nexus_crossings | The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

Nothing in Antillioch is clean. Or tidy. Or not covered in a thick layer of desert. Which is why the appearance of a pristine white door that may well lead to some spiffed-up futuristic hospital ward is something of a shock to Zack. There follows a brief consultation with his brother, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with it, as it's so ..spotless, and white, and... ewww. For the two hellgods it's completely out of place and worse. They're so attuned to their hell dimension that anything this hygienic sits in the craw like a stuck fishbone.

Abe, casually examining his fingernails, suggests Zack tries the handle, just, you know, to see if it's locked. We don't want anything pleasant coming in. Stupidly, Zack's curiosity wins over and he does actually open the door a crack... Abe swiftly shoves him straight though it, and the Apocalyptic prince is sent sprawling. He literally faceplants into this new, uncomfortably pure environment.

He's ended up on the main plaza, and lifts his head, not liking anything he sees. But that's Zack all over. He doesn't like anything much. He even snarls at the few unfortunate people closest to him.

Nothing about the Nexus feels comfortable to Zack. Not until he smells something drifting across the plaza. He follows the scent until he comes to a doughnut stand.

Zack is the embodiment of the post-apocalyptic hellscape. He's on nodding terms with all four horsemen, and his own essence combines War, Famine, Pestilence and Death.. or more accurately the after-effects of such things. Away from his own dimension, he feels the hunger of famine, and Zack hasn't actually ingested anything for centuries.

Now he's in the realm of the living, these soft little dough things smell amazing.

He grabs one and tears into it, ignoring the stallholders protests about something like paying, or money, or something. When the stallholder tries to physically take his arm, Zack pulls away, swipes another of the sweet dough shapes, and wrenches himself away from the stand. Zack moves through the crowds away from the still-shouting stalholder, almost bumping into everyone - he's not used to crowds.

And he doesn't understand the concept of theft.

He almost sends some poor person tumbling as he tries to make his exit. But he can't find the infernal door and that stupid sweet-dough-thing person is still on his tail. Zack grabs the nearest passerby by the lapel, demanding... “What's his fucking problem? What the fuck's money? What does that even mean?”

[ooc: Cue argument between your muse, Zack, and the doughnut seller. Mun apologises for his language and behaviour. He's not housebroken yet...]

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"My language isn't weird, yours is," Zack protests. "What's a novel when it's at home?"

He considers the options. Abe likes the finer things, so Zack knows what alcohol is. The mortal stuff has no effect on him, so it makes no difference. "I don't object to a place that serves alcohol, as long as you don't object to my table manners."

"Okay, let's go to the Sparrow's Rest," she says. "We can get a drink and decent food there, and it's kind of, well...you'll see."

Yes, Zack, Esther Greenwood is taking you to a dive bar.

"I don't think they'll care about your table manners there," she continues, starting to walk towards the downtown area where all the restaurants and bars are. "Besides, I'm hungry and I'm sure you are too."

She's ignoring the comment about her language for now.

“Sparrow's Rest?” but he follows along with her all the same, imagining a tree, or something. Or some structure that resembles a nest.

Truth be told, it's probably the best place for him. And of course if some creep paws Esther, Zack will put the literal fear of hell into them, whether he likes her or not. It's sort of what he does.

“I'm always hungry away from home. And at the risk of sounding like a heath-cliff, it's fucking painful.”

"Heathcliff is a character in the book Wuthering Heights," Esther says, figuring she should probably explain the reference. "He's kind of a jerk, but an interesting sort of jerk. That's all."

Finally, they arrive at the bar. Inside, it's dark and kind of smoky, with no one really looking anyone else in the eye.

"So! Want to sit at the bar? Things are always more interesting there." And by interesting, she means you get drinks quicker, but hey. "We can get food, don't worry." Her own stomach is starting to rumble.

So when she called him a Heathcliff, she was calling him a jerk? He'd glare at her, but at least he's an interesting jerk. That has to be a little better than a regular one.

With his utter lack of understanding of social cues, Zack promptly looks the first three people he sees straight in the eye. None of them seem to be able to hold his gaze, and look down. It makes him want to poke them. Maybe he will after he's filled his belly. Which, like the rest of his body is supernaturally-imbued dust and sand, so technically he doesn't have a stomach. However a good meal does nourish on some level and keeps the pain at bay.

“As long as there’s food, I don't mind. Will they ask me for money?”

"Don't worry about the money. I'll cover you. And stop staring! Leave people alone with their meal." Esther shakes her head in exasperation as she sits down at the bar and asks for a food menu for both of them.

"I'm gonna have a vodka soda." Because God knows she needs one, at this point. "Here's a food menu, so you can look and see what you want to eat. Do you want anything to drink?"

Zack will see that the food menu is basically a dive bar menu—lots of fried stuff, filling and greasy.

"They're trying to hide! It makes me want to chase." It's a predatory response to someone trying to evade him, even with their eyes. That's going to have to be knocked out of him, or at least controlled.

Zack's eyes light up - some - at the mention of drink. Drought is powerful in him too and he has an unslakeable thirst. "Do they have clean water here?" This seems to please him far more than anything called vodka soda.

Taking the menu, he stares at it for a long time, because he can't read. "I'll have that." Zack points at the first thing on the menu which says 'Welcome to Sparrow's Rest.'

Okay, Esther's going to ignore that first part, because what?

"They have water, yes," Esther replies, having already received her vodka soda, thanks to the speedy service. "I'll order you some, sure."

She looks at the menu, then back up at him.

"That's—you can't read, can't you?" She's practically appalled. "Whatever. Just get a burger and fries. You'd probably like that."

He rocks back and forth a little, the only betrayal of excitement at getting some clean water. Clean! “How clean? No dust? Just a few bugs?” That'll do for him.

“No. I can't read. Why would I need to?” Esther's so annoying. He glares for a moment, before realising he's actually a little embarrassed. He doesn't like feeling stupid and averts his gaze, staring at his knees.

“Burger and fries,” Zack repeats mechanically. “Is it meat? I like meat.”

"Clean water, yes," she replies, half-rolling her eyes in bewilderment. Who is this guy? Where the hell did he come from?

"Burgers are meat. You can get that and I'll get a BLT, I think." Esther admits that she's really hungry by this point. As if on cue, her stomach grumbles.

"Reading is...well, it helps with a lot of things. Trust me."

When the water comes, it's in a glass as clear as the fluid inside it. Zack stares into it for a bit, then examines it through the wall of the glass. Then he takes a long swallow, and ends up draining the glass without pausing for breath.

“Clean,” he confirms, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Tastes good. How do you do reading then?”

Without giving Esther time to reply, he adds, “do all mortals make that noise?” On hearing her stomach rumble.

"When they're hungry, yeah," she replies, trying to hide her ever-rising exasperation. "Glad the water's good."

She takes a long sip of her drink. This was going to be a long night.

"I didn't realize you were that thirsty." Though maybe she should've figured it out—the guy did eat a doughnut earlier, after all.

"...I could teach you how to read." Oh boy, here we go.

"I'm always thirsty too. As well as hungry." What an odd mortal, she seems to have no perception of how spirits, gods, and the like, function.

He ponders her offer, eventually nodding. "Is it easy?" he asks. "I mean I don't mind if it's hard. I just want to know."

"It can be a challenge for some people, but I'd say it's definitely worth it in the end," Esther replies, attempting a small, encouraging smile. "Knowing how to read gets you lots of things in life."

"Okay." It sounds good to Zack. "How long will it take? 'Cause I've got to find the door back home in a bit."

Oh, bless him. He's not going to find it anytime soon.

The food is brought over to them, and to Zack it smells like a small slice of the heavens.

Yes, Esther is eyeing her food eagerly, too.

"It might take a few months, depending on how good of a student you are." She shrugs. "Go ahead. Start eating. I know you're really hungry."

She decides not to mention that it can be difficult to find a way back home. That's an argument for another time.

Oh. Months. He'd though it might be an hour. Maybe more. Zack isn't sure he wants to wait months before going home. But then, maybe he can just come back to this place when he wants to? If Abe will allow it.

“I won't tell my brother I'm learning,” he says quietly, with a guilty fidget. “I don't think he'd like it.”

He does dive into his food, not literally, quite, but he picks up the burger and bites into it seemingly as voraciously as he did with that first doughnut. After only one mouthful though, something hits him in the chest; a hard bubble of emotion he can't fight off. Zack swallows the mouthful and puts the burger back on the plate. Turning his face away from Esther, he puts a hand over his eyes.

Certain that she'll mock him... he doesn't want her to see he's crying.

Esther is taking a bite out of her BLT when she pauses, seeing him out of the corner of her eye. She finishes chewing and puts her sandwich down on her plate.

"Are you all right?" she asks, not unkindly. She's not sure what's going on, though she's a little worried he might not be...well in the head, so to speak. "why would your brother be unhappy about you learning?"

Compared to most human beings Zack is probably very far from being okay in the head. For him though, this is unusual.

Braced for an onslaught of derision, Zack does shake very slightly when she speaks. But her voice isn't harsh or unkind. Maybe she's okay after all.

"S'not that," he says quietly, scrubbing at one eye with the heel of his hand. "Abe says knowledge is a waste of time for me, but that don't really upset me. It's the food. I never knew things that tasted this good even existed. Why wouldn't he give me stuff like this?."

Zack removes his hand from his eyes, but doesn't look at Esther just yet. He's staring at his knees again. "I'm not a maggot," he mumbles, unnecessarily defensively.

"I...I'm sorry," Esther says, after a moment. "You shouldn't feel bad about yourself, really."

Now she feels a little awkward for being so bite-y earlier.

"I think you do deserve good things, like food. And learning to read, too."

Zack's half-forgotten the bitey thing already. He tends not to expect people to behave decently, so when they do it has some effect. He'll remember next time they squabble though.

"And you prob'ly deserve not to have strangers grabbing you and demanding to know things," he says quietly, before picking up his burger again.

It's as close to an apology as he knows how to make.

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The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

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