Gingerbread Man lives in a Gingerbread House

[Michelle]

It took a few minutes of preparation, and she hadn’t even touched the food yet. She walked into the kitchen, picking the bench closest to the cooking supplies. She was careful not to drop her bag onto the floor of table just yet though…
Reaching around in her bag, Carly pulled out a bacteria-killing air freshener and sprayed it around the bench. She wiped down the surface of the table and cleaned the sink with a few hand wipes and some cleaning products. She then cleaned her hands under the tap for five minutes, then used some of her hand sanitizer before pulling on some gloves and getting to work.

She gave the bench one more quick inspection before deeming it safe enough to put her bag down on it, and then took out her recipe book, looking around the pages for some Christmas recipes. Christmas was only around the corner, and she wanted to make something worth eating…
Mince pies…roasted turkeys…chocolate puddings…
Her eyes met a recipe too exciting to not use…

Gingerbread house.

• 3/4 cup (190g) butter
  
• 140g brown sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
  
• 1 medium lemon, juiced (30ml)
  
• 1/2 cup (155g) golden syrup or molasses
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 3 cups (375g) plain flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  
• 2 teaspoons ground allspice

Icing:

• 6 egg whites
  
• 4 boxes (total 2kg) icing sugar, sifted

She skim read the ingredients, making changes here and there…4 cups of flour would get the consistency she wanted, not 3…1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon self raising flour would do the trick, and it wouldn’t taste like bicarbs at all…
Carly was so caught up, she didn’t see that someone else had entered the kitchen…

[Velareksil]

Jaingyn yawned as he walked through the doors of the kitchen casually. His bangs were a mess, and he was brushing them out with one hand and keeping them out of his eyes with the other. His shirt was a bit off center, and he was walking around barefooted. The day had yet to start, class had yet to start. And yet as he entered his sanctuary, or better put, fire pit, he found another there. He quickly brushed his bangs back, deciding he'd work them out the next time he had nothing better to do. He stared at the girl, watched her, something was familiar, nostalgic, and so he grew excited. He began to move quickly toward the girl in hopes of surprising her, as she was obviously oblivious to his presence. Just as he was about to attack like a bear, it's pray, he ran over a chair and was sent tumbling to the ground along with it. Having completely given up hope on the secretive approach he gave a happy laugh before speaking a single word that was, "hey."

[Michelle]

Hearing a crash, she jerked and turned around, her curls bouncing them around her face, but she brushed them away carefully with her forearms. It took her a while to notice the laughing stranger on the ground and the fallen chair.
“Hey,” the unknown man greeted her.
He had a very messy appearance, and that scared her slightly, making a mental note to have another long shower after school was done and she was back in her dorm. The man was tall enough to be a senior, so that was who Carly thought he was.
“Hey,” she said back quietly, repeating the same word. “You okay?”
She couldn’t care less if he was alright, and there was no way in hell that she was going to offer a hand up, but she felt like striking up conversation.

[Velareksil]

Jaingyn continued to laugh his light laugh, not even knowing what it was that hit him, or that he had hit, barely even aware that he had clashed with something. And so he was completely oblivious to the hard fact that he was on the ground, looking like a complete fool, due to this, he made no motion to get up; what he did do, though, was push his long bangs out of his eyes once more, as they had escaped from their place behind his ears in the fall. He smiled up at the girl, maybe he was insane, maybe not. The girl reminded him of somebody, somebody, but who it was, he knew not, just a face. He let out another chuckle at the question. "Yeah, fine, don't know why I wouldn't be," he said in a complete daze, "it's been awhile, hasn't it? And yet, as it would appear, you age backwards. Remind me again, your name?" he continued with a silly smile still on his face, "and while you're at it, what you're doing in this place?"

[Michelle]

“I’m Carly,” she introduced herself, dumbfounded in a sort of perplexed way...”Carly Germanotta…”
She shuddered. There was that horrid word again! Germ! If it wasn’t her mother’s last name, she would’ve changed it…
It appeared that she was meant to know this person, and yet, his face was so unfamiliar, so unknown…from her old schools? Elementary? Middle School? Maybe her transferred from her last school…She still couldn’t remember who this guy was...it was a face without a name…
“I’m making a gingerbread house,” Carly said, still confused. It was a kitchen, wasn’t it?
“I don’t really remember you...” she spoke in a cold tone.

[Velareksil]

Jaingyn let out a soft, toneless hum, it rumbled through his throat and made it's escape through his nose, his lips were shut tightly together. His smile had vanished, and his pastel blue eyes lost their excitement, becoming what could be considered as nothing more or less than thoughtful, no, that's not it, it was prettier, definitely prettier, but the last name rings a bell, maybe..., a thought struck him. The girl had forgotten who he was, a strange man like him, she had forgotten, it was rare for a person to forget a slightly different encounter, but it didn't strike him as entirely odd, as he thought himself completely normal.

The name was definitely different, though, maybe she'd struck tragedy over gold, changed her name to live a different life, and had left all else behind. The theory became an automatic truth, as he could think of no other reason, "why'd you change your name? Did you change your name? Why?" he whined, "and, and, you don't have to pretend you don't know me, that's mean. Unless you forgot, but, that'd also be mean," he continued to ramble onwards, but it died down as his words came more slowly and became less and less audible. Another thing spoken had finally been comprehended by his brain and he became excited once more.

"A gingerbread house?" he asked, delight once more filling his expression as he recalled the time of year. The weather of the area always put him under the impression that it was summertime, and not yet having to teach class only reinforced this illusion. Suddenly he realized he was on the ground looking up, and sprang to his feet quickly. A gingerbread house! He thought with even more delight then the last; although he'd made many things in his lifetime, never had he made a miniature household for miniature people at a festive time of year. He pondered this for a moment, before thinking aloud, "gingerbread, huh? Brown sugar, or cinnamon, or," he made questioning look, "ginger, really? In bread? Bread? Ginger?"

He was stunned by the very thought of the combination. Bread delighted him, the very thought of ginger terrified him, as he disliked it greatly. Being the fool he was, he had, once upon a time, bitten down on a ginger root under the impression it'd be similar to a potato. His only logic had been that they were both roots, and they both could be bought as either a powder or a full root. Additionally, when he asked his parents, they had told him to bite it and see for himself if they were, indeed, similar. But oh how he had been wrong, it had brought tears of laughter to his parent's eyes when they saw the expression he had made at it. As he recalled this, he let out a sigh, he never even thought to use the spice afterwards.

[Michelle]

“Uh…my name was Carly Ger-Germanotta-Port ten-ish years back, if that helps…”
Did this guy meet her all the way back when she was six? No, he couldn’t have…right? Right…he said something about “aging backwards”…how could she have aged backwards from six to sixteen?
“I changed it because, um…” she began, not exactly sure she wanted to share such information with a stranger who claimed to know her. “…Family complications.”
Carly turned back to her work as she listened to the stranger’s random tangents, slowly losing interest as the man’s voice got quieter. By then, she had all the ingredients calculated out carefully, washing every item that could be washed several times before using it. Carly was about to reassure the man for the second time that she didn’t know him, but he already started to change the topic…
"A gingerbread house?"

Carly nodded silently, not bothering to look at the stranger as she finished washing a large mixing bowl. She wiped the bench down again before putting the butter and sugar in the bowl.
"Gingerbread, huh? Brown sugar, or cinnamon, or, ginger, really? In bread? Bread? Ginger?"
“Don’t do much cooking, do you?” she asked him with a smirk, eyes still glued to her work. “Or don’t eat much food…”
Carly sighed as she put a wooden spoon under the tap for what was the beginning of a five minute wash.
“Well, you use a little ginger in it, but it’s not exactly bread…it’s more…biscuit-like…or pastry-like…you’ll probably want a taste, once I’m done with this…”
She began to stir the butter and brown sugar together as she talked.

[Velareksil]

Jaingyn fiddled with his bangs, he was confused, he had just been put under the impression that he had been right for once, which was new to him, very new to him. He hesitated for a moment, but the name wouldn't come to him. He sighed, utterly lost, "what was it before? It was so pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty," he rambled onward. The gaps between the repeated adjective grew longer, again his voice trailed, and he gave up.
And then his eyes sparkled with amusement, "but since I have to call you by a different name, I demand you call me Jai," he said with a smile, his voice mimicking one used in a horrible horror movie, as if it were the worst deal he could possibly think it, which it was.

As the question she had asked, regarding his one true skill and only reason for even being where he was, finally hit him as it should have long ago, he doubled over in laughter. "If you have to ask me that, I made a mistake, probably," he spoke through giggles, tears gathering in his eyes as he continued, "in that case, sorry I guessed at something I shouldn't have. I didn't introduce myself, properly, then, either," he continued, wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand, "a lot of kids here, probably, I shouldn't have asked, then. But then, in that case, since you're in here, maybe one of my future students?"

Jaingyn paused for a moment, he had forgotten something. Then it struck him, "oh right, introductions," he made his way around the counter top and faced the girl with the familiar mask, putting his left elbow on the table and his head upon the hand, "Jaingyn Iecince Miange. First profession, cooking," he said, raising his pointer finger from his right fist, and then raising the mid, "second profession, making bonfires," he looked at his hand for a moment, raised his head, and gave a brilliant smile next to the peace sign that he had subconsciously made. "Peace," he said energetically, frolicking about, spinning, tripping, falling, laughing, "may I see the recipe?" he grinned.

((Crap, did I just scare this girl out of taking his class, I wonder.))

[Michelle]

Carly washed a lemon and a grater in the sink silently as she listened to the stranger now known as “Jai”. Her face showed very little expression; hints of happiness showed as she smirked every now and then, and she would occasionally raise her eyebrow anytime Jai did something she deemed odd or slightly quirky, but she still didn’t speak until Jai finished introducing himself.
“Oh, you’re a teacher…thought you were a senior…nice to meet you, Mr. Miange,” she said as she grated a small amount of lemon zest into the bowl. “I don’t think it very appropriate to call a teacher by their first name,” she continued, speaking coldly once more. “Very unprofessional,” she criticized, speaking more quietly.
Carly quickly moved over to get another disinfectant wipe from her bag as soon as she had noticed her cooking teacher place his elbow on the counter, and she carefully wiped the surface down and disposed of it as if it was some putrid material before washing her hands and replacing her gloves.

“I’m probably am one of your students, that’s if you’re the only cooking teacher,” Carly said, but she was half hoping he wasn’t, his lame joke about making bonfires made her feel uneasy, and so did his grubby look. She returned his peace sign with a sneer, glad that he didn’t offer her his hand to shake.
“Peace,” she mimicked in a very dull, almost mocking way.
Carly cut the lemon in half, squeezing the juice out over the mixing bowl. When she was happy with the amount, she began to stir the mixture again as she decided on whether to let the messy-looking teacher look at her recipe book…
“You can look at the recipe, but don’t touch the page. Look but don’t touch. At least wear gloves if you want to touch the pages.”

[Velareksil]

Jaingyn winced at the name, disappointed, he gave a pathetic whimper, tears in his eyes, "so cold," he whined, his eyes glistening, "call me Jai, or, not my last name, because that's mean. Call me Jim, if you have to, it's not my first name either so there," he said, a pout still on his childish face, "nobody calls me Miange, it's icky," he spat the last word and crossed his arms like a child in rebellion.
He stared at the girl, her cleanliness scared him, he always walked around things that scared him, and so he immediately forgot about it. He would attack her one day, a sneak attack, scare the living daylights out of her, that he would, definitely, or would he. He hesitated yet again, wondering, and then deciding to leave it to the day that he had another chance to, and no obstacles to stop him.

Once he had finished his thought process he went along yet again, "why no touchy?" he whined, putting his arms behind his back, grasping opposing elbows and leaning over to look. He stared at the recipe for a moment before repeating the same toneless hum, it said nothing to him. He sighed, forgetting that he wanted an answer, "yes, I do believe I am the only cooking teacher on this campus, and I know for a fact that I'm the only one that they're still iffy about letting touch fire," he raised an eyebrow at the thought, his eyes looking at nothing in particular, "now why ever would they even reconsider that, I wonder," his speech was broken and thoughtful for a moment, but he quickly dropped the tone, as his mind trailed elsewhere. He whimpered at the girl's lack of optimism in response to his own, watched her grate lemon, raised an eyebrow at the lemon. "Lemon, ginger...eh?" he gave another pathetic whimper, "but ginger is icky, too. And, and, and, are you making people for your house, or a house for actual people or, or, or?" and then suddenly he was excited once more, his eyes flaring with optimism.

[Michelle]

“Jim’s like a nickname though, very much like a first name, you’re a teacher.” Carly bluntly said, rolling her eyes at her teacher’s immaturity. “Too informal, Mr. Miange.”
She put golden syrup into the half-made dough and continued to mix, still not bothering to look up at her teacher. Carly cracked two eggs into a separate, smaller bowl and began to whisk them until the yolks mixed with whites, as Jai asked about her “look but don’t touch” policy.
“Because of the…” She said, lowering her voice before resuming her speech. “…the germs on your hands. I can’t clean paper pages, and the germs will get on my hands.”
She put the whisked eggs into the mixing bowl, and continued to swirl the wooden spoon once again.
“I like to keep things clean,” Carly articulated defensively, sensing he’d make a comment. “That’s all.”

She stopped stirring her mix in the bowl, popping it down on the counter silently as Jai jabbered on with more lame jokes about fire. Carly rolled her eyes once again.
“Your jokes aren’t very good, Ja- Mr. Miange,” Carly corrected herself quickly. “You know, you’re only making yourself sound like a pretty shit teacher.”
She shrugged to herself, and got yet another bowl to sift the flour and spices in. However, before she put it to use, she followed her usual routine of washing the sieve and bowl with soap for a few good, long minutes as she listened to Jai with little interest as he questioned her cooking, each question sounding more stupid than the last to her.
"Lemon, ginger...eh?” She ignored her teacher as he whimpered like a freezing puppy in the snow. “But ginger is icky, too. And, and, and, are you making people for your house, or a house for actual people or, or, or?"

Carly let out a rude scoff and a snicker when Jai asked the latter questions. Did he really think she had enough dough for that? What was he thinking?
“Is it bad that I can’t believe you’re a teacher?” she asked frankly, as she sifted the plain flour into the bowl. “It’s only a little ginger, you’re not meant to put ginger in a recipe in bulk obviously, and the stuff tastes crap on its own…you’ll barely taste the lemon with all the bloody sugar.”
She couldn’t believe the amount of knowledge her teacher had about cooking. How did he end up teaching here, of all places? She began to sift the spices, self raising flour and bicarbonate soda together into the bowl as well.
“I’m making a miniature house. It’s not going to be life-sized, no…” Carly shook her head as she watched the flour and spices gather in the bowl. “Gingerbread houses tend to be used for decoration purposes, and they’re usually eaten after Christmas mornings…”

[Velareksil]

"Then call me Mr.Jim," he continued in a pathetic whine, "nobody calls me by my last name, no, no, only evil people call me by my last name. And, if it bothers you that much you should just laminate them so that if people do touch then you can clean. Or you could burn them, or scan them or take pictures," he danced around as he named the few possibilities his mind could come up with. He completely deflated as he realized the girl had questioned his profession, giving another pathetic whine, tears coming to his eyes as he whimpered. "B-But I wasn't joking," he paused, "I don't even know what you're referring to as a joke. And, and, teaching, being a teacher, it's fun, and, and, I like it, and, even if I'm no good, they kept me here, which is good, so if I'm no good but they kept me here that means that they want me, which is different from the first opinion," he regained his usual hyper activeness and began to frolic about in his usual clumsy manner, rambling onwards in his happiness and delight before stopping abruptly, skidding, tripping, falling yet again, and then asking "sugar? So it's..." he thought for a moment, "oh right, a cookie, so sugar. Hm, but a miniature house for decoration, wouldn't it be brilliant to live in a sugary house?" he laughed, happily, thinking to himself that maybe he'd make one one day.

[Michelle]

Carly sighed as she tipped the sifted flour into the mixing bowl. She stirred the mixture as she talked once again.
“Fine, if you insist, I’ll call you Jai. Happy?” she said, rolling her eyes at her teacher’s whine. “I can’t burn them, what good will that do? And if I laminate them, then I can’t edit them. Scanning recipes is a waste of paper. “
A slight smirk twitched her lips as Jai danced around the kitchen, but the smile quickly vanished, and Carly once again resumed her serious expression.
“I never thought I’d say this to a teacher,” she said very coldly as soon as she heard Jai whimper for the second time, emptying the finished dough out of the bowl and onto the counter. “But grow a pair! Jesus, you act like a sissy.”
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to take cooking anymore, but it was already too late to change her subjects, being so far into the year…Carly sighed again. It didn’t matter if the teacher sucked, she still liked cooking.
“You don’t have much experience to be a cooking teacher,” she criticized, kneading the dough as she spoke. “What’s your favourite thing to cook?”

Carly had finished kneading the dough, and began to wrap it tightly in plastic cling wrap (after washing her hands for the millionth time). She laughed at Jai’s idea for a gingerbread house.
“You’ve never heard of Hansel and Gretel, have you?”

[Velareksil]

"Happy indeed," Jaingyn said with a delighted grin as his eyes locked on a window and a clear sky. Suddenly he had the ridiculous impulse to fire a Fanta bottle, yellow fins and neon orange duct tape into the sky despite the fact that he was clearly in the middle of a one on one conversation with another. He laughed at himself before getting back on track after missing a little bit of chatter, he turned back, staring at his to-be student with unblinking pastel blue eyes and listening intently so as to make up for the momentary space. Once again his happiness deflated and rebuilt itself just as quickly, "act?" he asked with a grin, "I'm a horrible actor," he continued with a vigorous spin across the kitchen floor. He stopped at the question, thinking to himself for a moment and letting the toneless hum escape his vocals, his eyes wondering upward in thought. After a moment passed, he shrugged it off as a question nobody could answer before his eyes lightened yet again and he grinned, "is it a good story?"

[Michelle]

She had realized Jai wasn’t listening to her when he answered her while he flounced and danced about. Carly’s lips twitched a brief smile as she watched him spin around the kitchen energetically, but her face quickly resumed her look of seriousness.
“You wouldn’t know if there’s a blast freezer in here, would you?”
Of course he would, she told herself. But Carly shook her head to herself at the same time. He didn’t seem like the type of know his way around the kitchen, despite being the teacher. She sighed, and once again she washed her hands.
“Well, the story’s a bit long to tell…and I don’t remember a lot of it, but I know the witch lived in a gingerbread house. If you built one, I don’t think children with come to close.” Carly smirked at her pessimistic ways. “So, what do you like to cook?” she asked again, this time rephrasing her question.