(2018-10-13) Care and Feeding of your Buddy
Care and Feeding of your Buddy
Summary: Log Summary
Date: 2018-10-13
Related: http://coralsprings.wikidot.com/log:2018-10-12-lost-and-found
NPCs: None
Scene Runner: None
Players:
buddy..shades..

Location

Cafeteria

The cafteria is a large airy room with one wall that is all windows so the view of the cliff and the open ocean is all one can see..well and whoever is on the patio.

Round tables with chairs are spread out and there seems to be more than enough. In the back is the area where the students line up to be served food by either staff or students serving detentions. Behind this is the entrance to the kitchen, which is off limits to students not on kitchen duty. There is also the plate and tray return window into the kitchen.

Scene

"Okay, first of all, because you're a human in *addition* to a dog and a bird and a cat and a whatever-else, okay? And if you'll eat as all those things, then you should also, like, eat like a human." Shades shakes off his umbrella in the foyer of the cafeteria before closing it, only sounding a little exasperated from explaining, again, why they are here. "Second, because hamburgers and pizza are awesome. And third, because chocolate is like… *seriously* bad for dogs, and I'm not entirely clear what that would mean for you."

Buddy walks along with Shades looking really reluctant. "I I don't know. Human food sounds so weird. I mean, it is a whole lot easier to just go out, chase down what you want to eat, kill it and eat it. Oh, and it is so much fun to so. Soaring through the air as an eagle and then SWwwwop!" Buddy demonstrates with his hands. "Fish in the talons then a flip and chop. Delicious. And if I don't want to hunt something dow, I can just hop around like a little bunny and eat some weeds. It helps and is yummy."

You say, "Sure, and I'm not like saying *don't* do that, I'm just saying to give human food a try." He gives Buddy a baffled look. "Honestly, you're like, part dog right? Or… also a dog, in addition to everything else? Have you ever met another dog that didn't want human food?""

Buddy tilts his head sort of like a dog does. "I'm not part dog. When I'm a dog, I'm all dog. When I'm human," Buddy shrugs and says, "I'm not sure. It is hard to explain. I'm always me even when I'm something else, but I'm also the something else that I become." Buddy pauses at the entrance and looks inside. He starts sniffing at the door and says, "Lots of smells."

Shades grins. "Yeah, that's 'cause there's lots of food. And people. Com'on, it'll be fine! Look, just try some, and if you don't like it, I won't try and make you come again. But I'm positive that you will like it." He steps towards the stack of trays at one end of the line. "Just, take one of those, then walk through the line, and pick up plates of what looks good, or ask one of the servers for a bowl of whatever they've got that you want."

Buddy looks a bit hesitant still like an animal entering an unfamiliar environment. He is almost as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs. As he approaches the line, he says, "Why is there such a long line of people? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the food all over the place and people go get what they want? This would never work in the wild." And that is probably the standard Buddy is judging everything by. He grabs a tray and like everyone else. He holds it up and sniffs it a few times. Shaking his head some, he holds it flat clearly just immitating what he sees others doing.

Shades shrugs. "I dunno. Probably cause it's easier to make sure everyone can get some, and that there's always stuff available. Oh yes, tacos!" His grin widens as he points. "I mean, they're gonna be crap next to what my Mom makes but any taco is a good taco. Especially if you add some red sauce. Oh, and try some of the rice-and-cheese-and-whatever caserole, it tastes better than it looks I swear." The line, although long (because dinner time) is fortunately moving quickly, the staff working like a well greased machine.

Buddy has a horrified look on his face. Looking back and Shades, he says, "It tastes like crap?!" Buddy also doesn't understand proper volumes for improper conversations. He also stops the line and causes everyone to stop and look at him and Shades. "I don't even eat that. I mean, if I became a dung bettle, I might, but I haven't tried turning into an insect yet. Sticking with mammals and birds right now."

Shades bites his lip to keep from laughing, but can't stop himself from snerking-wuff from escaping. "Ah, no, just a figure of speech. They'll be good, I promise! Look, I'm getting them, do you think I'm the kind that would go to that kind of extent for a joke?"

Buddy grumbles a bit. "If it smells or tastes like that …." He doesn't finish the thought, but it probably won't be good. When he gets to the line, he holds his tray out (without a plate on it) and says, "A ta-co with red … sauce. And the rice-thingy-cheesy-stuff cassyrolls?" He clearly doesn't know what he is saying or talking about.

Plates and bowls are distributed with curt effiency, and Shades leads Buddy to the soda fountain. "Okay, so, I like coke, but they've got pretty much everything here. Or, uh, you can get some water I guess?" He pulls one of the stacks of plastic classes and begins filling it with the fizzy sugar-water.

Buddy walks with the tray of food like he is on a tight rope. "This reminds me of a leopard pulling a meal into a tree. I should totally be a leo-woah!" He stopped paying attenion to the tray and the food started to slide. He freezes in place before taking a few last steps to set the tray down by the drinks. "I can try choke." Mispronounced that too. He makes a face as the brown syrupy liquid pours out into the cup of ice.

Shades snerks at that, unable to resist. "KOHkha," he says, enunciating with exaggerated care. "And good call." And which, he leads Buddy towards one of the long tables. "Alright, so- just dig in!" With which, he starts doing so himself, with obvious gusto. "Plauhs, ya khan getta dussert ahftah! I thank-" *swallow* "There's always ice cream, and usually some kind of cake or something."

Buddy just looks over at Shades as he eats. Leaning down, he sniffs at the food a few times before grabbing the taco. When he grabs it, the hard taco shell cruches and cracks dropping some of the sauce onto the tray. Buddy takes a big bite of the food and chews it quickly. The bite is too large so some of the food is falling out of his mouth as he eats. He doesn't bother to really keep his mouth closed the whole time either.

Shades can't help it; he actively laughs at Buddy this time. "Cabron, what're you doing! Slow down, smaller bites! Dinner's not gonna run off man!"

Buddy chews vigorously as he turns his head to look at Shades. Swallowing the food, he says, "Cabron? Who is cabron? Oh, is that one of these things?" He looks at the taco shrugs and bites again. "Gotta chew and eat."

Shades finishes off the first taco, and starts on the second. Normally, no one would call Shades a particularly couth eater, but normally he's not next to Buddy for comparisons. "No man, cabron's like- it's like a word that means friend, okay? And yeah, you gotta chew and eat, but maybe try chewing with your mouth closed? Like this," He takes an exageratedly careful bite, careful to be on his best don't-get-Mom-made dinner table manners.

Buddy shrugs just after he swallows the taco. There is only a little bit left though he turns his eyes to the caserole. He uses his left hand to grab a bunch of it and stick it directly in his mouth: no fork, no spoon. He tries to keep his mouth closed as he chews but the way he does it looks very unnatural and strange. His lips look glued together as his teeth chew.

Shades pushes his sunglasses up his nose, and then keeps going until he's rubbing his forehead. "Man, I think you might need some more help," he says, half to himself, before picking up a fork. "Buddy, again- little slower. Folks usually eat kinda goopy food with forks and stuff, like this." And, forkful of casserole. "Tah kehp yahr hahnds clahn."

Buddy is starting to look exasperated. "Why are there so many rules to human eating? I don't understand. Isn't the point of eating to get food in your mouth? To satisfy hunger?" He looks at his left hand covered in some cheesy sauce while his right hand has lettuce and red sauce dripping on it. "Hands are easy to clean. Just lick them…" He starts licking the cheese from his left hand "Ssttheee?"

Shades shrugs, with a little bit of frustrating starting to leak into his voice. "I dunno man, it's just the-" At the licking, he suddenly snaps, "Dude, that is *gross*, okay! You can be a dog if you want, but you should also be able to be a person!"

Buddy looks up and stops licking his hand for a moment. "What's wrong?" He looks at his hand and then at Shades clearly not understanding what is gross. "But being a dog is easy. So is being a cat or a bird. They have rules but they are instincts. Where are the human rules? I don't understand." He sounds like he wants to understand but just can't make the transition from animal thought to fully human thought.

"What's wrong!" Shades snaps again, before glancing around, noticing some of the other people looking at him and Buddy, and lowering his voice. "What's wrong is that, I dunno, you act like a little kid, and it's weird, man. Being here is so awesome, and you just- you don't even seem like you care, like you want to be here- not just here at the school, but like, here with *people*. Don't you want to be someone people look up to? Don't you *want* to be a superhero?"

Buddy lowers his hands down to the tray and lets go of the last bit of taco he was still holding. "I don't know what I want. Right now, I'm just trying to figure out who and what I am. I spent the last, don't know, years probably being an animal in a traveling zoo. Before that, I was living in the wild fending for myself. Before that, picked from the pound to be some family's pet. When students from the school rescued me, they told me that this school was for people like me. Were they wrong? Am I not supposed to be here?" He tilts his head to the side again in that canine fasion of curiosity.

Shades looks down at the trey, mostly empty now, and discontently pokes his fork at the remains of the caserole blob. "You should be here, cause you're a super. But, you like- you need to learn to be a- a normal too, ya'know? But I mean, it's more- you need to know what you want." After a pause, he looks up and asks, "Why'd you join the Metis, anyway?"

"Oh, okay," Buddy says. He doesn't want to do anything wrong so if he wasn't supposed to be here then he could leave, but the headmaster was trying to find his family. He was also supposed to be working on learning all the stuff he missed out on since he hasn't been to school for years. "Well, I like green so that is a big reason. But, also, it sounds like they like being sneaky and stuff. Me too. I'm pretty good at it too."

It can be hard to read Shades' expression behind the sunglasses, as he gives Buddy a long look. "Right, but- don't you want to like, help people? To save people?"

Since Shades gave him a long look, Buddy looks down at himself to see if he has some food on his clothes or something. Not seeing anything, Buddy looks up and says, "I guess. Not sure how I could do that, but students from this school saved me. Mr. Suity Man said there are always Grangers out there so I'm trying to learn how to defend myself too incase he or Mr. Shocky comes back."

Shades chews on his lip, and goes back to poking at the empty bowl. "I mean, I guess that makes sense," he says, half to himself, and then shakes his head. "Well, uh. Anyways, when you're done eating, you take your tray and the plate and bowl and stuff over there," he says, pointing towards a conveyor belt dragging away empty dishes, before pushing himself away from the table and carrying his own dishes in that direction.

Buddy looks at Shades feeling that he has disappointed himself but he isn't sure how. He then looks down at the food. He doesn't want to be wasteful so he scarfs it down in rapid fashion. Only once all the remaining food is eaten does he tries the coke. He drinks some of it and makes a weird facial expression at the taste of it. He finally picks up his tray and walks over to where Shades put his. He leaves the almost full coke on the tray. "Like that?"

Shades looks over, and can't help the smile that creeps up. "Yeah, pretty much. I'm guessing you're not a coke drinker though, eh? No shock, they've only got the American stuff here, which is okay but the Mexican coke is made with just sugar, none of the weird other sweeteners the American kind has; way better."

"It tastes too … sweet. I think the word is sweet. And syrupy." Buddy sticks out his tongue for a second. "It feels like someone put a coat on my tongue. Yuck." He watches as the try goes down the conveyer belt. "The food was, hmm, I don't know the way to describe it. It tasted, uh, off, I guess."

Shades snorts. "Told you to get water, cabron. And, I mean, the food here's pretty good, but like, everyone's got there own tastes." He pulls an exageratedly disgusted face, sticking out his tongue. "Like, I don't think I could do the eating bugs thing."

Buddy chuckles a bit and says, "I think with their food they are just trying to hard. Everything tastes like it was made to taste different. I think I would like it better as a doggy." When he brings up the bugs, Buddy says, "I don't think I could eat bugs either, not in this form. When I change my form, even my appetite changes."

"I mean, some folks do eat bugs. Like, people do." Shades sticks his tongue out further. "I watched a show about 'em once, where this tribe of folks in like, the jungles of Brazil or Argentina or something, they'd smoke out a bee hive and then steal the comb and eat the grubs along with the honey." He turns, miming barfing to the side. "BLEHHHHHH. I don't think I coudl ever be hungry enough to do that."

Buddy shrugs again. "I don't know. They can't be too bad if other people do it." Then, thinking back to what Shades has told him in the past, he says, "Well, if you had to eat bugs to get strong enough to save someone, I bet you would." Buddy heads over to where the drinks were to grab a bottle of water.

Shades hesitates, straightening back up. "Well, yeah, but that's different," he says, voice cracking just a hair towards the end. "That's to, like, be a superhero. Hey! Pick me up a bottle too, eh?"

Buddy toss a bottle of water in Shades' direction and starts to walk over to him. He opens the bottle of water and drinks from it. "At least they haven't figured out how to mess up water. Aaah." Buddy drinks a bit more of it and says, "Well, just be glad that I won't take you to try my food tomorrow." Buddy laughs at that thought.

Shades catches the bottle, as he scrunches his face back at the thought, sticking out his tongue a little. "Yeah, yeach. Thanks no." He blows out a breath, looking up at the sky. "Well, I gotta hit the books. But, ya'know, thanks for at least trying to come out for actual food."

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