Meal Time [Open to Inmates inside Arkham]

[Deleted]

Arkham Asylum the penitentiary for the mentally insane and home to the worst villains in Gotham.  Ethan had heard of Arkham before from his friends on the boat as the home to some of the worst people in Gotham. He had asked for some of the names of the people inside the Asylum but the crew were terrified to even mention the names of villains. 

"Well this place does not look so scary compared to the amazonian jungle. I wonder how it looks on the inside." Ethan had just arrived at Arkham for his first day as a new cafeteria worker. He had spoken with its warden earlier a Mr. Jeremiah Arkham about the cafeteria position that had just opened after their last worker had "quit" at least that's what it said on the news paper article Ethan saw when he called about the position opening. 

Walking inside the Asylum he was greeted by the head lunch lady welcoming him to his new job. She gave Ethan his new uniform which consisted of a plain white undershirt, a white over shirt, an apron, and a pair of stripped pants. After changing into his new outfit Ethan followed the lunch lady into the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a big room filled with rows of tables on one side and the kitchen on the other. The walls were dark except for the red spots that randomly cover the walls. Ethan could guess that they were stained with either spaghetti sauce or blood...he hoped it was the first one. Going into the kitchen Ethan saw that either the health inspector was either way over do or they did not care at all. Oh well he was here to cook and thats what he was happy about. 

"Ok so what would you like me to do?" asked Ethan eagerly "Well your new here so we will start you on the serve line now head over there it's near lunch time and the inmates will soon be arriving" Said the lunch lady "Ok you got it will do my best" he responded as he headed out to the serving line. "Nice kid Arkham hired here....He won't survive the day with that attitude." 

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

As the kitchen staff make last minute preparations for the imminent arrival of hungry and often hostile mouths to feed, an orderly arrives carrying a bowl full of a rather elaborate looking salad. Seeing him, the head lunch lady gives a heavy sigh and asks, "What is it this time?"

"She said that something's 'off' about the dressing. And now she's demanding a new meal and an apology - she said she's refusing to eat until she gets one," he explains, sounding bored with the whole situation.

Looking to the ceiling for a moment as if wishing she were anywhere else, the head lunch lady looks back into the kitchens and calls out, "Mary, where are you?"

At her call, one of the other lunch ladies hurries over and, eying the returned salad, immediately mutters, "Not again..." Her expression turns annoyed as she asks, "What is it this time?"

"Something in the dressing, apparently," responds the head lunch lady, sounding equally annoyed.

"The dressing? I made it from scratch myself not an hour ago! Is there no pleasing this woman?"

"What kind of dressing is it?"

"I found a recipe for a vegan dressing - I tried it myself, and it's delicious!"

"What in it?"

"Oh, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickle relish, some spices..."

"Wait - mayonnaise? That's not vegan, is it?" interjects the orderly.

"What? I don't know - it was in the recipe..." Mary says with a shrug.

"Oh, I believe that there's vegan mayonnaise, but it's not regular mayonnaise," the head lunch lady comments, "I guess that's the problem."

"She can tell the difference between regular mayonnaise and vegan mayonnaise?"

"Apparently. And now the prima donna wants a new salad and an apology."

"What?!" Mary asks, appalled by that request, "I'll make the bitch a new salad, but I'm not going to apologize! This is an asylum, for pity's sake, not the Ritz - and it's not like a little mayonnaise would have killed her. It was just an honest mistake!"

"Mary, please - she's refusing to eat without an apology, and Arkham's already been bothering me about her - asking if we're feeding her properly. Don't make me have to tell him that its our fault that she's not eating now - you did make a mistake," replies the head lunch lady, sounding very sympathetic to Mary but hoping she can convince the woman to do it so that the problem will be solved.

"No, I refuse! Since when do we cater to every whim of a patient? If she wants to starve - let her! If we give her food and she doesn't want to eat it, that's her business!" Mary replies, now starting to get angry, "Besides, we're moments away from lunchtime and you need me here." And with that, she storms away to her regular place in the kitchen.

At that the head lunch lady's lips purse in frustration and thought, as convincing Mary is looking impossible so now she needs to find some other way of resolving this.

[Deleted]

Ethan waited for the first inmate to come his way so he could serve him the food they had prepared that day when the head lunch lady called over to him "Ethan come here a sec" "Sure thing" he responded "Ethan you have some expertise in the cooking field right?" she asked "Yeah I worked as the cook on a fishing vessel for a period of three months" said Ethan "what do you know about vegan cooking" the Lunch lady asked him "Well I know lots about it as one of the members of the fishing vessel was a vegan and I had to prepare his meals separate from the rest of the group" "Excellent, then I am going to put you in charge of preparing a salad for a special patient here in the asylum." "Ok you got it" was his response as he was lead to the kitchen to work on the patients meal. 

Ethan listened as the lunch ladies told him about the last salad they made and the dressing they made using mayonnaise. He let out a small chuckle when they mentioned the mayo though it was not so loud it could be heard. He was also told about the lunch lady who had made the previous salad and how she refused to apologize for the salad mistake so Ethan said he would personally go and apologize for the last salad which the lunch lady thought was a good idea. He was put to work on making the new salad for a Miss Poison Ivy the only vegan in the entire asylum. 

He searched through the walk-in cooler for the ingredients he needed to make a delicious vegan lunch. Ethan looked at the ingredients that were in the refrigerator and wondered what he could make with the limited choices he had then it hit him. He could make a simple herb vinaigrette  and combine it with a nice composed salad that's made from mesclun which is a mixture of different kinds of baby lettuce. 

"Ok let's begin shall we" he said to himself as he washed his hands with water and soap. After finishing he put on a pair of gloves and began to prepare the salad. He first put a plate in the refrigerator to keep it cold for service as it would not affect the taste of the veggies as a warm plate would. Ethan then washed all the vegetables he was going to use including the baby lettuce, the cherry tomatoes and the Boston lettuce. After carefully drying them he got out a knife and cutting board and began to cut the tomatoes into halves. He knew if he cut the lettuce it would turn bitter so he began tearing the Boston lettuce into a few big leaves and placed them on the board. Then grabbing the baby lettuce Ethan began laying them down inside the bigger leaves alternating in colors so the presentation will go of perfectly then topping it off with the cut tomatoes. 

After he finished the salad he began making the dressing. Using the freshest herbs he could find in the fridge and he created a nice vegan dressing and lightly placed it on top of the salad so it would have enough dressing but not too much that the salad was swimming in it. 

Taking the plate out of the fridge he placed the salad on it and placed the entire plate on a silver platter put a fork next to it and covered it with a lid. Ethan then proceeded to grab a cart and placed the meal on it and told the Lunch Lady he was going to take the salad to Miss Ivy. Before he left he asked where Miss Ivy's cell was and found out it was in the intensive treatment wing of the asylum. With that in mind Ethan headed towards the room cart in hand ready to give Ivy her meal.  

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

When the head lunch lady assigns some guy to make the salad that he's never seen before, the orderly waits for him to get started on it before discreetly gaining her attention again and asking, "Who is this guy?"

"Ethan. He's new - it's his first day," she explains, being quick about it because she too is going to have her hands full while serving lunch, "He has some experience, so I figure we give him a shot. Otherwise I'll have to wait until we're done serving lunch to do anything about it. And at least he's willing to apologize." Having said that, she goes back to her work.

The orderly, not fully satisfied with that, nevertheless finds a place to stand by the wall where he can keep out of everyone's way while he watches Ethan making the salad with an almost suspicious expression on his face. And when Ethan leaves the kitchen to deliver it, he follows and quickly catches up. "Hey, let me walk with you! I know my way around this place," he says, his tone friendly but with a firmness to it that suggest that his guidance is definitely not optional. Though there's bound to be plenty of opportunity for Ethan to be grateful for it because the asylum is quite large and can be a bit of a maze for those not used to it.

And it can also be a very creepy place to those not used to it. The mostly bare walls and the smooth, uncarpeted floors make every sound echo in all directions, which means that if one of the patients screams you can hear it echoing from some distance, even if they're not nearby. And given the sheer number and depth of insanity to be found here, the odds that someone is screaming at any given moment is quite high. Not to mention all the other sounds that can be heard - other staff members walking around and talking to each other, patients milling around in their cells, etc. To make things worse, though the hallways are well lit this time of day, the person who bought the florescent bulbs was clearly a cheapskate - they work, but buzz and flicker as if they might go out at any time. But the orderly is quite used to this, and is quite calm as he leads the way to Intensive Treatment.

But the man apparently feels the need to coach Ethan somewhat along the way, "Now, I've got to warn you - Poison Ivy is very particular about people. She hasn't killed anyone for a long while, but you don't want to upset her - be polite and all that, alright?"

Intensive Treatment isn't very close to the cafeteria. Which only makes sense because not only is it rare for a patient locked up in there to be allowed to mingle to the degree of letting them eat there, but if one of them escapes the last thing you want is for it to be easy for them to get to where all the knives are. Periodically there are security doors, which the orderly opens with a swipe of his card. And when they finally reach Intensive Treatment, they get to a small guard station where a lone guard is carefully watching an array of monitors.

"Hey, John - this is Ethan. New guy in the kitchens," the orderly says to him.

"Ethan, huh?" the guard says somewhat gruffly, "Alright, let me explain Intensive Treatment to ya real quick. This is where we keep the worst, and I mean worst scum in Gotham. Not in Blackgate - here. Remember that! Don't look at any of them funny, and talking to any of them is just asking for trouble. And follow the rules - most of the people who have died in here were breaking the rules, or because someone else did. Which are over here..." He indicates a big chart on the wall. At the top it lists in big, bold letters is a list of items not allowed at all in the wing: weapons, tools, chemicals, and other such objects that would obviously be hazardous if one of these patients especially got their hands on them. Beneath it there's a list of the patients currently in the wing, along with what they're allowed to have. Poison Ivy's is simply marked 'full privileges'. "Always check that list, 'cause the doctors change it all the time. And if you give the wrong thing to the wrong patient, something bad is bound to happen. We had some idiot accidentally give the Joker a spoon once..." he adds, shaking his head at that last part.

"A spoon... horrible way to go..." the orderly comments quietly, looking slightly pale.

"So take it seriously, alright? This is for Ivy, ain't it?" he asks, and when the orderly gives a confirming nod, he adds, "Ah, well, you're probably alright then. She's not killed anyone since that doctor, though they're still not sure how she did it. But worst case, she might yell at ya." He shrugs at that as it's no big deal compared to many of the other patients, and is apparently finished with his explanations.

[Deleted]

Looking at the list presented in front of him Ethan saw he could not carry any weapons into Intensive Treatment as he heard of stories of inmates killing doctors and patients alike. He had no choice but to leave his Throwing Knifes behind and hoping his speed was good enough to survive any attack coming his way. 

"I see" Ethan said "guess I will have to leave these here" he said as he placed two small hidden knifes he had up his sleeve on the table in front of him  "....Dr Arkham said I could carry two throwing knifes with me for protection in the Asylum but he did mention I would have to follow the rules when it came to the more dangerous patients." 

Though Ethan hated to be separated from his knifes he knew he had to follow the rules if he wanted to survive this experience. After confirming he had no more weapons with him Ethan was escorted with the salad until he and the orderly reached a Door marked Poison Ivy. "I guess this is it then hope she likes the apology. Here goes nothing" he said as the orderly as the guard opened the door to Ivys holding cell. 

"Hi there. " Ethan said with a happy tone hoping to not sound threatened as he walked into the room holding the platter with the salad on it "I heard you sent back your meal because it was not vegan. I would like to apologize for that mistake. It was my fault the last salad contained mayonnaise. The lunch lady told me to make a salad with dressing and I did. It was not until the salad was sent back that they realized they forgot to say to make it vegan." Ethan placed the platter in the table in front of Pam and removed the lid "Please accept my sincere apologies and know that I prepared you a new salad. This salad is 100% vegan right down to the dressing. Bon Appetit" he said as he walked away with lid in hand ready to use it as a shield should the occasion arise. 

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

"Well, you don't wanna bring anything like that in this wing - we've had patients escape using less," the guard says seriously, "You can pick them up here when you're done." And with that business taken care of, the guard opens the door to the wing and leads them to Poison Ivy's room.

The rooms here are fairly large but sparsely furnished - the size is to allow space to move in as it's not unusual for patients in this wing to not be allowed to exercise elsewhere, while the sparseness is because many of the patients would happily use anything you give them as a tool to escape with or hurt someone. Poison Ivy's cell, on the other hand, has behaved herself well enough for long enough that she's allowed all the comforts they allow anyone - blankets for her bed, a chair for her table that's not bolted to the floor, books and other small items to pass the time with - it's about as luxurious as the place gets.

When he enters, Poison Ivy is lounging on her bed. And the most likely first impression is that she does not look... well. When she was brought in she simply looked unusually pale, but now there's no question - the tone of her skin could only be described as gray. And her hair has gotten dull, as has her eyes much of the time. When she's taken to the rec room she appears to be as lively as ever, but in the solitude of her room she doesn't have the energy to pretend that she feels good.

At first she'd kept up the act during her sessions with Dr. Arkham, but eventually that just didn't seem like it was worth it anymore so she stopped pretending there. Of course he'd asked her about it, but she'd insisted that she was not sick and refused to allow herself to be looked at by a doctor - though she strongly suspects that at least one of the people she saw lurking outside of her room, pretending not to watch her, was a doctor sent to try to covertly determine what's been ailing her by observation. Especially since it was after that when the quality of her food improved - she's always insisted on vegan meals, but suddenly it appeared that they were actually trying to give her proper nutrition. Perhaps they've guessed that her weakness and dulled mind is due to a nutritional deficiency? If so they're not far off the mark - she knows exactly what's wrong with her but isn't about to tell anyone. Right now, she doesn't want to feel good.

She watches the man entering her room, her eyes following him as he offers his apology and places the new salad on her table. She doesn't move at first, but eventually she gets up and sits down. Wordlessly, she picks up the fork, stabs it into the salad to pick up a few bits of it. Lifting it up, she eyes what's on her fork with a frown before she takes a bite. If he was hoping for any compliments on his work, he's bound to be disappointed - she chews the mouthful with a somewhat miserable expression on her face. But after she swallows, she comments, "That first salad wasn't yours - it was made by the same idiot who's always made it," she says, sounding somewhat disgusted - though, fortunately, the disgust seems to be directed at the other cook and not him.

That had been the final straw, really - that first salad had been a travesty. Here they are, worrying so much about what she's eating, and they still messed up on making it vegan? The incompetence! So, naturally, she did something that she knew would result in giving her what she needed to fix it - she couldn't be sure what the exact results would be or how long it would take, but any way it went she'd end up with an apology and food she can actually eat. What to do then is something she figured she could play by ear, but she's good at that.

"This one, on the other hand, was made by someone who actually cares if it tastes good," she continues, before taking another bite. Still, in spite of the apparent compliment she doesn't seem to be particularly enjoying it. Which she confirms when she swallows that mouthful and says, "It doesn't, but it's not your fault; you can only work with ingredients you have." She lightly sighs then, poking at the salad with her fork again to get another mouthful. No, she's not eating it because she likes it but because it's edible, it's good for her, and she knows that she's not going to be able to get anything better.

[Deleted]

"It's true" Ethan said "the ingredients here are not as fresh as I would like them to be and so my food is not up to my standards." he cared about the quality of his ingredients and hated serving people food that was not up to par. Ethan cared a lot about the food he cooked and prepared so hearing Ivy did not like it made him feel sad on the inside and he knew he had to step up his game if he wanted to serve a better meal. 

"Miss from what I heard about you, it seems you know an a lot about plants and the such right?" he asked politely "how would you like it if I asked Dr. Arkham for a small amount of space in the Gardens so I can grow and cultivate organic produce for you to eat and enjoy? That way you can always get the freshest ingredients while the rest of the inmates get their slop" Ethan added hoping to make her feel more important than the rest of the Asylum.  

Ethan always had a liking for gardening and hoped Ivy would agree to having her own personal Organic produce grown right in the Asylum so she may have the freshest vegetables and ingredients at her disposal.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Poison Ivy doesn't really react as the man agrees with her. It is, after all, simply a fact to be stated. But though she believes him when he says that it's not up to his standard, she doesn't really believe that he cares whether or not she likes it. His professional pride would of course make him want to produce a superior product and even this salad, though better than the first, it clearly could be better. But no, he'd be doing it purely to please himself, not her. Still, she supposes that she ought to be grateful that at least that means that the food improves.

His question, though, causes her to pause and give him an annoyed look. "To put it mildly," she says, almost offended. To ask her if she knows a lot about plants is like asking the Pope if he knows a lot about Catholicism - it's a ridiculous question by its very nature! The follow-up question, on the other hand, is much better received. "I suppose that would help," she allows, though by the sound of it she doubts that it would help enough to satisfy her. She's accustomed to eating food she grew herself, after all, and nobody can compete with her own gardening abilities.

But lest he be discouraged by her attitude, after eating another bite she comments, "You may tell the kitchens that I want you to personally prepare my meals from now on." Because, in spite of the bad review, she's quite happy to accept whatever meager improvement she can get to her meals, even though she still refuses to tell them what needs to be done to make her feel better.

[Deleted]

"Sorry my bad" Ethan responded when he realized the stupidity of his question "do you have any tips on what I can do to make the vegetables grow just the way you would like them to taste? Or If its allowed maybe you would like to come and personally show me how you would like me to grow the vegetables." he added hoping she would accept his offer and help him gain a new skill even though it may come from one of Gotham's most dangerous and beautiful criminal. 

"Thank you Miss Ivy you will not be disappointed." Ethan responded when Pamela told him he would be her personal cook.  As new ideas came to mind on new and and creative ways to prepare vegan dishes, he knew this would be a much more of a challenge than when he worked on the fishing boat.  Ethan knew that while organic produce tasted better and were healthier, he also knew they would lack in color, and in size meaning he would need to work harder to make a better looking dish than if he had used regular veggies. 

While waiting patiently for Poison Ivy to finish her meal Ethan thought of a new dish he could make for her and maybe even a dessert.  He loved to come up with new recipes and new ways on how to improve on an already made dish. 

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

The apology gets a slight eyeroll - if he was really concerned about her feelings, he would think about what he's saying before he opens his mouth and therefore wouldn't annoy her by saying quite so many stupid things. Or maybe he really is trying and is just that slow. It wouldn't surprise her - he's a man after all.

Which is only a part of the reason why his request for tips in answered with a simple, "No." He hardly has the ability to gain the sort of bond that she has with plants - that can't be taught. And she can't really explain how she does what she does, so she's not about to try teaching it to anyone. Though when he goes on to suggest that maybe she can help him directly, she looks almost amused as she comments, "What I'm allowed and not allowed to do is up to Dr. Arkham. You'll have to take that up with him."

It always amuses her whenever the asylum grants her a privilege that she know they really shouldn't. Letting her anywhere near a garden is one of them, but they have no way to know that. That's the advantage of behaving herself: as long as she doesn't show her hand, nobody knows just how easily she could defeat them all if she wanted.