Denny's

[abbacchiohno]

It's late. Like, 3 AM late. You're hungry as fuck, but nothing is open.





Except Denny's.

RULES

1. Post to the meme.
2. Find somebody to eat with. Figure out why the hell you'd do this to yourself.
3. Okay, you have no excuse to be here because Denny's is doing delivery now. This is the age we live in. Denny's delivers. Dear god.

Comments

[not_a_wonder]

"I suppose you could refuse," Vanessa replies. The strange shapes in the steam draw her glance, but she has no idea what could cause it. "I don't know many who do."

She fiddles with the utensils on her side of the table, still wrapped up in the paper napkin.

"Ignoring the bad around you generally makes it worse, in my experience." Vanessa closes her eyes, and quite deliberately shoves down the memories that threaten to intrude on her thoughts. She breathes in, and out, and opens her eyes again.

[strongestcoward]

When she opens her eyes it’s to him making eye contact at last. Four eyes in two, red and white.

“I’m not good at ignoring things,” he says, before making a weird display. Red and white pair splitting and merging as they dart in different directions as an illustration of his diligent observation. “I’d rather defy the bad.”

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa drops her gaze after a moment, the strange display in his eyes making her stomach churn uncomfortably. "I'm not strong enough for open defiance. But someone has to clean up the mess that gets left behind."

[strongestcoward]

“Lack of strength… really is the root of all misery, huh?” He’s asking himself, it seems. Leaning back again, he turns his head upwards, giving Vanessa a break from the relentless staring. Her visible discomfort with his eye trick doesn’t amuse him, not in the mood he’s in. “What sort of messes do you clean?”

[not_a_wonder]

"Humans being cruel to other humans," Vanessa replies. "There are many types of trafficking that happen in a big city like this, and... tonight, there were children involved. Which is why I was called in."

[strongestcoward]

“Ah, I see….” He says contemplatively, still looking at the ceiling a while longer. When he tips his head back down to look at her, he runs a finger over his neck. “By clean up, you mean…”

His mind has instantly gone to the idea of murdering the perpetrators, and he seems fine with that.

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa doesn't look bothered by the idea either. "No, I'm not the one who kills the monsters. I find safe places for the victims and help them recover."

[strongestcoward]

"Hmm... It's pretty rude to use 'monster' as a term for an evil human right in front of a monster, you know." His tone has a darkly amused tone to it, the kind you get when you're encountering something you're so used to just have to make it a joke. Emphasising his inhuman nature, all his eyes glow red.

He has always preferred monsters to humans.

Still, her explanation of what she does has him look Vanessa over again, as he contemplates a proper response to her reply.

[not_a_wonder]

Her own stare back is unamused, and her tone is flatter when she says, "I didn't realize I was in the company of a self-identified monster."

[strongestcoward]

In response, Asura forces a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. It's awkward and weird, and his teeth are pointed- they weren't a second ago. His black fingernails drum on the table.

"I thought you'd have guessed by looking," he answers, the grim amusement still there. He might have said more, but it was then the food arrived and Asura jolted a little at a third person showing up, even if it was entirely expected.

Once they were gone, Asura's overly stacked plate in front of him, he sheepishly speaks again- "No one can sneak up on me but waiting staff. Gets me every time."

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa goes on the alert when he startles, but relaxes when she realizes that it was the waitstaff that caused it. She gives the server a little smile and thanks them as she accepts her own plate.

"Maybe it's part of getting a food handler's certification. Extra stealthy sneaking."

She drizzles a line of ketchup over her hashbrowns and scoops up a bite. After she finishes eating it, though, she glances over at him again and says, "I've never found that looks alone make someone bad."

[strongestcoward]

“There you go again,” he says with that same sadly amused smile. “Conflating bad and monster like that... You’re saying if I'm good, I cannot call myself a monster?”

He splits his eyes up again, this time somehow more- until his sockets are filled with fifty pupils each, his sad smile full of triangular, interlinked fangs. There's no hostility- just an illustration of his monsterdom.

“What's so wrong with being monstrous?”

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa goes very still, swallowing hard.

"If you want a debate about this, I suggest looking somewhere else, sir. I was dragged out of bed after four hours of sleep and forced to deal with the fallout of evil being done to children. I'm hungry and exhausted and I'm not at my best."

She sounds tired, in a way that's not just physical but emotional. While she certainly doesn't seem frightened by his display, something about it has pushed the pleasant social mask off of her.

[strongestcoward]

With just a blink, Asura is back to how he was before. Clearly inhuman, but not nearly so grotesque. Honestly, it does annoy him, the conflation of monsters with evil. They're different things- it's just human convenience to try separating humans from their own worst examples.

Still, he has been a bit rude.

"Ah... we've both been rude," he admits, which is really quite close to an apology if you ask him. Actual apologies are rare things from him. "It's just difficult, being... different. What you are being an insult."

Aware he's drifting into the same thing, he changes the subject in a totally natural way- "Do you want me to kill them for you?"

It's an earnest, casual question asked as easily as if she wants him to pass the ketchup.

[not_a_wonder]

"No, thank you. If the justice system can't handle the problem, there are... others I work with who can do so." Her tone and bearing are a little stiff, a little formal.

Vanessa could go into detail about her first experience with what the world termed a monster -- how she got swept up, when just a child herself, into a war between gods and mortals. How a powerful, terrible creature known as Decay attacked her for no reason but to draw out 'the pride of the Amazons' for a fight that destroyed part of the city -- and how that was only the first of many run-ins with monsters and with evil. She could talk about how her own body was twisted into something beautifully monstrous while her mind was broken by something ugly and cruel to become ugly and cruel.

But these are not things that Vanessa likes to speak of at all. She does not want to speak of them especially when she is upset. There could still be consequences, given what she was molded into, once.

"I think... we are possibly having trouble communicating because of different experiences in our respective pasts. I'll do my best not to slip up and use the terms in the way you object to."