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 Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 1:24 pm
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"You know, there were a lot of people in my parents' neighborhood with dogs, but I never once saw a tiger," Eli admitted in an even sort of voice as he took the sandwich. The cutting board was already on the counter in front of him. Without so much as another argument, he set it down to de-crust.
"It'll be like a side dish, I suppose." Maybe if he cut the crusts up into even smaller pieces, they could pass for something like a vegetable. A handful green bean sized and a handful corn sized, perhaps... Wait, why was he thinking so hard about this?
"How's this?" he asked, setting the sandwich aside. "Platable?" And even though he'd just mentally chided himself for going too far, he began to chop up the crust, anyway.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 3:37 pm
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Oliver watched the sandwich with a quiet sort of interest, the awe-inspired gaze an artist gave their masterpiece, their magnum opus. "You're an iron chef, Elliot." Oliver whispered dramatically, and yet so earnestly... it didn't seem dramatic at all, at least to anyone who wasn't Oliver himself. God, he looked so tired.
"I didn't even think to cut the crust up like that." Vigorously, he slathered up another sandwich. "Look, I made a smiley face." He presented the piece of bread before spreading the knife over his art piece. "It wouldn't of mattered. They wouldn't of seen it. But it's symbolic too." He looked over, "The happiness is on the inside."
A number of sandwiches later, it was solely up to Elliot to finish his side of the deal. The clock was bright with the time, 3:46 AM. Ollie yawned.
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Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 7:16 am
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"I'm an iron chef..." Eli repeated, de-crusting another sandwich like he believed those words. Funny what someone else's exhausted ramblings could do, how easily the atmosphere could be influenced to the point where it sounded totally normal. "I like that smiley face. I don't think I've seen anyone else put this much heart into a sandwich before."
Then again, he hadn't seen anyone else making early, early morning sandwiches for raccoons, either. That was another first.
"I've got this, don't worry," he assured, grabbing three paper plates from the cabinet to finish their work. In the middle of each plate he made sandwich stacks, two per-raccoon, and on either side added the small and medium sized crust bites in their own little piles. Perfect, absolutely perfect.
"What do you think?"
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 6:11 am
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Oliver went to wash the knife off in the sink, thought better of it, and started to lick the remaining peanut butter off himself. Thankfully it was just a butter knife, but Oliver did have a tendency to get clumsy the sleepier he was. When Elliot got the plates out, he knew this meant absolute business.
"Oh my god." He murmured around the knife, peanut butter smeared unceremoniously on the corners of his mouth, "You even... plated them. You are an iron chef." Yes, because this was obviously what set Eli apart from the common man. His culinary skills were starting to surpass that of humanity itself. "They'd be so amazed if they were capable of amazement. Hurry, before they scratch the door." Or worst--leave
Thankfully (or not so thankfully) the shadows beyond the patio door started to move at their nearby presence, Oliver holding two plates while he left the third for Eli. The scratching became hasty again, the trio obviously concerned with what the silly humans had brought back for them.
Well, human, not humans. Oliver was a large, ugly, pink raccoon to them apparently, not that Oliver knew that for sure.
"I'll feed them." He told Eli, "And then we can sleep. Maybe we're already sleeping? This feels like a dream..." He took a seat down by the door again, eyes locking with the glowing lights outside. "Oh, sorry... I don't wanna leave you out, but Bukowski is powerful. He might hurt you."
'Bukowski' lumbered outside like a clumsy oaf.
"I've decided the other one," he pointed "Is Long John. I need you to help me with the third one. Something cute, but fierce. It needs to melt your heart as well as your resolve."
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Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 8:53 am
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If the trio had left, Eli would've been legitimately disappointed. After all the time spent making them sandwiches and dolling up their plates, they better still be around to enjoy it.
"Please, I'm not even offended." The last thing Eli wanted was to get ******** up by a few half-wild raccoons. "It's all up to you now. Feed them so we can get to bed. Trust me, we're not there yet." Did he want to be? Yes, absolutely. It was disgustingly early and he was tired, but it would be wrong to deny he was actually having fun spending time with Ollie, even doing something like this.
"Oh, Long John, I like that," he said, hand at his chin. As silly as it was, he seemed to be putting real thought into a name for the third one. Cute but fierce, spunky but sweet.... "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "What about Yazmin?"
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Posted: Mon May 29, 2017 12:22 pm
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"Yazmin... I like it." He looked at the trio; Bukowski, Yazmin and Long John... what a crew. "You have one final task, Elliot. If Pascal wakes up, you need to be the buffer. Between the three of them... he won't survive." Pascal probably would rip them to shreds actually, if he has a secret heart of steel under his dopey exterior.
Plates in tow, Oliver made his way over to the door, opening it only when he was properly seated. The raccoons seemed tentative to go inside; in fact, most of them were staring wearily at Elliot, despite the waggling of their snouts. Ollie had the plates laid out in front of him; eventually it was too much, and the trio woggling in for the kill, Bukowski surprising Ollie as he let Yazmin go first, and then Long John, and then himself...
"Wow," Ollie said, surrounded by raccoons, "Bukowski... he's actually like a father, not a villain." He gave him a lofty pat on the head; none of the raccoons seemed to mind Oliver's presence anyway. Yazmin had started in on the cubed crust chunks, Johnny had run off with the sandwich portion...
"I think we've done a really swell thing, Ellie."
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 9:57 am
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In all fairness, Eli had a feeling if Pascal did show up, he probably wouldn't know what to do with himself. Attacking would be the last thing on his mind. Even so, he was glad he hadn't. Keep sleeping, little buddy, keep sleeping.
"I can't believe we have raccoons in our house," he said, genuinely and with a touch of wonder. "Actual wild raccoons, I mean."
Watching them eat made the whole of this weird adventure feel worth it somehow. Seeing Yazmin go straight for the crust he'd spent far too much time cutting into even chunks was probably the best, even if Long John's awkward, two-legged wobble run was the most endearing thing he'd ever witnessed. And Bukowski, how could anyone doubt a raccoon of that caliber...
"I think you're right, Ollie."
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 2:26 pm
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Oliver watched them for what felt like ages, but when the trio of them left the entire moment felt like seconds instead. They were gone as quickly as they had come, but—? Was that a knowing glance from Bukowski? The way he looked over his shoulder, eyes full of emotion and gratitude? And then they were gone and there was nothing to show for it, sans the boy sitting on the floor surrounded by three cleaned plates.
"They know," Oliver said, "They'll come back, but when it's time, they'll help us out too." Whether or not this had any semblance of truth was subjected, but in his sleep deprived state, Oliver seemed to believe it. "Friends like that are friends for life, Elliot." That might have had a shred more of truth. Maybe.
He shivered a little when the nighttime breeze blew threw the open doorway. "I'm really tired..."
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:55 pm
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Reality hadn't quite set in yet, not really, and Eli was prepared to believe everything Ollie had to say and more. If never hurt to have connections, that was something his parents had taught him, if nothing else at all. Having connections to nature would probably help out at some point too then, if they ever needed something likes spies or messengers and had enough sandwiches to keep the rouge band fat and happy and on their side.
Or, well, if friends like that were friends for life, then maybe they wouldn't always need to have sandwiches ready. Maybe only sometimes.
"C'mon Ollie," he said, grunting as he stood up from the floor. His legs were wobbly and tired and didn't really want to support him. In fact, he pushed the door closed and locked it, but left the cleaned plates where they lay. That was a problem for future Eli.
With a small, affectionate sort of smile, he held his hand out to help Oliver up. "Let's go to bed."
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:17 pm
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Ollie meanwhile wasn't much of a slob; he was lazy in certain aspects of his life, but leaving dirty dishes out for the Lord to see wasn't one of them. They were clean though, and if they did happen to have any crumbs he knew they'd be gone by the morning anyway, thanks to his and Elliot's own trio of trouble.
"Yeah..." He stared at the hand with a lengthy consideration, and then gently accepted the help up. Like Eli, his legs felt wobbly and weak and they protested heavily, but his entire body was protesting at this point, so he could deal with it. "My head's starting to hurt a little." yawn "Bed sounds nice..."
Nosey peeked around the corner and trilled inquisitively.
"Nosey no shh." Ollie put his finger to his mouth, "You'll wake up the beast." Presumably, the beast was Pascal. "C'mon Eli, we better hurry."
They had to beat the sun, at least.
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