Act 42: First Hire of The Cabaret (Scene IV)- Una Cocinera Dulce No Tan Dulce

--- Joshua Durand ---

The candy skulled woman stared at him as he found himself awkwardly staring back, a state of affairs that had dragged on for a fair while now.

“Why isn’t she saying anything?” He whispered to Avery.

“No idea Boss. Usually Boss Dreams are usually a little more talkative than this.” The Cabaret Manager whispered back.

“Did I mess something up?” He wondered even as he noticed the newly made Dream was taking a moment to look around the kitchen as they whispered between themselves.

“I don’t think so?” Avery frowned, looking at his fellow Dream. “As far as my side of things go, she’s a full on Dream. She’s connected to the Cabaret’s Kitchen and everything…”

“¿Ustedes dos saben que puedo oírlos, verdad?” The candy skulled woman called.

They both blinked, before Avery quietly asked, “What did she say?”

“I… have no idea. I got like a C in Spanish.” He admitted with a shrug, before glancing at his newest dream. “That is Spanish right? I know it’s something… latin-y.”

Said dream gave him a confused look. “¿No hablas español?”

“I know what that meant, and barely?” He paused as something occurred to him. “Wait, you understand english?”

The female Dream considered that for a moment before nodding. “Sí, ¿creo que sí? ¿Pero en serio no puedes entender lo que estoy diciendo?

“Okay… I caught that yes so… Can speak english?” That would make things significantly easier.

“Mmm, podría pero no creo que lo haga.” The Dream confessed with a sad sigh. “Creo que sería mucho más divertido burlarme de ustedes dos si no me entienden.”

“I’ll… take that as no.” Because he had no idea what she actually said there.

“Oh, puedo decir cuánto me divertiré con esto.” She nodded with a wry grin, her lips twitching as she forced it.

He grimaced before turning to Avery. “You getting any of this?”

“Uh, I only know some Creole from…” Avery winced, before shaking his head with a frown. “From when the Old Boss… Bones(?) and… this one smiley fella got into a competition about… something in Louisiana… Sorry… that was uh, a long time ago…”

“It’s fine, wouldn’t really help us right now anyway.” He sighed, before giving his newest Dream a considering look. “Any idea why she can speak a language I can’t and can’t speak the one I can?”

“Bueno, quiero decir que puedo hablar ambos. Simplemente elijo no hacerlo.” The spanish speaking dream shrugged.

Avery shook his head. “I uh, I’ve got no idea, Boss.”

“Wonderful…” He looked at the new Dream who had no control over this situation. “This would be a lot easier if we had subtitles like in actual cartoons…”

“If it’s a cartoon thing… I might be able to do something there with her help but…” Avery rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m, uh, I’m going to need some time to figure it out though…”

“That’s fine.” He assured the nervous Cabaret Manager. “You’ve probably got a better idea on how to fix this than I do.”

“¿Entonces estás diciendo que necesito aprovechar esto tanto como sea posible antes de que ustedes hagan eso y les diga que puedo hablar inglés?” The candy skulled dream gave them both a nod. “Entiendo.”

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“Don’t worry we’ll take care of this.” He promised his newest dream who offered him a smile of her own.

“Ah, casi me haces sentir mal por meterme contigo. Casi.”

“Sure thing… I never asked you for your name.” He realized.

“Yo... ¿No tengo nombre?” The candy skull blinked, her surprised sentence simple enough for him to understand.

“You don’t have a name?” He frowned.

“Well, uh, you did just make her, Boss.” Avery reminded him. “Naming her is kind of part of your job.”

“Oh, right. It is.” He remembered the whole bit he did with Blobby’s ludicrously long name. (Let’s go for something simpler this time.)

He gave his newest dream a once over as he tried to think of something appropriate. “Well, you’re a chef… and you’re also a candy skull… who is sweet…”

“En realidad, soy un poco agria.” The Dream giggled.

“So how about… Dulce, that means sweet? No, wait… Dulcinea!” He grinned. “It’s got a classier feel to it.”

“Estás llamando a la mujer calavera de caramelo Dulcinea. No sé si eso es realmente dulce o si debería agarrar mi chancla y golpearte en la cabeza.” The newly named Dulcinea told him with a grin of her own, before letting out a huff. “Pero supongo que hay nombres peores. Así que gracias, supongo... Aunque no me voy a sentir culpable por trollearte.”

“Yeah, we’ll fix those translation issues as soon as we can.” He promised her once more. “Then you can tell me whatever you want.”

Dulcinea gave him another smile. “Ya lo soy.”

“Anyway, uh, this kitchen is going to be your domain more or less.” He told her after a moment. “I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but hopefully with your help we can fix things up into a proper kitchen for you.”

“Sí, a este basurero le vendría bien el toque de una mujer.” The Dream Chef nodded looking around the place once more, before checking the fridge and a couple of the pantries and telling them, “Puedo decir que ambos están solteros por lo mal abastecido que está este lugar.”

“Yeah, we’ll stock things up for you and uh… Actually, Avery, how do we stock the kitchen?” He asked the Cabaret manager. “I don’t think we’ve really done much in here.”

“Sí, puedo decir que ninguno de ustedes sabe qué es una tienda de comestibles.” Dulcinea said.

“Um, usually I’d just make whatever I can with whatever Madness you’d give me.” Avery shrugged. “I uh, I was kind of hoping that since we Dreams instinctively know how to do our jobs that…” The Boss Dream trailed off before turning towards Dulcinea.

The female Dream rolled her eyes with a, “Chicos…” before seeming to focus.

He felt a faint pull on the Madness he kept pooled inside of him, eventually a small pair of Madness spheres formed in Dulcinea’s hands before she pushed one into the cabinet and another into the fridge.

There was a brief flash before each became far better stocked than the scraps that had been in the kitchen before with flour, eggs, vegetables, and all sorts of food stuff that he recognized even if he couldn’t name.

Dulcinea gave her work a satisfied nod. “Esto servirá.” before digging around inside. “Ahora consíganme algo de ayuda real aquí.”

“I guess she wants to take the kitchen for a spin?” He noted unable to do much more than watch as the Dream Chef’s movement’s began to faintly blur around the kitchen with a sparkling trail following her.

He caught some of the sparkles on his hand before putting them in his mouth. (Sugar. She’s leaving a sugar trail everywhere.)

In less than a minute, Dulcinea had mixed together a batch of dough before setting it on a metal tray and beginning to glaze it in colored icing.

“Uh, aren’t you supposed to ice them after-Ow!” Avery put his hand in his mouth after a glaring Dulcinea whacked it with a wooden spoon.

“No me digas cómo cocinar en mi cocina, ese.”

“Just, uh, let her do her thing.” He told the Cabaret Manager.

The candy skulled woman gave them a nod before turning back to the tray. Instead of sliding it in the oven like he expected from the few times he’d helped Chris with the bar’s restaurant, Dulcinea instead raised her hand and formed a pink flame in it. She then proceeded to inhale before blowing the flame, bathing her pastries in its heat.

After a moment of this, the Dream Chef stepped back to inspect her work with a satisfied grin.

“Damn, those smell good.” He couldn’t help but note as he walked over to inspect the tray full of what looked like little candy skeletons.

“Lo son, pero tendría cuidado al comerlos...” Dulcinea told him with a grin as suddenly, one of the skeleton’s hands shot off the tray. “Estas galletas muerden.”

One by one the skeleton candies stood up, before staring at their creator.

Dulcinea said, “¡Manos a la obra, niños!” as she snapped her fingers and the candies hopped off the tray before moving around the kitchen to collect ingredients.

Watching the candy run around to help prepare more food, even if at a slower pace than Dream Chef’s personal work, he found himself thinking, “Yeah, I think the kitchen ‘s in good hands.”

Dulcinea smirked. “¿Había alguna duda?”