“Okay, so that explains her. What’s your story?”
He held up his gloved hand, which had a pocketed hole underneath the palm. “I used to get into loads of fights. So many fights that I got in trouble, even when it was clearly the other guy’s fault. It didn’t matter whether I won or lost, as long as I landed the final blow. When I was confronted, I always had a bullshit excuse. ‘He’s always been bleeding like that! (It’s a medical condition)’ to ‘His arms were broken when I got here! (His knees too)’ to ‘He fell down the stairs into a crate full of doorknobs! (Multiple times!)’”
“One day, I said something along the lines of, ‘I never hit him! His chin kept hitting my fists!’ After that, I was able to win any fight by simply balling up my hands, and my opponents would suddenly have their lower jaws be attracted to my hands like a magnet. They would keep hitting my knuckles even after they lost consciousness, their chins jutting up from the ground. However, this had its obvious drawbacks - it would also happen to anybody else I didn’t want to fight. It was extremely difficult for me to restrain myself from clenching my fists in stressful situations, lest I hit innocent bystanders in the area. Furthermore, my opponents started wearing spiked chin guards, so my usual fighting strategy went out the window.”
Just then, a steaming plate of the ordered meal arrived at the table. The Babyface greedily gulped down the liquid diet offered to her, while the Mystery Man prepared to eat his portion. The Girl just stared impassively at her dish.
“That’s why I can no longer afford to hold things in my hand, lest I wind up inavertably hurting someone.” He then slid a fork into the glove’s pocket underneath his thumb, and scooped the utensil over his food, and brought it up to his awaiting mouth. He continued talking as he ate, using his unorthodox eating method.
“As you can see, lies wind up granting abilities that are completely arbitrary and almost useless. And no one is ever affected by the same lie twice. So, if you’re trying to get rid of your smell by someone lying to your face, you’re not going to get very far. There are all kinds of ways to get yourself trapped in a lie of your devising, so if you value your safety and sanity, you'd better get out while you still can.”
The Girl looked uncomfortable ever since coming to the Diner, but now she felt even more out of place. She’d spent so much time and energy coming to the City of Lies, and was now being told to turn tail.
The Mystery Man looked up from his eating, and noticed her reaction. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I - I’m not that hungry.”
“It’s the most natural thing in the world.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“You should at least have something in you. You’re still a growing girl. EAT.”
Warily, she looked back at the counter. “Could I have the menu back? Actually, make that two.”
Confused, but willing to please a customer, the Patron gave the Girl the requested menus. She spread them wide open, covering her plate, blocking the view from anybody who might see her. There was a succession of rapid eating noises. Then, when the menu pages fell down, the meal was gone. Only the faintest speck of sauce still on her cheek showed any proof that she’d eaten the food in such a short amount of time.
“If you wanted some privacy, all you had to do was ask.”
The Girl looked up with a pained expression on her face. “I hate the taste of these things, and yet, my body betrays me by craving it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment