Jaden wasn't sure she had ever experienced two weeks pass by so slowly, but she guessed there was a time for everything. Two weeks of nothing but resting and spending time with Mickey Mouse who was constantly at her house was getting draining for Jaden, though she had to admit that she was at least somewhat grateful for his company as it made her feel a little less trapped from her own house. Resting was all the other villagers allowed her to do, so it wasn't like she could pass the time by helping them with their mundane tasks. But, at least Merlin gave his permission for her to leave the house to take the occasional short walk to stretch her legs, so at least she was granted that liberty.
But today that would all change. Merlin stopped by first thing that morning to tell Jaden the good news that the construction on Remy's house was finally completed and although he didn't mention it, meant that Jaden was now finally free from her bedrest. Her first task that came with her freedom was to inform Remy that he could now start moving into the valley, which Jaden was more than happy to carry out. She practically leaped from her bed and getting dressed in record fashion, ran out to the well at the plaza to meet the blue rat, who was waiting patiently for her arrival.
Remy gave a small wave as Jaden approached and weaved around her boots in anticipation. "Wow! This place is beautiful and…familiar. I almost feel like I've been here before. Weird." Remy placed a forepaw underneath his chin as he pondered this situation, but quickly shook it off with a shake of his fur. "Well, no time to think about that now, I have a restaurant to open!" Remy said as he ran off towards the restaurant.
Jaden had no choice but to follow him, but upon reaching the top step, Jaden could see that the rats earlier excitement had vanished like morning mist as he depressingly took in the sight of the abandoned restaurant.
"Is this it? Is this the only restaurant in the village?" Remy questioned rather sorrowfully. "Wow, I guess I'm not in Paris anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, there's potential here. It just needs some love and maybe…a complete renovation. But, maybe you can help me with that, right?" The rat tilted his head at Jaden hopefully.
Jaden nodded in return. "Absolutely, I love food." She said eagerly, hoping to lift the rat's spirits.
Remy smiled. "Thanks, it helps to have someone who…you know." He struggled to find the appropriate words.
"Measures their height in feet instead of inches?" Jaden chuckled at her own wit.
Remy repeated the gesture in turn. "Exactly. Though there are advantages to being small! For example, I can climb a hole in the wall and unlock the door from the inside. Follow me, let's see what we're dealing with."
And doing just that, Remy climbed up a small ledge and crawled through a small hole to get inside the restaurant, whilst Jaden waited for him outside to unlock the front door. It didn't take him very long to get the job done and with the door now unlocked, Jaden stepped inside. It didn't take a genius to realise that the building was completely bare.
Remy however, still looked disappointed at the sight before him, to which Jaden couldn't really blame him. He had just left his thriving, successful restaurant in Paris to essentially nothing. "And…it's completely empty. Guess we have to start with the basics. First up, tables and chairs. I bet that Scrooge Mcduck I've heard so much about sells those, we're going to need a lot of them. Let's hope he'll give us a package deal." Remy looked at Jaden optimistically, knowing that she must have had her run-ins with the duck herself.
Jaden told Remy to leave it with her and left the restaurant in the direction of Scrooge's shop, where she ordered the tables and chairs after explaining the situation to Scrooge, who gave her a small discount on the bundle since she had helped him out so much since reopening his store. Jaden thanked him and plonked herself on a chair in the corner where she was told to wait for her order to finish processing.
Jaden took the time to scroll through her phone whilst drinking from her small whiskey flask she always kept with her. She made the mistake of opening her photo gallery, stopping short when she saw a photo of her two kids, grinning brightly at the camera with their gap-toothed smiles. Jaden hastily slipped her phone back into her pocket before the first tears could flow down her face. It was bad enough she had cried in the arms of Mickey Mouse, she didn't want to add to that humiliation in front of Scrooge's shop.
She then glanced up over by the door as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps and saw Scrooge with a large crate ready for her to deliver. Getting up from her chair, Jaden sighed, knowing full well that she was going to have to push it all the way over to the restaurant all by herself. She wasn't stupid enough to not know that there would be no way in hell she'd be able to carry it.
Walking over to the duck, she looked over at the crate and realised that it was certainly larger than the one that held Merlin's ice throne. She supressed a groan as she began pushing, at least this time the restaurant was a lot closer, unlike her previous job delivering that was on the other side of the valley.
Even though it didn't take Jaden very long to push it all the way to the restaurant, that didn't mean it wasn't a struggle. What was meant to be a short journey took far longer than she originally thought and to top it all off, rain started to pour down heavily as Jaden made the exhausting trip back to the restaurant. The second she got through the door with her burden, she collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath. She took a few moments to regain her composure before getting back up to her feet and began setting up the tables and chairs for the rat chef. It wasn't like Remy could do it himself even if he wanted to.
Once she was done, she left the restaurant and went straight to Remy's house, knowing she'd find him there since he wasn't at the restaurant. When Jaden entered, Remy ran over to her in a gesture of greetings.
"Okay! Now that the customers can sit, let's think about the food. We want a well-stocked kitchen for which I have a list." Remy said, getting out a small slip of paper from a nearby table. "I used to daydream about opening my own restaurant. I'd make lists of what I'd need – constantly adding and refining as I thought of new dishes, using those lists to open la ratatouille was a dream come true. Good thing I held onto them, huh? Here, I'll handle this part of the list, can you manage the other half?" He asked, pointing out to Jaden the half of the list he'd like her to cover before handing her the piece of paper.
Jaden nodded and getting out a pen, highlighted the items that Remy wanted her to find. Bidding farewell to the rat, she left Remy's house in search of the food items tasked for her to find. Thankfully, Jaden had somewhat of an idea on where she could find most of these items, if not all of them then at least it would be a starting point. So, she walked through the plaza into the now bright sunshine after the gloomy rain, to the vast meadow, where she began her search, gathering as many of the listed food that she could find into a small basket she brought along with her from Remy's house.
Twenty minutes later and Jaden had an entire basket full of the food that was needed. Pleased with her haul, Jaden decided to take a short break before heading back to Remy with her find. She sat herself down on a nearby bench and took out her whiskey flask alongside a cigarette and a lighter. As she was gazing out towards the meadow, puffing on her cigarette and sipping her whiskey, Jaden caught sight of Goofy slinking away from his house. She hadn't seen him since the house fire incident that was two weeks ago, and wondered how he was doing. She narrowed her eyes against the harsh glare of the sunlight, trying to get a better look at him. What she saw caused her to rise from the bench and take a few tentative steps towards him, attempting to not get his attention right away.
Goofy's posture was slouched, his footsteps light and precise, almost like he didn't want anybody to see or hear him. His head kept turning from side to side rapidly, occasionally looking behind him to what Jaden assumed to make sure nobody was following him. He was clearly very nervous about something and hadn't yet seen Jaden stood by the bench.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Jaden very carefully, walked in Goofy's direction, circling behind and around him so as not to alert him. She wanted to get him by surprise so he wouldn't run in the other direction. What was he up to?
When she was within arm's reach, Jaden lightly tapped Goofy on the shoulder. "Hi Goofy." She said as cheerfully as she could muster.
Goofy, caught off guard, jumped in surprise. He let out a small yelp as he turned around, though as soon as he realised it was only Jaden, he visibly relaxed, almost as if his anxiety had left his body. "OH! Hey there, Jaden! How you doin' today"? Goofy asked her, his voice sounding friendly, but his words were rushed and hurried, like Jaden had caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.
Jaden, not wanting to cause him anymore nerves, shrugged calmly. "I'm great, all things considered." She said nonchalantly.
"That's fantastic, say, I was just gonna do some cooking. Wanna join me?" Goofy requested, hastily changing the subject whilst his eyes darted back and forth.
Straightening herself up, Jaden swung her food basket lightly. "Sure, I'll help with cooking if you need it."
Goofy was pleased by this statement. "Okey-dokey. First we gotta gather the ingredients. We need fresh basil and oregano, they grow all over the plaza and the meadow. If you'll get some, I'll get the pots and pans together." Goofy suggested.
Jaden sighed. "Great. But first, I have to help Remy, so it'll take a bit of time." She told him.
Goofy nodded his head, looking almost relieved. "Take your time, Jaden. There's something I gotta take care of first anyway, just send me a text when you need me, ah-hyuck!"
And with that, he turned around and left her. Jaden didn't miss the jitteriness of his voice, he was definitely up to something. It was like sending her away was a distraction of some sort. Just as Jaden was about to turn around herself, she had to do a double-take. Out of the corner of her eye she was sure that she had caught a small trace of something on the back of Goofy's right glove. Was that blood she thought she just saw? She double checked and confirmed she was right. The red stuck out clearly against the bright white. Not wanting to be caught staring, Jaden turned around and started to walk away. Did Goofy manage to injure himself? Was that why he was trying to sneak away, because he was embarrassed he had hurt himself in such a silly way?
Jaden's gloomy, suspicious thoughts were interrupted when Mickey walked up to her, catching her by surprise.
"Gosh, it sure is great to have you in the village, Jaden!" The mouse said with Jaden raising a brow, wondering where this was going. "Things were pretty scary before you got here… and places are still a little scary. I tried to protect the valley by myself, but it wasn't very easy." Mickey said pitifully.
Jaden placed a hand on his shoulder. "This wasn't your fault." She reassured him, all thoughts of Goofy now erased from her mind.
Mickey looked grateful for her support. "Aw, I know. But it's sad seein' Night Thorns where there used to be flowers. If everybody's coming home, I want to give 'em a valley they can really be proud of! Say, the valley used to be full of singing birds. I wonder if we could get them to come back…I know, let's make a birdhouse! We'll need flowers and some wood." Mickey was already looking much better now that he had a goal to work towards.
At this rate I should kiss any free time goodbye. Jaden thought, but if it made Mickey happy, she supposed it was worth the hassle. "A birdhouse, huh? Alright, I'll see what I can do."
With her basket in hand, Jaden made her way back to Remy's house, promising Mickey that she'd get on the birdhouse when she had the time. Along the way she collected a few more fruit for the basket until it was close to over-filling.
She returned to Remy's house a short time after that, placing the basket on a table where Remy could easily examine it.
Remy turned to Jaden happily. "Thank you Jaden, we now have everything we need to open! Let's make it happen!" He said gleefully, rushing out of the house to make his way to the restaurant. Jaden followed close behind, jogging to catch up. They stopped on the front step outside, Remy panting heavily from his run. "Okay, we are opening the restaurant, I'm ready. Hold on, gotta go through my mental checklist one more time…" Remy was rushing his words, causing him to panic slightly. It reminded Jaden a little of Leo when he had some important meeting going on that he would need to partake in. "WAIT! Do we have salt? We can't open a restaurant without salt!" He exclaimed worriedly.
Jaden chuckled. "We have salt." She reassured him.
"You're sure?" The rat looked at Jaden as if to confirm this, who gave him a nod. Remy sighed in apparent relief. "Okay. Then I think we're good. Here we go! The Chez Rémy restaurant is now open!"
With that declared, the pair headed inside the grand cream building, Jaden opening the double doors for the both of them.
Remy's eyes were shining like disco balls. "Look, Jaden! Tables! Chairs! Food! We have opened a restaurant! I know I've done this before…but it's still really special. I can't wait to get my first customer!" The little chef was hyper with exhilaration, it was practically infectious.
"So does that mean we're done here for today then?" Jaden asked him, "because I've still got a lot of other stuff to do."
Remy nodded at her dismissal. "Oh yeah, go do what you have to do, Jaden. We can work together some other time."
Bidding her goodbyes, Jaden left the restaurant and was about to text Goofy to come and help him cook that meal she promised to, when she was suddenly reminded that she still needed to get back at him for scaring her on that bench. She may be two weeks late to the party, but Jaden was still a woman of her word. Now that she had the perfect opportunity, she decided that messing with his food the only way she knew how with potions would be the best prank to go with. She looked towards Merlin's house in the distance with an evil smirk. He was a wizard, he was bound to have potions of some kind in his study and if not, the books that was needed would tell her how to make them.
Just as she was conjuring up a plan in her mind on how to steal the potions, Jaden bumped into Merlin by the plaza. She could have laughed with glee at the impeccable timing. "Uh, hey, Merlin…you should totally check out Remy's new restaurant. We finally got it open." She told him, injecting as much enthusiasm into her voice that she could muster, hoping to distract him long enough in order for her to break into his house.
Thankfully for Jaden, Merlin took the bait. "Hmm, that sounds like a good idea, Jaden. You've been awfully busy today." He remarked.
"What can I say? All this hard work is a great distraction. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have so much work to do." She dismissed him easily, running off towards the meadow when she was sure he was turning towards the restaurant. Once she got to Merlin's house, she was quite surprised to find the door was unlocked. For a wizard with powerful magic, you'd think he would lock his door so that no one could come inside and steal any magical items he might have lying around, Jaden thought, smiling widely as she opened the door and headed upstairs. Oh, this was going to be easier than she thought.
