[PRP] Sweet Tooth (Dawson & Millie)

[medigel]

Attempting to go back to work like nothing had happened was actually more grating on his nerves than he thought it could possibly be. Dawson was used to putting up smiles and affecting that general Southern Welcome, but maintaining it was harder when on the inside his stomach churned. (And he swore the head wound, though healing nicely, still throbbed.)

It was worse when his mind wandered--and he certainly didn't need anything extra in his imagination to get him distracted.

One such moment was when he was taking the emptied glass of a couple enjoying some old-style two straw banana split malts. Before he knew it, his feet landed where he hadn't expected, and the large man tripped, sending the glass to the floor with a loud crash. "Oh! s**t s**t shi--I mean crap, fudge, I-I'm sawry about that--"
 

[iloveyouDIE]

Millie was out on her own today as Jesus had a day off. Of course that meant she'd go out to eat all the things she wasn't supposed to and play dumb when he asked her about her day when she got home later.

The elderly woman was so happy to live in a city with such a wealth of quality pastries.

She was small, with white hair in a braid that was wrapped and pinned around her head, and wearing an embroidered sweater with a some sort of forest scene and a river with several beavers on a dam. She clutched her purse closely (a small beaver keychain dangling from the strap) and gasped an 'Oh My!' to see the man spill out right as she entered the shop.

"Do you need some help?" The glass had skittered near to her feet, "Do you have a broom and pan somewhere?"

medigel

 

[medigel]

"Aw, nah, nah, I got it, thank you," came the automatic stream of responses as he anxiously began nudging the glass away from the older woman with his shoes. In the back he could hear Mrs. Potosi asking in a loud voice what was up, and the cashier was already explaining. God damn it.

"Here lemme jus'..." Dawson scooted away and grabbed the broom and dust pan out of the closet just beyond the counter. "Get that outta yer way," he continued in a mumble as he began to sweep, head ducked.

"Second time in three days, dude," the cashier noted. "You alright? Shoes tied?"

"Yeah, all good, won' happen again...Sawry about that, ma'am. Still gettin' my head straight this mornin'."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Oh it's alright," Millie had a smiling face, "Just be careful you don't cut yourself. Everybody's got those days. But now when your finished you have to wait on me."

Dawson was given a wink.

medigel

 

[medigel]

"Yes'm. More like I got the whole week," he sighed, blind to the wink as he turned to dispose of the glass. "Nothin' been right since that whole...Blackfriar thing." Dawson didn't want to use the word werewolf, or whatever they said it was. The newspaper said it was just an assailant and some furries got involved or something, and he was almost inclined to believe it.

Problem was, he remembered claws hitting him. He still had a mark healing on his head.

"I was there," he explained, because damn if he didn't take every opportunity to go on about it for his own health. "Crazy stuff."

"Dude, get her order. Nobody's coming here to hear about the crazy fox thing."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Millie had hear all the gossip about Blackfriars. Everything from disease outbreak to wolfman syndrome to ACTUAL wolfmen. She'd seen facebook videos and instagram pictures and she was pretty sure she'd seen Nasir, the cook from Darlene's, with fake hair glued to his face in the back of an ambulance.

The elderly woman had an interested glint in her eye and leaned to Dawson with a conspiratorial whisper, "I'd love to hear about the crazy fox-thing."

medigel

 

[medigel]

Ignoring the cashier's sigh, Dawson flipped his notebook closed and slipped it in the front pocket of his uniform for the moment.

"Okay so, like, there's a woman there, n' she's got furry legs. Like anthro cosplay s**t except she says they're real," he explained emphatically, hand motions included to help paint a picture. "N' her ears are all furred out too, like, it just goes skin to fox, N-B-D. N' she casually just says oh yeah I'm a werefox or whatever scientifical word she wanna use for it, n' I'm like what the heck," oh, he wished he could use stronger language, "when did that happen, what's goin' on? N' this group's goin' off to the police about wolfman disease or whatever, so now I'm stuck like is this fer real? N' on top a'that," he huffed. "One guy adds oh yeah I can see through a bird's eye too."

Dawson threw up his hands at the woman, exasperated and confused.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Millie listened, leaning in a bit for the whole (slightly disjointed and confusing) retelling, even though it took her a moment to figure out what 'anthro cosplay' was (but she'd seen costumes on instagram so she worked it out). She parsed it with what she knew and what she'd heard but here it seems this young man had been there and that was very exciting.

Millie didn't at all tell him he was crazy, but looped an arm around his and turned him to walk her back to a pastry case and further away from listening ears.

"What else happened?" She asked, as if there could be more, as if the nutso tale he'd told was not enough.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Feeding off the sympathy, Dawson continued in a conspiring murmur. "Ma'am, I don' wanna upset yer stomach or nothin' at this fine establishment, so I'ma leave out the gory deets. But there was a lotta people hurt. not 'cause've the woman," he added quickly. "There was another dude who went full wolf or whatever n' he went nutso n' scratched up a buncha folks. I was tryna help the people who knew what they was doin', stop the bleedin' n' stuff.

"Man, it haunts me."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"That sounds very disturbing.." Millie nodded again with sympathy, small aged hands curled around his much bigger arm. The size contrast between the two of them was near comical, "But it's very admirable that you helped them."

"I've heard very strange things, I'll be honest," She said to him softly and pointed to something in a bakery case that looked appealing (may as well shop while talking right?), "But our town's always had it's quirks."

If a 'knowing twinkle' was a real thing, Millie had it in her eye.

"No chance there was a beaver person? I love beavers." She winked.

medigel

 

[medigel]

Dawson snorted. Quirks. But he was a little surprised the old woman wasn't as disturbed about it. Maybe growing up made you a little too accustomed to the strange.

"Uh...No, no beavers," he replied. "Just some wolfy things. N' a cat lady. N' a guy who could see through a bird's eyes."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Millie chuckled a bit, "Shame, though it sounds very exciting." Her nonchalance was curious, as if she wasn't truly taking it seriously or she was and she was just so okay with it.

"Are you new in town?"

medigel

 

[medigel]

"How'd ya guess," he said with a sigh. "Came up here 'bout...seven months ago now."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Been here my whole life." She smiled, motioning to all of her, from beaver shirt to loafers. "So don't you fret too much. Everything will be fine."

Millie squeezed his arm, "Now take a breath. And get me some of those cupcakes.." She made a face as if she were being naughty ordering them, "Just 3 please.. And then I'll force you to sit with me a moment, even if your coworker won't appreciate it."

medigel

 

[medigel]

If nothing else, the chill factor emanating from her helped some. Bobbing his head, Dawson let the woman take her seat, took a breath as asked, and then returned to the counter. By now his coworker was out, thankfully, though there were a few more customers to handle before she could be rejoined.

After taking care of them, he retrieved the three cupcakes as requested and plopped down across from the woman, exhaling. "I shouldn' be takin' up yer time like this, ma'am."

iloveyouDIE