Vrenille just smiles at the hero comment, giving Zhao's knee a companionable nudge back with his own. "Gotta stick together in this place, have each others's backs." It's a simple gloss on a fundamental cornerstone of his life, his background, his historic means of survival--something an old friend here once called unit cohesion on a mass scale. The reasons for it are particular, but the premise is a generalisable one. And while he'll happily accept a cooked meal, it's not really necessary for the exchange. What matters more is that something happens when people break bread together--it changes things.

In counterpoint, being handled is one of those things about this place that tends to stick in the craw for a lot of people. He wouldn't blame Zhao for balking at it much more directly, but then the pragmatism of taking it in stride tells him a fair bit about the man sitting across from him. Vrenille makes it a point not to judge anyone for anything when they first arrive here--it would be pretty small and mean to judge a person on what's probably the worst and most shocking day of their life. Sometimes people do impress him though.

So Zhao asks about anyone looking for a chef and Vrenille's smile broadens to a grin as he spells out where his thoughts have been heading all along. "Just so happens I do. That's what I wanna hire you for."