Looking Outside In

“Bad mojo?” She almost rolled her eyes at the term. “You’ve been here longer than I have,” Her redirects were sometimes painfully obvious, but she hoped that Amaya would just move past her non-answer. “What do you think? Anything haunted?”

“Me? Well..” Amaya mused as her fingers traced the curtains hanging at the wings of the stage, they felt familiar, yet not at the same time, having never truly performed on this stage. “Nah, this place certainly have personality though. But I’m no expert maybe you and your friends might find something more. I wouldn’t mind that, then maybe I’d get an audience. ‘Flicker the lights if you thought the dance routine was good!’ I’d get great feedback.” She laughed at the thought, it would be pretty funny honestly, a little freaky, but then maybe she’d feel like it would be worth it.

At her apology, Dom couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing,” No no, it’s okay! One of the more interesting reactions I’ve got, to be honest. Normally people give me a weird look and well, that’s that.” he rubbed the tears leaking out from the corner of his eyes. This person was cool. She then proceeded to ask him a list of questions.

“Oh, that’s really nice, I hope you guys have a great time. And by great time, I mean less weird ghostly time considering where this ship is going,” At least he didn’t get annoyed by the questions. Amaya leaned forward to stare into the.. ecosphere, looking at the little shrimps and plants just jiggling around. “That’s.. that’s almost revolutionary! I should really get one of these, looking at how often I kill plants by forgetting to water them.” She finally broke her fascination from the ball and actually look up to the man holding it, flashing a smile, “Sorry, I’m Amaya by the way. Plant serial killer, that’s me.”

“Practice makes perfect.” She’d never been much of a chef past the basic recipes, but the phrase was true in all things. “Anything else to do on this ship? You can’t spend all day making pies, and I don’t know what else to do but see the other unlocked areas.”

“Oh, you can,” Amaya nodded her head very seriously, and then breaking into a short laugh, “But you know, we play a little bit of poker on the deck, sneak into this theatre to watch some of the singers perform, hang out at the bar, those sort of stuff.” If baking wasn’t there to distract her, all of the rest of those things would fill it up. “You said to came her to check it out to film, right? So, what did you get out of your trip here about the theatre? Any bad mojo vibes?”

“There you are,” Cai awkwardly stooped to grab the runaway tortoiseshell. The other two cats struggled in his grasp, emitting low growls as the third joined them in Cai’s arms.  “Oh shut it.  You’re lucky I even brought you guys along.  Especially you, Midget,” He booped the smallest one with his nose. Now he just had to get them back to his room before someone found out - thank god everyone was at that mystery dinner thing.

Amaya had been busy all night, missing out on all the fun, making sure the pastries were being made, and the pastries were actually going out to the dinner after being made. She was running along to make a cake count of their last batch out on how much was left before heading back to bring to good news that the chefs can finally sit down. Dinner rushes were the worst, especially events like this. You know what kind of event they should do next? A make your own meal event, give them the ingredients raw and get the full experience. Amaya shook her head as she thought to herself, the whole kitchen cheering for the end of meal service. The event was still going strong with the game they were playing, that means a little rest time before most of the dirty dishes start flooding back in. While she sat down on the floor outside the kitchen, giving her legs a rest, she heard the too familiar voice going around the halls. “I knew you would’ve brought them!” Amaya hollered down the hallway as she got up to make her way to Cai, “Hello again, long time no see, how ya doing?” she bent down a little to face the cats stroking them in the ways they loved, they honestly never change. “How did you managed to even get them on board huh, smart guy?”

At the sympathetic question, Dom looked up from his ecosphere to squint at the person. “Wh-what??” he asked. Then it dawned on him and he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would come out so weirdly. Let me explain. I just name my little ones after my mum and my wife, and both of them are alive and probably thinking about something stupid I did right now.” he tried to stifle his laughter, feeling guilty.

Amaya rubbed a her over her face, what was she even thinking? She’s definitely not in the best state of mind right now after her kitchen shift. She sighed loudly at her own embarrassment, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry about that I just thought.. well.. you know. Long day, brain being dumb. Are they here with you on the trip? Though I doubt this is the best voyage for a family vacation.” She took a seat down to take a close look at the... ecosphere, as he called it. “How do you feed them? Wait, do you ever feed them?” She barely met him for five minutes and Amaya started asking a question too many perhaps.

“Oh, cool.” The sudden generosity caught her off guard. She hadn’t done anything to earn special treatment from Amaya, and yet there it was. “That’s nice of you.” Her words were awkward and stilted from not being used. She tried to quickly shake off the awkwardness, “What can you possibly get sick of? Cookies? Lemon meringue pie?”

“Oh it’s nothing really. You’d be surprise how much we have to throw out sometimes, and it pains our hearts.” She waved her hand dismissively, Thalia seemed a little.. uncomfortable by that gesture. She wasn’t too sure why but moved on pretty quickly, “Oh you can, when you hafta try everything you bake. Just try me, I honestly don’t know if I can eat another meringue again. I had to whip bowls and bowls of meringues by hand when I started off because I could never get them right.” She made a face, terrible times. But it helped distracted her for a long time.

“Its so good. It could be the fact that I’m a little bit drunk still, but this may be the best bread I’ve ever had.” He devoured the rest of it in a few quick bites. “Don’t feel bad, it takes a very specific type of person to enjoy the genre. What about Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco?” He paused to see if that would ring a bell for her.

“I’ll take that compliment, drunk or not, thank you. No one ever talks about the bread really,” Amaya shrugged. Bread was just bread to most, but it made her smile seeing him finish it off, even with a funny tummy. “Ah now those, I know. Are they the same kind of music? Those are really just so much fun!” She leaned forward on the table, after hearing the names that were indeed familiar. Probably listened to them as teens, jumping around their room with their music blasting around.

“Scene Revival. You know, stuff like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, etc. I sing. Occasionally I play guitar or piano, but usually just sing.” He took another bite, this time it fighting him less than before. It was getting easier to keep down, which meant he was getting more of a chance to actually taste it. “Mhis siz mgrate. Dimd mou make dis?” He said, mumbling between bites, but covering his mouth with his hand out of courtesy.

“Nice! ...I have never heard any of those names before,” Amaya confessed in shame, dropping her head down, bracing his reaction. Hearing that he played the piano made her smile though, just a little as she drifted off thinking about her brother once again. “Huh?” She was brought back again when he talked with his mouth full of bread. “Oh, yeah! we did, earlier this morning. We have about 20 dozen back in there, no one’s gonna know a few more missing.”

“Hurt?” That was an odd way to describe her trances, but it wasn’t exactly wrong. She’d grown used to the feeling of it, but at first it had been unpleasant. “It’s kind of like, not being able to go to sleep. You can just feel it in your bones.” No one really asked if it hurt, their questions were usually far more mundane. “What about you pastry chef, does it hurt having to make all those cakes and not get to eat them?”

“Constantly? Oh man that sounds very painful to me,” Amaya winced at the thought of having this constant feeling follow you around everywhere. “Hm? Me? Well, I daresay I’ve gotten sick of eating certain kinds already. There’s usually leftovers and we can’t bear to just throw them away so the kitchen crew eats them. Let’s just say I’ve eaten enough macarons for a lifetime. If you ever want anything, hit us up, we probably have a couple to spare.”

Greg laughed lightly, finally realizing who’d come throughthe door. “Sorry, Amaya,” he said, looking abashed. He took a muffin from thebasket and gave her what he hoped resembled puppy-dog-eyes. Greg was never surehow well that worked out now that he only had the one eye. Sometimes the glassone made his facial expressions seem awkward. “It’s just been one of thosemornings, you know? Everyone’s pretty excited about the convention and all.” Heleaned over the counter, taking a large bite from the muffin and making an appreciativenoise around the mouthful. “I think you should charge more for these.”

Amaya waved her hand, dismissing any need for an apology. She placed the muffins on the counter, giving Greg a sympathetic look. She always felt bad looking at his eyes, she wasn’t sure how much it hurt, back then and now. “Yeah, and here we’ll be working like the ghosts that they’ll be trying to find.” She started to walk around the place, taking in everything once again, “Really? Maybe I should bring it up to Burke, hike up the prices, lower them for the staff.” The passengers were usually rich, they wouldn’t even know the difference. “It feels like it’s been forever since I came here. How are things? And well, yourself.”

Dom turned around and saw someone staring very intently at the ecosphere in his hand. She pointed and asked what it was and honestly, it was the best thing anyone had asked him in a while. Give him an opportunity to talk about his ecosphere, and you’ll get a whole encyclopedia about it. He stood up, grinning, “It’s an ecosphere! It’s where my mum and wife live.” he said, in all seriousness.

As the man held it up for her to see, Amaya took a closer look at what was inside the glass, a snail and a few shrimps just waddling around, but her face turned to realisation and then distraught as he introduced them, seeming like the animals were a tribute to his loved ones. “Oh.. I’m so sorry for your loss... Do you wanna talk.. about it?”

“Well, I’m always grateful for not starving. I suppose I have you to thank for that,” Bill replied, giving her a smile as he quickly gave the food a curious glance. “I’ve been on the ship before, yeah, but you’ve probably ran into my brother a few times. He’s the ‘copter pilot here, we’re twins.”

“I’m definitely not to only one, but I’ll relay the message to the kitchen,” Taking another turn she  paused to read the signs. Sure she’s been here a few years, but she forgets a little every time they come back on board for a new voyage. “Oh! The pilot! Right, uh, Malcolm was it? You did look oddly familiar, I don’t really see him much though, guess he’s usually up deck and while I’m down below. And what brings you here this voyage?”

“I can handle the sun as long as it’s just for a vacation, longer than two weeks though and I look like a crab. I have so many horror stories we’d spend the rest of cruise talking about them but it’s a wonderful city. I like it a lot more than I ever liked Paris.”

“And that’s why tanning here always goes wrong. Oh I’d love to hear the stories, anything to take my ears away from the head chef screaming his head off in the kitchen. And here I thought Paris was supposed to be this romantic city of lights and love.”

He sat down at the table, without the energy to protest any. The bun looked delicious, his stomach only protested a little. He lifted it and smelled it, fresh and buttery he assumed. It was great and he wanted it inside of him as soon as possible, stomach permitting. He looked up at Amaya with gratitude. “Thanks by the way, you didn’t have to do this.” He took a bite and managed to keep it down, for no other sake than not to vomit on his new acquaintance. His stomach was still in quite a mess, but he hoped it would clear up as the day went on.

After grabbing a quick glass of water for him, she took a seat across Baxter, placing down the glass in front of him. “Technically it’s part of my job to make sure people don’t starve on this ship. And you’re a part of the crew, if we don’t take care of each other, no one will.” She shrugged, resting her chin on the heels of her palm as she watched him cautiously eat bread. Maybe she should go grab a bin for him too.. “So what kind of songs are you performing later? Do you play an instrument or something?”