Fallen, Scene 3

"Fallen, Scene 1"  [ASR]

"Fallen, Scene 2"  [ASR]



FALLEN, SCENE 3



Further into the town, the buildings began to cluster. Lines of shops huddled together, four to six in a set. The effect was a little claustrophobic.

The signs were strange and the neighboring shops unrelated; Ryan discerned no logic from their placement. The two boys asked Azrael questions faster than he managed to answer them.

Barber Shop, one sign announced, the words being sliced through by a giant pair of scissors. Nearby, stuffed animals, odd trinkets, and the like decorated the windows of a store labeled Amy’s Gifts and Goodies. An As Seen On TV store sat mashed in between. Television, Azrael explained, was a box for entertaining humans. Why buy a gift, get your haircut, and play with a television all in the same trip? Ryan was both befuddled and fascinated by humans.

The three wandered about, looking at everything, watching the humans, and Azrael grew comfortable enough to let the boys stray within the shopping center.

Ryan chose the As Seen On TV store, since he wanted to play with a TV himself. He was disappointed though—no televisions were found in the store. However, several objects interested him. For some reason, humans put leaves in a bowl and spun them around. One called “PediPaws” confused him, with a strange stick attacking a paw similar to his own Zevt one. He never figured that one out, deciding he would be better off moving on.

He walked out of the store, and a sweet, warm scent floated on the air past him, demanding to be investigated. He longed to change to Zevt, but he knew—instinctively, as well as because he had been admonished—not to let the humans see Ryan-Zevt. He glanced around. Not seeing his father or cousin, he followed the aroma alone.

With tempting tendrils pulling him along, the scent strengthened as he approached a comic looking building called The Waffle Inn. It featured a circular man with a strange gridded face dancing on top of the store.

A food store! Ryan thought, sniffing. Now this is something I could understand. He licked his lips and entered.

“Have a seat anywhere, hun,” announced a croaky woman when he stood in the doorway for a few moments wondering what to do. He glanced at her, but she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him. Her curly white hair had a strange green tint to it. Combined with her buggy eyes magnified by thick glasses, her flat nose, and her wide mouth, she appeared to be a human form of a bullfrog. As a Zevt, Ryan sometimes ate bullfrogs for snacks.

He sat at a booth and gazed at the menu, awestruck by his choices. He recognized the sultry scent he had followed from a stack of gridded cakes on someone else’s table. The menu called them “waffles.” He had to have one. He looked around, wondering how to get someone to bring him some.

His nose found her just before his eyes did. Beth, both of his senses remembered. The rain-and-daffodils scent rode under the current of the food aroma, but the smell of the wildness was oppressed. Her ferocity seemed intensified in the frilly yellow apron and hat uniform.

“What would you like to drink?” Beth barked at him. He looked up at her, confused.

“What are my options?” he asked haltingly, praying it was an acceptable question. He chose Sprite out of her list. She nodded and walked away. Had she not recognized him, he wondered.

He stared after her, thinking her a lovely human. He admired her petite figure, her fiery dark eyes, her soft blonde hair that fell to her shoulders. Ryan wondered what it would be like to have a human friend, or even if that was allowed. He knew the older Serovts had stories of human friends, but the pups were kept away from humans, so none of them had ever even met one.

“Pull that hair up!” Bullfrog Lady croaked at his waitress. She did as she was told, and he noticed a strange green leaf like symbol on the back of her neck. His skin tingled with a sense of knowing—yet he could not seem to retrieve that knowledge to use it. It stayed at the back of his mind, tantalizing him.

Beth headed back toward him to bring him his drink, and he hastily dropped his eyes back to his menu. She set a glass of clear liquid in front of him as he requested waffles.

He sniffed the glass carefully, disappointed at its watery appearance. The scent intrigued him however. He detected acid. He savored the cool damp of the glass in his hands before he took a sip.

Fizzz—he spluttered the liquid back up and out of his nose. The unexpected tingling sensation threw him for a loop. His eyes watered, nostrils burned, and his tongue still buzzed. He coughed a bit and took a second sip.

He managed not to sneeze the drink back up a second time, but his tongue and throat hummed with the experience.

Ryan licked his lips. Ultimately, he decided Sprite was a good drink. He enjoyed the citrus, and, once he got used to it, the bubbles.

“You are Beth, right?” Ryan asked as she set his waffles in front of him.

“Good job,” she snapped, “you can read a name tag. Do you need anything else?”

Ryan shook his head, not knowing why he was chastised. However, his shame was forgotten as he wolfed down his waffles, enjoying their sweet, buttery taste. They were the best thing he had ever eaten, he decided. Even better than bullfrogs.

Beth walked by to check on her tables.

“I thought you worked in the General Store,” Ryan said conversationally. She frowned at him.

“I was just giving Dirk a break. What, are you a stalker or something?”

Ryan wondered how to answer. He stalked prey when he hunted, but he did not think she meant stalker as a good thing.

“I saw you in there, is all.”

“Whatever,” she snorted. “Don’t you have anything better to do than bothering strange women? I hope you are enjoying your waffles.”

He felt rejected—something he was not used to. In the colony, everyone knew who him, and he garnered a great deal of respect because his father’s status as Alpha. Members gave him wide berth, and his fun loving personality made him likable.

The cute waitress stamped away. He thought about her leaf tattoo on her neck. He was sure it meant something. Glancing down at his own marking, a stylized tree on the inside of his left wrist, he wondered if humans received a mark at birth the way Serovts did. Ryan decided he needed to ask his father later.

He shook away his thoughts, and then realized he needed to leave money in exchange for the food. The people at the table in front of him had left payment on the table, so he figured he ought to do the same. His father had given him some of the paper and metals so he could learn how to spend it. Well, today would not be the day, he supposed as he threw the wad of several bills marked with the number twenty onto the table. He hoped the amount would be enough to cover his meal.