Commotion appeared, as it tended to in places like this. A deliveryperson with a timetable, and the chime of the bell again. Gawain swirled his drink, and let events settle as they would. The druid offered him a share of the spoils, but Gawain shook his head, declining.
"I find pizza to be like one of those songs you like at the beginning, before they become bastardized into a thousand different versions of oft-dubious content. Have you heard what they've done to Wagner's Ring des Niebelungen?"
A horror if there ever was one - and unlike the drink before him, a horror that failed even to amuse anyone. He set it down, then rose with a bow.
"I believe the time has come for me to move onward, ere this situation devolves further. It has been of interest to meet you, Druid. I shall leave you to the lamentations of the tomatoes."
[attr="Style","background-color:#313131;padding:15px;"] Lark considers the menu for a second longer, then their gaze drifts down to the breathless feathered woman. The waitress? Apparently also the cashier, and likely the chef to boot. They wonder if she’s hiring. It’d be worth the time investment to help her out, they figure.
But now is not the time for that. Now is the time to decide their fate for today. “Hmmm…. yeah, I’ll take the… hm, actually-”
A chime. Not the bell above the door, though. It’s much more familiar. A slight flash of green light accompanies the weight of an elbow landing on their shoulder, tangled silver hair brushing against their cheek as a Future Lark appears at their side, leaning casually on the shoulder of their past self. This Lark is at least a few months older than the current Lark, dressed in a casual graphic tee and bellbottom jeans but wearing the same trickster’s grin. “They’ll have the Rainbow Supreme Double Sherbet. And I’ll have the pizza.” At their last comment, the older Lark turns to Cassidy, already in the process of pulling a couple slightly crumpled twenty dollar bills out of their pocket. They ordered two pizzas, because the strange Druid man will take at least one of them, and because they remember him having two when they were around here the first time.
Current Lark accepts one of the bills from their future self, and hands it to Dapple. Best to play along with these sorts of loops. “What they said.”
Future Lark strolls over to the pizza delivery man and hands him the other twenty. Time to foreshadow. They do love setting events in motion. “Keep the change. Say, did you know they’re hiring here?”
Perhaps their nudge isn’t as subtle as it could be, but they have to admit that it’s much more entertaining this way. They do enjoy spending time with their future coworker. And besides. Past selves are always so clueless.
This was going to one of those weirder days, wasn't it?
The robed man was leaving the living baking soda volcano experiment and this establishment behind. Oddly enough, the odd vibes I was feeling about this place began easing away with each moment of his departure. I would have to be on the look out for someone like him next time. Something was definitely off, and the symbiote thought it was worth investigating. After all, my sixth sense never steered me wrong before.
However, that was not the weird part of my day or, rather, this particular delivery.
The feathered girl welcomed me kindly enough, and, for a second, I thought she had ordered the pizza. Not a bad guess, and I would have followed it up if she did not appear busy with someone else.
And leaped over the counter, nearly knocking over several milkshake glasses!
Who was running this place?
It did not matter. The symbiote notified me that the living science experiment had gestured for me to walk over to him. Maybe he had ordered the boxes?
I began making my way over right before the symbiote noted that something was happening with the latest visitor. Green light and a clone appeared? Possibly? This one had different clothing, however. What was going on?
I'll ponder on that in a minute, first I needed to see what the one-eyed monk wanted with me.
Before my senses told me someone was walking up right behind me. That same person who appeared out of the flashing light was approaching me.
With twenty dollars in hand, the symbiote commented.
Wait, what? Did she, he, whoever order these? A clone ordered these? That or I would have to assume other possibilities were at play here. Too many to try and dive into right now.
So, instead, I focused on the cash. And trying to remember the name given of the person who placed this order.
"You're Lark, right? You ordered these?"
Not sure on what the odds were that two different people at this exact address ordered pizza, but, considering this was Millennium City, my luck, and the fact everyone was doing their own thing apparently, I would not be surprised if the end of all times came around the corner any second now.
I would pass the boxes before taking the money, using one hand for each. Super-spider balance for the win!
And I got to keep the change! Double win! Tips were always welcome, especially when it came to me.
I was about to just check out what the strange cyclops person had to say and leave before the clone said something to me that I usually do not hear at all during my little trips.
She mentioned about this place hiring. I won't lie and say I had not looked at the For-Hire posters out front, but why was this person mentioning this to me? Just to start conversation? An odd attempt at flirting? Trying to help me find a better job than bussing around Italian pies?
Whatever it was this stranger tried to pass off as sly ended up being as conspicuous as a dumptruck to the face. And I have experience regarding that.
And getting a half-decent read on people because whoever they were was carrying this smile, this smirk, a mile wide. What was up?
The symbiote was wary, as it usually defaulted to whenever something strange or unknown was at play. Often enough, I tried to offset its paranoia by using some sort of reasonable explanation.
But I could be staring at a telepath or something right in front of my eyes. This person came out of pure light. There could be a number of reasons, normal and not-so-normal. But my mind is not easy to read for a few good reasons, but, if this stranger could do it, what else did they know? My rent is not yet paid? My secret identity?
Nope, stop thinking those thoughts. Focus on the conversation. I should just play dumb, at least a little and see where this all goes.
"Oh, they are? I noticed the signs out front. What's, ah-?"
Great, what was I going to say next? Got it. My brain shifted gears. When in doubt, use a bit of humor.
"Why are you mentioning this to me? Trying to scare off the competition?"
Post by Evelyn Lockheart on Oct 20, 2021 15:08:15 GMT
The druid watched in relative disappointment as Gawain took his leave. He had thought they had something going on there. Alas, free spirits couldn't be contained. His attention turned to the bar where a lot was happening. The pizza man was stopped in his tracks by a ... were they of the same pod? He wondered because they did look quite similar to each other save their outfit and style of dressing. So the druid stood up, to go towards them and offer his greetings, and stopping a moment to consider the order of it.
So then he first stopped next to the pizza guy and Lark who was paying the pizza delivery guy. Instinctively he reached out for one of the boxes. "Felicitations, bringer of stuff humans put in their mouths." That, to Balfor was quite strange. Mouth was a means to communicate, but humans also used it to consume organic matter that in turn produced energy within them. For spirits like him, they absorbed energy from the sun in order to function. There was no need for consumption via the mouth but he could if he wanted, like when he did with the milk, but that's more a choice than need. "My name is Balfor the Gentle - Spirit of Earth and Fire. And you are?" His one eye focused intensely on Cassidy whilst producing his hand out to the guy.
[attr="Style","background-color:#313131;padding:15px;"] “That’s me!” Future Lark gladly accepts the pizza, passing one of the boxes off to Balfor when he reaches for it. It wasn’t like they were going to eat two whole pizzas on their own, anyways.
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Lark, and it’s much the opposite, C-lever pizza man.” They smile, noticing his nervousness and delighting in it. He’ll see soon enough, they know, but it’s fun to tease. Their smile turns more contented and less gleeful as they let their comment sit, opening the pizza box still in their hands. Yum, pepperoni. “You wanna join this pizza party?”
Maybe it’s strange to invite the pizza man to have pizza with you, but Lark has never had any illusions to their own normality. Comes with the territory, they suppose. They set the pizza on the table at the nearest booth, sliding smoothly into the seat and gesturing for Cassidy and Balfor to take the other side.
Dapple looked momentarily frazzled. It was an odd day when she ended up the one confused, but after a second's pause, she took the weirdness in stride, accepting the bills and firing a quick salute to both of the newcomers. Were they siblings? They looked really similar, like identical twins similar. There was something about the whole thing that felt a bit off, but a lot of stuff felt off in Milk Punch. It was best to just accept them when they happened.
"Rainbow Supreme Double Sherbert!" Dapple squawked back happily, shoving the money in her back pocket and pulling out ten ones, a five euro note, and a few ALL STAGE CLEAR game tokens. She stared at the handful of mismatched change, smiled anxiously, and pushed it across the counter.
"More money in safe," she said apologetically. "This good change? Or better? Can get better!"
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
[attr="style","display:inline;font-size:110%;font-weight:700;-webkit-text-stroke: 0.7px;"]Location: Duskburg District, Millennium City
Music: None Yet
Cassidy DeWitt
[attr="style","font-family:'Impact';font-size:20px;text-shadow:2px 2px 1px #40cbde;margin-bottom:1%;"]Pizza Time
This was Lark. The one who seemed a bit older. And the one over there was younger version of the same person.
Upon closer inspection, the details on both their faces had been too similar. And the sudden appearance of one ruled out twins. It seems I was right on the money on my first assumption.
Definitely clones or something similar.
Whatever the case, the older one seemed to want to invite me over to their little pizza party and wanted me to apply for a job here, for some reason. Why? What did this person know that I didn't?
The symbiote didn't trust this. Not at all. And, while it wanted to investigate the matter, I needed to get back to work soon. This was a predicament.
Was it possible this individual had some strange interest in me? And what was it? Was it because of my secret identity?
I was not going to jump to conclusions yet, but this had been rather odd. Very odd. We were both strangers. What was this about?
Wait a minute, someone else was talking to me.
Did he just call me 'bringer of stuff to put in human mouths'? What?
I reached for the handshake and shook it firmly before pointing to the small name tag or badge that read my name. Cassidy.
"I'm Cassidy the Pizza Guy, Spirit of Games, Fun, and Sleep."
At least, I would like to be the spirit of that. It'd be a chill gig, wouldn't it be?
I gestured for the spirit named Balfor to go ahead of me and take a seat with Lark before drawing my attention to said person, Lark.
"I appreciate you inviting me, but I've got a job to do, obviously. Still, thanks. How about you let the one working the counter have some of it if you're still sharing? Or you're look-a-like."
I turned over towards where the bird girl at the countertop was working with the money to return to her customer. My enhanced hearing told me enough that she seemed to be struggling a little.
That or she was had some issue mistaking European currency for American currency?
Was this why Lark wanted me to work here? To help this poor bird girl?
"Hey! Um, I think there's some free pizza you can have. You got to check with, um, Lark though. Just letting you know."
I ran a hand over my face. What to do? So many options. So little time.
Fine. I'll humor Lark. I'll humor myself. I'll even humor the symbiote.
"I can stay for about five minutes. That's it. Then I'm out. And whatever pizza is for me goes to the girl over at the counter. I'm good."
I sat down at the table before grabbing a napkin and pulling a pen from my pocket before I started writing on it as I waited for anyone to start a conversation because I sure was not. I work off of other people's energy usually.
Post by Evelyn Lockheart on Nov 16, 2021 13:36:27 GMT
It wouldn't be a fair assessment to say Balfor had no sense of humor but he did suck terribly at human. He did like the smell coming from the pizza however.
"I'm Cassidy the Pizza Guy, Spirit of Games, Fun, and Sleep."
Balfor really did assume he was in the presence of another spirit, which was slightly concerning because he did not sense an aspect of nature from him. All he sensed was something inexplicable from the Pizza Guy, the Spirit of Games, Fun and Sleep. He leaned forward and whispered in Cassidy's ears. "Mother Nature has determined that humans are to be vanquished...is this your way of doing it...this food?" Because he assumed Cassidy was some foreign spirit also working for Mother Nature as he was.
Well, mother nature had no hand in a bunch of shamanic spirits deciding humans needed to be dealt with. It was a decision they came to seeing as how destructive human beings were to the world around them.
[attr="Style","background-color:#313131;padding:15px;"] Lark looks at the handful of bills and tokens, and their expression lights up, delighted. Money isn’t of much interest to them, just another resource to be gathered over time and then used whenever they need it. They take the arcade tokens and slip them into their pocket, then gather up the bills and deposit those into the tip jar. “Excellent change! Thank you.”
“Say, I saw you’re hiring! Where can I sign up?” They could probably do this later, but they can also do it now, and isn’t that so much more fun?
While this Lark waits near the counter, talking with Dapple, the other Lark glances over and then back towards the table, opening the pizza box and pulling out a slice.
“Offer’s open to all.” They leave the box open and take a bite of their slice, not really feeling the need to offer any explanations. If they explain now, then that means they have to remember to explain later and use the exact words and everything gets confusing. “Five minutes, hm? I can work with that.”
It’s longer than they’re staying, but he wouldn’t know that. He just knows the here and now, and isn’t that easier? They smile and glance at their past self, who is making a concerted effort to pay as little attention to their interaction as possible. It isn’t a perfect system, but hey. It usually works. “Pizza delivery must be a tough gig. Always having to be on time for things.”
They have to remember not to speak too familiarly with him. Or Dapple, for that matter. It isn’t the time for that, yet.