Jackal and the dough monster

[Jackal]

August, 124PW {FlashBack}

Jackal kicked up dust and grunted, strutting like a rooster amongst a coop with his freshly carved staff bouncing smugly on his shoulder. He held quite a bit of swagger for such a small boy but it was well earned. He snorted at the passing boys with an almost rude scoff, noticed by the richer boys but ignoring them all the same. After all, he was heading to the bakery.

The thought of helping out the baker woman added another skip to his step, his grin widening more as he hummed in pleasure. Hot buns for hard work, not a deal he'd easily pass up. Not since Drayel gave him a whackin over trying to steal from a local meat shop. He still remembered that goose egg.

"Hey, Miss Baker Ma'am! Need any help?" He hollered as he shoved the door open and beamed with his award winning smile. "I'm here an' able if ya need anything! Just a yummy loaf of bread with a lovely lady is all I charge!"

[Talia Idris]

Bepa and Vadim had given Talia the morning off and she had spent it doing as she pleased. Most of it consisted of tending to the small plants that she kept in pots around her room, rotating them so that the opposite sides would get a chance to face the sunlight that streamed through the open window and door to the small juliette-styled balcony.

After a late lunch of a couple fresh fruits and vegetables Talia made her way downstairs to the kitchen where she relieved the baker couple so that they might go spend a nice quality evening together, something that was sometimes hard to do with business being what it was. They weren't the most popular or prestigious bakery in town but there were certainly doing quite well for themselves, and even on occasion would sell out of their stock all in one day.

Today seemed to be one of those days, Bepa felt bad about leaving Talia with the job of preparing a whole new batch for the evening customers as well as set up the shop for business tomorrow, which of course also included making several batches of dough and leaving them to side and rise overnight. Even with such a load of work Talia shooed the slightly pudgey couple out the door with promises that it wasn't too much, after all she had handled the place on her own before. For several days at that.

Rolling up the sleeves of her dress Talia put an apron on and got to work. Not many customers came in but for the most part the few that did didn't mind being asked to come back later once a fresh batch of bread and buns were out. But when she heard the bell announce another customer she started to sigh, which quickly changed into a wide smile as soon as she recognized whose voice it was calling out for her. Grinning she wiped her hands on her apron as she walked through the kitchen door to the front shop.

"With all that pretty talk I would guess you have been hanging around Shade a little bit too much." Talia laughed, happy to have some company that wasn't here merely to buy bread. She quickly ran through the inventory in her mind before continuing her conversation. "Well we are fully stocked in all manners...." Talia could almost see disappointment on Jackal's face although he did his best to hide it. "But I have a fair amount of baking that I have to do this afternoon and evening. If you wash up really well and feel like it, you are more then welcome to help out. Who knows maybe you will decide you want to become a baker one day."

With a playful wink at the boy Talia turned around and headed towards the kitchen. Sure the last time she let people, men actually, into her kitchen it turned out to be an utter disaster but Jackal seemed eager to work. Having him help under her watchful supervision should be a breeze, especially under her careful supervision.

[Jackal]

"Nah, I'm gonna be a guard like the old man." Jackal stated with a roll of his eyes as he leaned his staff in the corner and promptly followed her into the back, already rolling up his sleeves and heading for the sink. "So, baking bread? What do ya want me to do?"

He stood in front of her with a shit eating grin on his face, lips curled so far back it nearly met his ears. "As for that Shade comment, I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I wouldn't want Shade seeing me working here as a way of wooing you into his bedding."

He winked and trotted around the counter with a loud whoop.

"What do ya want me to do? What's first?"

[Talia Idris]

Talia nodded, it seemed natural for a boy to want to follow in the footsteps of his father. Or in Jackal's case, adoptive dad. Although it looked like she may have to talk to a certain Drayel Morig about how much time his boy was spending the with womanizing,wolf-shifter. She quirked her eyebrow at Jackal but chose to ignore his comment and turn to grab a bag of flour. Placing in on the floor in from him she inspected him for a moment before breaking into a grin

"Well first you might want to put on an apron, you are bound to get a bit messy." Walking over to the hangers by the back kitchen door she tossed him the smaller of the two aprons. Vadim wouldn't mind, especially if she washed them later on. "Also if you look in that far drawer you should find a recipe for the bread. I'll get you the ingredients and make a batch along side you. Just make sure you handle the flour gently, other wise flour will poof everywhere!". Talia laughed as she started dancing around the kitchen, grabbing the needed ingredients, bowls and utensils that were needed.

[Jackal]

Wiggling into the apron Jackal felt his spirit sink a little at the word 'recipe'. He glanced up at her, embarrassed and hesitant before forcing it down and marching back towards where she'd said the recipe was. Opening the drawer he felt dread hit him when he saw the multiple pieces of paper and what not inside. No way he'd get it right. He bowed his head a little as he felt shamed.

"Hey, Miss Idris?" he called over his shoulder as he stared at the papers as if they where monsters. "Which one is the bread one? I can't tell."

[Talia Idris]

Talia opened her mouth to tell Jackal what the recipe was called when she froze. It was a simple and fairly obvious title so if he couldn't find it there was only one real reason the boy wasn't able to see it. Jackal couldn't read. Turning around she smiled at him, acting as if she hadn't just clued in on the fact.

"Ah yes, well we do have several bread recipes." Walking over to the drawer the pulled out a couple and ruffled through them. "See, we have a sourdough, a raisin bread and a couple others. But this one," she said as she pulled out one from the middle and set it on the counter between several large bowls, "is our main recipe. Now I doubt you know the different measurements since I bet you don't do a lot of cooking." Talia winked at him before going back to explaining.

"So this is how we will do it. I will read out the recipe and show you which cup or spoon to use. Now since this is your first time you can just do the one bowl while I do the others. I don't have to do too many right now anyways. Tonight is when the really big batches are."

[Jackal]

"Awright!" Jackal whooped as he immediately dashed towards the counter. He glanced up at her and waited for the first instruction. Before looking at the bowl in front of him. Slowly he copied her, using the tools she did and trying to keep up. Of course, the flour was tricky. It poofed just as she said it did and unfortunately when it poofed, it poofed all over him. "Aw dammit!"

He gave his head a bit of a shake before glancing up at her and looking apologetic.

"Sorry, I'll clean it up... I just dunno where the broom is." Jackal said sheepishly. "Guess the old man isn't the only one who gets messy with this stuff. Ugh, it's makin' my nose itch..."

[Talia Idris]

Talia made sure that while she was reading out the recipe she used her finger to read along, that way if Jackal did watch perhaps he would start to recognize certain words or letters. She didn't want to be nosy but perhaps it would be a good idea to find out if the boy was going to school and if not perhaps if Drayel was too busy it might be a good idea if she offered to teach him some of the basics....

She looked up as the flour flew everywhere, she laughed. "Don't worry about cleaning it up right away. It's bound to happen. Watch out!" As Jackal prepared to let loose a sneeze her hand shot down to the side of his over sized apron and lifted it up and over his head. It wouldn't do to be sneezing in the flour. Not only would it really get the white stuff everywhere but she doubted the customers would appreciate someone sneezing in their bread.

"Feel better?" She asked as she lifted up a corner of the apron and glanced down on Jackal with a grin. "Come on. We should wash our hands again and then knead the dough. Once we add the liquid this stuff is going to get really sticky so we should also coat our hands in a bit of oil so it doesn't stick everywhere. After that we just get to chill out while we wait for the bread to rise. I may have some cookies hidden somewhere around here to snack on!"

[Jackal]

Talia wasn't kidding when she said the dough got sticky. Jackal stared in clear frowning glower at the dough that had clamored its way up his arm. He was about to voice his complaints to her when he noticed with a hint of jealousy that she seemed almost void of said issue.

"I put flour on!" he complained lowering at the dough. "Why am I the only one sticky?"

He pouted up at her with the heaviest pout he could muster. "This isn't fair."

[Talia Idris]

"Don't worry about it." Talia grinned at the pouting boy beside her as she moved on to her second bowl, covering the first with a damp cloth. "I have a lot of experience so I probably make it look easier then it really is. Afterall, I do have to do this everyday, sometimes two or three times. I learned how to make bread when I was really little too. Here, try this."

Talia poured a bit of oil onto his hands. Flour worked okay for mixing cookie dough but bread dough was much stickier so flour wasn't usually the best way to keep it from sticking. She kneaded her last batch of dough slowly so that Jackal could effectively watch and copy her actions. It wasn't long until they were done, all the dough covered and cookies and milk set out on the table for a quick snack while they waited.

"So how has it been living with Mr. Morig?" Talia sipped on a cup of tea, resting her elbows on the table as she talked. She never knew how to refer to Drayel. Using his first name seemed too familiar. Calling him 'Sir Morig' sounded a bit better because he was a guard but did he have to be a certain rank to be a 'sir'? Oh well, Mr. Morig it was until she was told to use something else.

[Jackal]

"Pretty good." Jackal grunted taking a drink from his milk. "The farm's gotta have a ton of work done to it but it's a lot better than when we started. At least it doesn't look like a graveyard or somethin' anymore. I mean, I thought it looked like one of those haunted houses you hear about from traveller's stories!"

He wrinkled his nose and snorted.

"'course then there's the swats." he complained. "I think I've had a goose egg the size of the guard house! I mean, all I did was accidentally pickpocket some rich guy! He didn't even notice! The old man did though and gave me a good smack before handing it back saying the old guy 'dropped it'. Man, habits suck."

He grumbled into his cup with a sour look on his face.

[Talia Idris]

"Well you let Drayel, I mean Mr. Morig, know that if you ever need any help with gardening, I am willing to offer my services!" Talia choose to ignore Jackal's comments about his activities and punishments. In her eyes he kind of deserved them. Certainly she didn't fully agree with it but the boy needed to learn how to behave and the boy had been living on his own for a bit too long to simply just change in a heartbeat. Either way she wasn't about to get in the middle of that issue, she wanted to be friends with Drayel and Jackal. It would not due any good to get involved and have one or both get upset at her. Although perhaps if Drayel found a wife who could help him out with the boy....like that man had any time for women!

Instead Talia decided to get excited about the prospect of gardening. "You know I seem to have quite the way with plants. I think they like me." Talia chuckled at the thought. "Helping get the yard into shape and plant some flowers or at least a vegetable garden would be a nice touch. Of course I guess that would probably be better once you boys move in and can tend to it better." Talia said thoughtfully, already planning in her mind the rows of carrots, tomatoes and other such things.

[Jackal]

"Yeah, that might be good." Jackal said with a nod of approval. "With my crap gardenin' and Drayel's busy schedule we wouldn't be able to grow them at all. I mean, I could if I wanted to but I'm pretty busy as it is you know. If you'd like to ya can go ahead and keep planting."

Jackal beamed up at her before pausing and glancing up at her almost thoughtfully.

"Actually, you can plant flowers right?" He asked slowly. He fiddled with his hands, lips curling down as he chewed on his lip. "Do you think you can teach me? I... think some flowers would look nice next ta Gram and Gramps. Better than bare grass anyway."

[Talia Idris]

Talia smiled gently and refrained from getting up and hugging Jackal. It was nice to see that some people still cared for their family even after they were gone. "Of course I can teach you! I am pretty sure I have some flowers that will do quite nice outside and will maintain some decent blossoms if you take care of them. If you like I can give you some. We can plant some in a pot together and I can show you how it is done so you can do it yourself later. I am sure it will be appreciated. You will have to wait a couple days though because I don't have much free time until the weekend. But then I am all yours!"

Looking up at the clock Talia stood up and stretched a bit. "Now I think it is time for us to finish up with the dough! We need to knead it one more time and then let it sit for a couple more minutes before popping it into the oven! And then we are done baking until tonight! Until then I will have to man the shop until we close. Are you planning on sticking around or will you be taking your bread home to share with your dad for supper?"

[Jackal]

"I'll eat with you and bring some leftovers or somethin' or his midnight patrol." Jackal answered with a grin. "Wouldn't want him to lose that puggy belly he's gonna grow. You'll see, I'll make him big and heavy so he doesn't look so glum."

Jackal laughed as he beamed up at her, teeth flashing like bright lights as he eagerly looked around. Spotting the broom in the corner he glanced up at her hopefully. "Want me to sweep? I could do that too ya know. Drayel makes me do it a lot on the farm... Old man probably would kink his back if he tried to do it himself! Pah!"