awoooo!

The redhead sat patiently as she waited for Freddie’s reasoning on being late. It had to be at least somewhat interesting. And she wasn’t too off, he took the “scenic route” which she had learned recently to be the supers part of the woods. Not that she had visited that particular chunk of the island beyond that one bonfire night but now she was just derailing off thought. Freddie had already started responding to her second question and she was still stuck on the woods. Ahhh whoops.

Freddie listened with a sleepy smile, nodding periodically. Man, like, he’d totally never seen that dude before... or any mailperson, really - not like he kept the same hours as them. Mailmen still bought pizza though, right? He’d keep an eye out for this newb at Moonpies. Covering his mouth with one paw, he yawned, and smacked his lips pensively before remarking, “Spanish? Man, I freakin’ sucked at languages at school. Like, y’know, growin’ up surrounded by French, y’think it’d give me some kinda grip but... nah, dude, I’m barely on English. Heh.”

((frm crustbuster)) "I'm sorry! I really should watch where I'm walking..."

Bradson nodded sagely. “I can see that. Dogs like to be outside and get wet. Cats are much cleaner.” Not that he had anything against dogs, of course. They’re just not as good at self-grooming. 

Get wet? Hah! Not a chance, dude. Freddie was, like, at least 90% certain that any normal werewolf would prefer to be indoors, especially with all the crazy Mamono rain. Sure, there were always a coupl’a kinda weird dudes who were all about being “primal” or whatever, but the ones that he’d hung out with just wanted to kick back with some chips and a movie, right? Shrugging and grinning, all the wolf said aloud was, “I’ll take your word for it, dude. Never been a pet kinda guy, y’know?” Ruffling his hair thoughtfully, he added, “Dunno if I could handle takin’ care of me and another thing. Heh.”

Jack rapped his fingers on the counter for the few awkward seconds as Freddie stared of into… whatever the hell was over there, something more interesting for sure. “I haven’t checked recently, but the exchange rate has to be great, y’know?” he offered with a laugh from his nose. 

“Dude, like, when I moved here I was totally surprised that there weren’t more people here, y’know? Like, this place has everything! Freakin’ awesome, man.” He grinned, shaking his head, and swept a handful of crumbs off of the countertop and onto the floor. Man, people on the island didn’t know how good they had it. No fun bein’ a super in a human community.

((frm crustbuster)) "I'm sorry! I really should watch where I'm walking..."

Bradson stared blankly for a few moments, trying to remember what he had been doing. He’d left his apartment for something, and he’d been looking at… Ah! Cat stuff! 

“Oh, cat, huh?” Well, now he mentioned it, Freddie could totally smell the moggy on him. Like, all up and feline smellin’, with kinda... mossy-woolly undertones, like sniffin’ a wet sheep or something. Hm. Whatever. Like, wasn’t like he was exactly smelling great all the damn day, right? Dude could smell like whatever he wanted. “They’re like, a real island favourite, y’know? Good for, uh... the weather, I guess.” He grinned and nodded. Genius.

Benji nodded rapidly to the news of his very slow fourth meal. Whatever, man. At least it was alive! Or, partially. Maybe it was like a Frankenstein pizza in this transient state! “Hey, man, you ever think about what’d it’d be like if pizzas could talk? If you haven’t, I’m sorry for totally ruining your job forever. And pizza too! I think about that sometimes but with, like, lots of foods. Y'think I’m a bad person if I can keep eating after thinking like that?” He posed the question with doleful eyes, fully preparing to consider the word of this person he met about fifteen minutes ago as law. Maybe he was! It’s not like the food really did talk, but he’d made up its whole personality and life story and then! Ate it alive! Ah, shit, he was totally a bad person. “Nevermind. I don’t wanna think about it anymore. Change of subject, kinda! What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate on a pizza?” This query was brighter, accompanied by a smile and an obnoxiously loud slurp of his soda. Jeez, he was already half out… Hopefully all that sugar would go straight to his essay brain and not to shifting and running about on all tiny, fluffy fours.

Grinning and shifting from foot to foot, Freddie reached up and tweaked a loose curl awkwardly. Dude was such a vegetarian that he’d like, completely up and forgotten that most folks eat meat. Damn, like, if he all up an’ found out about werewolves... shit, dude. The relief he felt when the topic changed was almost palpable - or, uh, that might be his deodorant startin’ to wear off after a long ol’ shift. Grody. He huffed a laugh, shaking his head slowly, and shambled across his little pen to pick up several orders, squinting at the labels as he thought. “Awh, shit, dude, can’t fault a guy for gettin’ hungry, right?” Slinging out a couple of orders and zipping another pizza into a thermal bag for the delivery guy - uh, wolf - to take, he scratched his head absently with a pen, thinking for a sec. “This one time, my buds ‘n’ I like, totally decided we were gonna invent dessert pizza. Like, hands down, no shitting, we thought we were like the dudes who discovered it. So’s we get the pizza, ‘n’ like, we’d run out to the 7-Eleven or whatever, ‘n’ we bought like... shit, man, like gummy worms, and those lil fizzy guys, ‘n’ all that jello shit, right? And we brought it all home and we were like slappin’ it on the base, like all up and Guy Fieri in that bitch, y’know, ‘n’ then we cooked it and we were all eating and like... man, it was so gross, and none of us could work out why... Like, it sounded like such a good idea, but it was so bad... Anyways, wasn’t til th’next morning that I was throwin’ out the trash and I realised we’d totally put all this candy shit on, like, some nasty ol’ ranch BBQ pizza shit. All up ‘n’ thought it was a plain base, y’know, ‘n’ there we were chowin’ down on like... gummy bears and BBQ sauce, and fuckin’... mozzarella, man. Damn.” His nostrils flared in recalled disgust, and he pulled a face before sliding over to the now-flashing computer, jotting down an illegible order before glancing up at Benjster - “What about you, dude? Or, like, I dunno. What’s your weirdest salad?”

((frm crustbuster)) "I'm sorry! I really should watch where I'm walking..."

“That’s exactly what you’re picking up.” Bradson’s voice was serious, drooping eyebrows suddenly intense. “I play electric and acoustic guitar, and some other stuff. You and me, we’ve got to jam sometime.” 

Freddie blinked, processing the sudden change in tone, before breaking into a crooked grin. “Dude, totally! Like, just hit me up or something - I’m either at Moonpies or, y’know, my place.” Man! He’d come out to get some chips and now he was all up and makin’ friends right here on the street! Freakin’ Mamono, man! 

Send me ☟ for my muse to turn back into their younger self, with only the memories that lead up to that age.

Here’s some more because I obviously love emojis and text memes:

((frm crustbuster)) "I'm sorry! I really should watch where I'm walking..."

“You do music too?” Bradson could hardly believe he’d lived on the island for weeks without knowing Freddie even existed. For the first time in a while, he felt himself getting properly excited. “Freddie, man, are you for real? What do you play?” Maybe he still had that spare amp packed up somewhere… 

With a chuckle, Freddie nodded, “Dude, yeah! Like, used to play the bass way back - uh, like, the... electric bass, not, y’know, double bass. Totally tried to get into jazz but, like, not my jam, y’know? I started on electric guitar but kinda, uh, swapped it out.” He grinned, nodded again, and paused. Wait - dude all up and said ‘too’, right? That, like, meant he did that kinda stuff? “Man, you’re into music? Is that what I’m pickin’ up?”

“I’m too cheap for Amazon Primed,” a stupid grin crossed his face, “Anything that’s more than 5 bucks a month is too much. Especially since I automatically have to forgo same day shipping” Jack made a mental note to check out his monthly bar tab, probably more than 5 bucks a month.

Freddie snorted, shaking his head gently in mirth. “Aw, man, like, I’m already gettin’ in the island mindset, y’know? Like, shit was mad expensive back home ‘n’ I had to, y’know, live with my folks ‘n’ shit but here - dude, I’ve got my own townhouse! Don’t even work a second job or anythin’. I guess, like, you all up and forget that shit’s still crazy priced back in the real world, y’know?”

((frm crustbuster)) "I'm sorry! I really should watch where I'm walking..."

Bradson ducked his head, trying to mask his beaming grin by adjusting his beanie over his messy hair. He’d always been awful at accepting compliments, especially regarding things he was proud of. “Ah, nah, it’s not that great. I, uh, I did host a radio show for a while actually, back in Ireland. Still like doing it sometimes. I just use my regular voice, though, it’d be hard to keep that one up on a real show.” 

“No way, man, really? That’s so cool! Like, a radio show? Shit!” Freddie was astounded, eyes bright with a rare energy. “Man, I used to, like, totally wanna be in radio stuff! Not like how you’re doin’ it - like, me ‘n’ my friends back home had one of those shitty bands you have in high school, y’know? Like, made those, uh, cassettes ‘n’ sent them everywhere.” As quickly as the burst of energy came, it vanished, and the wolf slipped back into his sleepy slouch, giving a soft snort and shaking his head.

The phone had taken his attention for the moment, “Just… uh, a large… a large pizza…” was all he could manage without smiling up at Freddie again. “Sorry, uh, just a large pizza with some pepperoni and pineapple” he finished. “We do have pineapple this far from mainland, right? It’s not like a rarity or anything?” It seemed like ages since Jack had gotten a pizza, most of his meals these days were cereal for breakfast and salad for dinner.

Unerringly patient, Freddie blinked slowly and waited for the custie to look up and repeat the order. With a nod, he jotted it down and huffed a soft laugh, head bobbing. “Aw, dude, sure we do! Like, you ever noticed anythin’ the island doesn’t have? All up and got some mad imports goin’ on, man. Amazon Prime.”