Thaddeus Ealain (artattack) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-03-31 13:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | player: mo, thaddeus ealain, znerissa drake |
March Writing Challenge: Tad & Nerissa
Walking into Vinny’s was like walking into any other pizza joint, but better. Firstly, because it was actually New York pizza, because you just did not get New York pizza in Colorado despite the claims. Don’t even get started on pizza in Japan, just no. And secondly, because it was just the best damn pizza outside of New York or perhaps Chicago, though it wasn’t really fair to compare the two types of pies.
Heading to the counter, Tad grinned, “Yo!” he called to the guy behind it, “Can I get a couple slices with the spinach and ricotta? And a beer,” he ordered, moving to the register to wait for his meal. While the slices warmed again in the brick oven, he scanned the crowd, spying Nerissa alone. Perfect, maybe she’d like company? Paying and getting his food, he headed to her table, “Mind if I join?” he asked, “Or am I interrupting something?” he recognized, sometimes, people did not want company. As far as pizza went, Vinny’s was a-ok. You know, for an island that was literally invisible unless you had some supernatural voodoohoodoo going on - at least it was a pizzeria in the New Jersey, New York area which meant they had to have some inkling of how to do things. Indeed they did. The crust was thick as a college kid’s term paper (the fluffed up kind, where they rambled a lot), herbs in the dough, hearty tomato sauce, and a shit ton of cheese. Nerissa appreciated a shit ton of cheese, trust her - oh yeah, and she also put anchovies on her pizza. Always. The salt and the fishiness, what else could you expect from a sea serpent? She glanced up, beer bottle having been about three-quarters along the way toward her mouth - but she flashed a fangy grin instead, reptilian eyes flickering with interest. People rarely asked to join her, of all people. “Sure, go for it, hot stuff,” she motioned to the empty seat. “Just don’t judge my pizza toppings.” Tad was cute - she would have probably fucked the nerdiness out of him if she was available. “How you been?” Taking a seat, he grinned, “I’m....doing better,” he was back at work and sleeping mostly without any help, so that was improvement. He still wasn’t able to relax at work completely and anyone sneaking up on him, usually accidentally, made him jump a mile (and once turn into a raven to go take refuge on the high pharmacy shelves), but he was at least back at work and functioning mostly properly. “And I am always going to judge everyone’s pizza. Did you know they put corn on it in Japan? Corn.” He mock-shuddered. Ohhhh yeah, Nerissa remembered that shitty attack and there were guns n’ robbers involved? What the fuck? It seemed weird that supernatural folk who could even get onto the island would do something so pathetically human, but whatever. Tad was alive and well, that was the important thing. “Glad you’re feeling almost completely all the way sexy again,” she grinned, taking a swig of beer. Something that went well with pizza - it was a pale ale, complimented the toasty crust and played nice with the acid of the tomatoes. She had no complaints. “Corn though? Damn, that’s rough. Almost as bad as bananas - like, I understand pineapple, but bananas? That seems wrong on so many levels. People judge my anchovies but they have no idea what worse horrors are out there.” “Anchovies aren’t my thing, too salty, but they at least make more sense. Or squid. Japanese will put nearly anything on their pizza,” it was just wrong. Who would defile a pizza like that?! “Pineapple is actually okay. I’ve never heard of banana. Who puts banana on pizza?” Seriously, people, what were you thinking? Like Nerissa, Tad had a bottle of beer, his a Yuengling, because there was no Stella Artois in the case of beer by the register and while he was somewhat a creature of habit, he could at least vary his beer selection on occasion. They were both good beers anyways. “Eh. So, any big spa plans coming up?” Hear, hear! Nerissa toasted him out of ‘wtf why would you ruin pizza’ camaraderie. “The banana pizza comes with curry sauce, it’s apparently a thing in Sweden,” she snorted. Still, as adventurous about food as she was, she wouldn’t be trying it. But speaking of pizza, she oughta get back to hers - by picking up the slice and taking a huge chomp with those snake fangs of hers. Nom nom nom. “We’ll probably do some specials for the arrival of spring and shit,” she said, after swallowing of course. “It’s a good time of year for a tune-up. You want me to work my magic fingers on you?” Those fingers wiggled, tempting a potential client. “After you got injured, I bet it’d feel nice.” “Injured?” Now Tad was confused. Cocking his head to the side, he tried to figure out what she meant. Nope, no idea. “What are you talking about?” He took a bite of his pizza as he waited for her to explain. “Were you not injured at all, in the kerfuffle?” she asked - honestly, the details about the incident were vague. Nerissa just vaguely remembered Jayati posting about it on the network, but there wasn’t anything - oh, wait, no. That was the mermaid chick who was injured. Well, she hadn’t heard from mermaid chick in ages - not since her party, when she was glued to Cohen’s side. So apparently she was fine now? Meh. “Nevermiiiind, you should just come in anyway,” Ness decided, after another bite of pizza. “I do good work, not to toot my own horn or anything. A massage, or something for the skin - whatever you feel like.” “Ah, no?” Tad replied, though it really wasn’t a question, Setting his pizza down and taking a long sip of his beer, he finally turned to Nerissa to ask, “Why did you think I was injured?” Not physically harmed anyways, which is what it seemed she was referring to. “What rumours are going around?” That was the most important question. Spa and pampering wasn’t really his thing, but Tad was never one to turn down a good foot rub, “I’ll schedule a foot rub or something soon,” he promised. It was nearly spring time, so a foot rub, maybe a pedicure, was a good way to start things off. He didn’t do them often, only once or twice a year, but they were amazing when he did them. A foot rub! Bless, Tad was a guy who knew what worked for him. “Great, I’ll give you the ‘good taste in pizza’ discount,” Nerissa winked, and what? She didn’t mind hooking a friend up. Money was kind of stupid on this island anyway, and she technically didn’t need a whole bunch of it when she only lived in her house part of the time - the rest of the time she was at her other home, slithering along the bottom of the sea, the ocean depths. Besides, the spa did just fine. She wasn’t worried. “And I dunno, I don’t think many rumors are going around,” she added thoughtfully, munching on her pizza. “But, you know, the mermaid chick was injured and it was a shitty situation. At the very least, you get kinda skeeved out on the inside when crap like that happens.” But a foot rub would help with that as well - calming, soothing oils and quiet and just attention, that was all good food for the soul and junk. Setting his pizza down and finishing his beer, Tad nodded, “I shot her,” he said quietly, “She was being held hostage. I didn’t see another way to stop him...I wasn’t hurt, Nerissa. I did the hurting. I killed several others trying to steal from the clinic, hurt others,” no one he had known personally or cared about except Peisinoê, but she was more than enough. He waited quietly to be judged. If Tad was expecting to be judged by Nerissa of all people, well. That would be a long wait. She had killed a shit ton of people - all in the name of feeding herself, but you know. Maybe some got all high and mighty about the food chain, and expected serpents to survive on seaweed. “Hey, look,” she reached over and rested a hand on his arm - her attempt to make physical contact and be like, comforting and shit. “You’re a decent guy, Taddums. What you did doesn’t change that - and you’re not alone, ‘cause we all do things we will inevitably beat ourselves up for, when put in crap situations.” The fact that he did feel guilty just said he still had morals or whatever. Not everyone could claim the same thing. Taddums? His lips quirked in a grin despite his best efforts, “What’s next?” he asked, “Taddikins?” He couldn’t help it, he had to tease right back with that sort of response. In truth, he was coming to much the same conclusions, though Nuno had helped a lot in their initial conversation and in subsequent ones. That he cared and felt guilt meant he had morals and a conscience and that was a good thing. It made his heart hurt, but that would heal, in time. Better to heal than to harden. “What are you called then? Nerissa doesn’t lend itself to cutesy names....” now it was a thing in his mind, “Nery? Nissy? No.....Snookums? I feel like you’d eat someone who called you Snookums, so maybe I’ll do it and continue to live dangerously...” Now Tad was just getting silly, giddy with relief. Nerissa chuckled, baring those fangs in a grin. “I guess I wouldn’t complain about Snookums, if it came from you,” she winked. “People generally stick with Rissa though. Or Ness, for some reason.” As in, Loch Ness monster - though she may be a monster, she wasn’t some friendly little lake-dwelling shy girl. But since she was fond of creating nicknames for people (like Taddums), then she oughta take what she dished out and all. “You gonna be okay though, Tad-a-lad? I’ll check up on you anyway, soon, just to be sure. And to schedule that foot rub.” “I should schedule that foot rub,” as a pharmacist he was on his feet more often than not throughout the day, then would go work out. “But yes, I will be okay. Mostly. What doesn’t kill you and all that,” Tad finished his pizza and debated if he wanted to order more slices. Two was enough, or at least, he had thought so when he ordered originally. “Nah. I think I like snookums for you. It fits better than Ness. Or Rissa,” Ness made sense in the idea of Loch Ness, but nah. She wasn’t a loch ness monster. Maybe just a spa monster. It wasn’t quite the same thing. A spa monster, yes, how cute. Well, she knew she had talent in that arena - after all, she’d been at this for a good number of years. Concocting handmade beauty remedies, using the salts and minerals and secrets of her home - now if only humans would quit destroying it for their own selfish purposes. But anyway. “Yeah, sometimes you just gotta give life the middle finger and keep trucking along,” she said wisely. Her own pizza was done too (of course, Nerissa had hoovered it reeeeal quick), and so was her beer - maybe it was time for another round. Or she should quit while she was ahead and before she got heartburn. “You want anything else?” she asked, motioning to Tad’s empty plate. “It’s on me.” “Want to split dessert? The cannelloni looks good,” he was a sucker for it, but he knew he shouldn’t eat it all. “Or pizza. Both look good, but I cannot actually do both. My stomach refuses,” not because they weren’t delicious or anything, but because there a limit to how much he could eat now. .He was no longer a teenage boy. Alas. Her comment about trucking along reminded him of another saying, “Yeah, ‘shut up and soldier, soldier,’ and all that,” he quoted in agreement, “Which is sometimes the best you can do. That and ‘it gets better.’” “True, and I mean - it’s cool if you wanna wallow for a bit, you know, angst and wear the same underwear a couple days in a row. I won’t tell if you did,” Nerissa grinned, holding up her hand as if to solemnly swear. “But then after, sometimes the best weapon is to just keep living your life.” That way those fuckers who tried to hold mermaid chick hostage wouldn’t win, right? Ah, and Tad said the magic word. Dessert. If there ever came a day that a bottomless pit such as Nerissa didn’t want dessert... Well. Check and see if she had been body-snatched. “Hell yeah, let’s get ourselves some sugar. That’s also a good weapon, enjoying the little things.” So up to the counter she went, to get them one of the sweetest, most decadent cannoli’s this pizza place had to offer. “Oh, I already did the wallowing bit,” Tad assured her, “I’ve moved through that, for the most part. Now I’m trying to resolve guilt and sort myself out without being an angsty emo puppy,” though, being an angsty emo puppy had gotten him the best belly scritches from Nuno. Definitely need to do that again sometime without the extra drama. Sometimes, it was good to be a shifter. Dessert was one of Tad’s favourite things as well, though he tried to practice moderation most of the time. He liked not needing to buy new pants. Or needing to shop at all. “Dessert it is then!” he agreed happily. |