monster's stew. He did not like what he saw. "Um, what kind of stuff?"

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

The Monster scratched his head, squinting as he tried to remember. He just put in things that would be tasty in stew. He knew the basic recipe, but there had been things in his kitchen he could use. "Uhm, vegetables, and potatoes and carrots and chocolate and hamburger and parsley -- "

[magicalworld]

"I didn't know you could put chocolate in stew." Calvin gave up on his leaning and peering and settled for sitting on the table next to the pot. Instead, he picked up a spoon and began poking the pot's contents, prodding the stew's consistency. It felt kind of like it smelled.

"Is stew easy to make? Maybe I should try cooking sometime. Then I wouldn't have to just eat whatever Angelica and Pietro make."

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

"Yeah! You put stuff in a pot and cook it. Like chocolate. I dunno if chocolate is usually in stew, but I thought it'd be good."

Monster fidgeted. Calvin didn't appear to be actually trying any of the stew. "Do your friends feed you? Nobody feeds me anymore, so I had to learn."

[magicalworld]

"Nobody feeds you?!" Calvin was aghast. "That's terrible! You should file a complaint with someone. You're a kid, grown-ups have to feed you! It's in the Constitution."

Calvin shifted on his table-seat. Why is Monster fidgeting like that? He looks like he's waiting for something. He looked at the stew pot, made the connection, and swallowed. Slowly, he took a bowl and lifted up a spoonful of... something... to dump into it. He looked at the bowl doubtfully. It looked like something Mom would have made him back home, something that he would have pitched a fit over at the dinner table.

"Boy, Monster, I wish I could have all this great-looking stew," he said with a complete absence of sincerity. "It's too bad I'm not feeling too hungry right now! Actually, my stomach feels a little upset. I hope I'm not coming down with something!"

[yelloweyesdarksomething]

"Wait, it is? You mean I could've been getting fed all this time?"

This was completely baffling news to Monster, the concept that people had to feed him, not just his friends - most of whom had been ported out. He had learned how to make terrible stew as a reaction to nobody feeding him anymore - what wasted effort! Although it was nice to be able to feed himself whenever he wanted... but still. It was an injustice.

It took him a bit for Calvin's excuse to sink in, at which point he completely fell for it. "Oh no! That would suck, I hope you're not getting sick either. You should, um, meditate or something."

[magicalworld]

"It has to be! How else would kids survive? I'm no farmer, I can't make my own food!" This made total and perfect sense to Calvin.

He felt a little guilty about lying to Monster, though. Not guilty enough to actually try what horrors lurked in his bowl, of course. Guilty enough to change the subject. "You meditate? I thought meditation as for people who are really good at sitting still and doing nothing. So I'm probably underqualified."