Jodie’s is a widely known all-day-breakfast and lunch diner, and is typically frequented by those who travel or live along the I-2. Known for its creative blends of local Stillera fauna with Earth recipes, since its founding in 11,023 PR it has become a brand favorite among Stilleran residents, human and nuan. The current CEO and founder of Jodie’s, Jodie Springer, is half-nuan and half-human (American). Despite her age, and nearly four hundred operational locations, she still occasionally enjoys working at her original diner to this day, which resides in the sleepy town of Burstin, lying just shy of the halfway point between Sacison and Mackadon, two Pre-Arrival cities in Stillera.

The fact that this just happened to be one of the days she decided to work at her original diner, and just happened to fancy the afternoon shift, and just so happened to work as a waiter instead of a cook, allowed her to greet a familiar and a not so familiar face.

The bell on the front door chimed, as two figures stepped through. One she recognized, a tall, hairy human with thick arms and an even thicker torso, and a gut that suggested he enjoyed his drinking. He was followed by a considerably smaller, well-featured human boy who couldn’t have been older than fourteen, with shaggy hair and baggy pants cinched tight with a belt, the legs rolled up to stop them from dragging along the floor, complete with a red and black plaid button-up shirt identical to the one the man was wearing that was three sizes too big for him.

She suppressed a frown when she recognized clear signs of mutations on the boy. Wolf ears, and a bushy tail that wagged through a hole cut into the back of his pants while he sniffed the air, eyes roaming to rest on all of the patrons and their plates.

You’re old enough to know better than to go believing in old superstitions, she chids herself as the pair approaches her.

“G’day Jodie.” The burly man, Joey, greets politely, his voice thick with the accent of his homeland.

“Heya hun.” She says, doing her best not to stare at the boys ears. “It’s good to see you. Table for two?”

Joey nods, though from the look he’s given her, she knows he’s noticed her apprehension towards the boy. As well as the stillness that came over the diner as other patrons noticed the boy as well.

“I’ll seat ya both to a booth in the back.” She whispers, her voice hushed, and Joey nods appreciatively.

After leading them to a relatively quiet spot in the crowded diner, she passes two menus to them and takes out a notepad.

“What can I get ya to drink?” She asks, this time forcing herself to smile at the boy. He doesn’t seem to notice, his face blank as he stares down at the menu in front of him.

“Two sweet teas, if yeh wouldn’t mind.” Joey says, and Jodie nods.

“Alright sugar, I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your orders.”

Jodie spins around, eying two of her staff as they nervously shift on their feet, looking around the diner.

She gestures for one of them to follow her, and he does, hurriedly striding to her side and bending down so she can whisper in his ear.

“If Brias and Connel come, make sure they don’t see them.” She hisses in his ear, and her staff nods, hurriedly moving to give her orders to the other waitstaff in the diner.

She glanced back to look at the booth, and saw Joey pointing at the menu and explaining something to the boy. The boy looks between him and the menu, his head tilting in confusion. A normal scene, in her normal diner, but for some reason, she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling she had about how the afternoon would turn out.

-

“I recommend the ungal and waffles, but their starberry and snag pancakes are right fahkin tasty too.” Joey says, pointing to images on this… menu, in front of me.

Strange. The images look nothing like any biomass I’ve seen, and they have odd squiggles next to them.

I shift in my… seat, uncomfortable. Joey would not stop bothering me until I wore this strange, loose skin, and stored my tentacles inside of my body. Not having eyes to see in all directions, or tentacles to sense vibrations, is very unpleasant.

But I have to socialize with the humans here. Otherwise, they may attack me, like the other humans in the forest.

“Here you go sweet peas.” The human female that first greeted us returns to our location, holding two glass structures with dark fluid in them. She sets them down, then pulls out a structure similar to what the humans at home would use. “Are y’all ready to place your order?”

The female smells good. Hungry.

Maybe just a little bite would be okay?

“I’ll have some brekkie ungal and waffles.” Joey says, sliding his menu over to the female. She nods, and taps her structures together. Then she turns to me. I can smell it on her.

The fear scent. But why?

“And you hun? What can I get for you?”

I point to one of the pictures that Joey was communicating about, and also push my menu to her.

“Alright, two orders of ungal and waffles. I’ll have those right out to you.” She says. As she bends down to take the menus, the fear scent grows stronger. Why is she afraid?

“Right mate, I’ve been tryin not to pry, but I’m fahkin curious. What were yeh out there in the woods for?” Joey says, as he holds the glass structure and drinks it.

I mimic his motion. It is important to copy behaviors, like I did with the wolf pack, until I ca-

DELICIOUS!

WHAT IS THIS!?

This fluid tastes amazing! Very sweet!

Wiggle.

“Mate? Yeh alright there?”

BE QUIET JOEY! I AM SAVORING THIS TASTE!

“Thanks doc.” I say, licking my lips. Disappointment. I’ve consumed all of the fluid. I look at Joey and his fluid, and he displays amusement before passing it over to me.

But before I take it, he pulls it back. FRUSTRATED! WHY OFFER IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE?

“Listen kiddo, yeh don’t look to be in a good ways. I just need yeh to answer some questions, and I’ll give yeh as much food as yeh want.” He says, shaking the glass.

“Answer some questions.” I repeat, and he snorts in amusement, handing me the glass.

SO! GOOD!

“Why were yeh in the forest?”

The fluid is gone again. I look at Joey, and tilt my head.

“Home.” I answer, then look around. Is there any more of this fluid? It has a miniscule amount of biomass, but it is still more than water.

“Alright. Where is your home in the forest?”

Tilt my head again. I try to remember my home. I’d not really paid attention to what the outside of it looked like, or where it was. I was too focused on escaping from the predator. But I remember it being like the den, sheltered from the sun. “Underneath the ground.” I say, finally.

Joey nods his head again. “And your parents? Where are your parents?”

Confused.

“Parents?”

Now Joey seems confused. “Yeah, your parents. People who take care of yeh? Gave birth to yeh?”

Ah, realization. He’s asking about the Creator.

“Do not know. They left.” I say, honestly. None of the bodies in my home belonged to the Creator or the humans that were always around them.

Joey’s face twists. Interesting expression. Disapproval? Anger? He opens his mouth, but the female has returned.

“Here you are darlin’s. I’ll go ahead and get y’all some more tea, and you just let me know if y’all need anything else.” The female says, placing real versions of the images in front of us, and then pouring some fluid - tea - into our glasses.

“Thank yeh.” Joey says, and she leaves.

Sniff.

Ssp.

I wipe away saliva from the corner of my mouth, and look at Joey.

He shows another amused expression. “Go ahead, I’ll ask more questions after you’re done eating.”

YES! “Thanks Doc!”

SO!

GOOD!

This is what humans eat every day!? It’s so rich in biomass, despite being so small!

Strange though, these are definitely new structures, but I’m not gaining any new information from them. Will have to think about it later.

For now… devour.

“Well look at that, the Mutie eating like the savage it is.” I hear a new voice communicate close to my right.

Look, to inspect.

Joey is stiff, can sense anger. The fear scent in this place has grown stronger.

Mmm… two nuans. I remember gaining their structure shortly after gaining the human anatomy, but I never tested it. Seemed too similar to the human anatomy to be worth the biomass it would take to study its functions.

The two nuans are displaying aggressive behaviors.

Can smell the fear on them, and I recognize the emotion in their eyes.

Hatred.

Why do things hate me even though we’ve never met? It seems illogical.

“Brias, Connel, don’t you boys have better things to do than bother my patrons?” The female from before speaks up, stepping between us and the nuans.

The hatred doesn’t diminish. “Jodie, what in the Rift are you thinking, serving food to a Mutie.” One of the nuans spits, snarling at me.

Unpleasant.

Growl.

The fear is everywhere now, as all of the humans and nuans in the diner heard me.

Good. Intimidation tactic was successful.

The woman swallows, staring at me with wide eyes, but she turns back to the two. “I will not have either of you, or anyone,” she says to all the people watching, “tell me who can and cannot eat at my diners. Mutants are just people, same as all of us.”

The taller nuan steps forward. I’ve decided.

If it attacks, I’ll eat it.

“Your time in the city changed you Jodie, those fuckers don’t dese-”

“How’s about we all calm down now, yeah?” Joey says, standing up. The two nuans eyes widen.

Joey is big. Being big is intimidation on its own.

“Yeh cunts are botherin me and my mate here. Bugger off, would yehs?” He murmurs, his voice quiet.

The two nuans look between Joey, Jodie, and me, before spitting again and walking out of the diner.

Mmm…

I will have to add quiet intimidation to my tactics.

Joey sighs, sitting back down. Happy. I continue to devour.

“Sorry about that Jodie, didn’t mean to cause yeh trouble.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about them. But I’d have your semi checked before you head out, just in case they’ve slashed your tires. Bad thing about a small town is everyone knows who the stranger’s car is.”

Mmm… done.

That food was rich in biomass, but still… hungry.

I hold my plate up to Joey and Jodie. “More?” I ask, tilting my head.

Jodie makes amusement sound. “Sure hun. It’ll be on the house. Same thing?”

I nod. But I'm confused. “But I want it here. Not on a… house.” I clarify, and she gives another amused sound.

“Your friend’s interesting, I’ll give you that Joe.”