[PRP] A Seafarer He's Not {Complete}

[Snoofington]

A Seafarer He's Not

Who: Alfons, Ezekiel (+bottle), Inge, Oxiin
When: Midday, just a little after noon
Where: Aimes Circle
Weather: Balmy and humid but a high chance for rain

"I need your help, for a little while."

"You had a week's worth of my help, I thought you wouldn't want a second more?"

"It's not at the house! I need to do something for work in a crowded place, I don't want to be trampled. Are you able?"

At this time, as he stood in front of the bulletin board at the center of town, Alfons could feel every mental blow he gave himself for even bothering to ask such a thing, much less of that man. Still, there he was, staring at sheets of paper and jotting down notes on a small clipboard, muttering to himself.

The heat didn't help his attitude but Ezekiel standing so aloofly right next to him was really killing him. "Move," he would have to say occasionally, if a word or sheet he needed to see was blocked. No matter how many times he asked, though, Ezekiel would always settle himself in a new place he needed to look at. The doctor seemed dazed and Alfons was certain it was on purpose; the salty air didn't smell as good as his companion was making it out to be, especially not when it stuck and clung to you and you would smell like musty ocean until you had a wash.

All the while, he was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Clearly there were tons of people around, some even walking up and catching a glance at the board over his shoulder, but that wasn't what was making him uncomfortable. It wasn't as though someone was staring him in the back, oh no, it were as though there was a third presence among their two-person group and he couldn't pinpoint where or why. If he asked Ezekiel about such things, he would likely make fun of him or call him a schizophrenic, though his own knowledge on that diagnosis was iffy.

Whatever the case, he attempted to continue on with his writing, even when a tiny droplet spattered on the paper. The sky was still relatively clear but it could be smelled amidst the salt; rain.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

The problem of Oxiin’s clothing was becoming quite a bother for the sea-faring teenager. It wasn’t that the little rust child had any qualms with wearing the oversized t-shirts and baggy trousers – in fact he seemed to like the fact it covered his crippled arm – it was the reactions of those around him that irked Inge.

Whenever out and about in Aimes every passer by seemed to see the hand-me-downs and find it in their hearts to pass judgement: several times already he’d received withering stares and obnoxious tuts. Once he’d even confronted one rude woman about it, he wasn’t the aggressive sort but there was only so much he could take, and she’d gone off on one about how it was totally irresponsible to be a father at such a young age and the poor quality of his son’s clothes was outrageous. Getting new clothes for Oxiin wouldn’t relieve all of the comments, but at least if he did have to pretend to have sired Oxiin he could make it appear as though he was looking after his ‘son’. It was for that reason that he was here in Aimes circle looking at the notice board for any advertisements regarding children’s clothing going cheap.

Oxiin however had no desire to be with his young ‘father’. He wasn’t the social type anyway and being in such a crowded area with too many people bustling around was his personal idea of the worst outing ever. For that reason he was tugging at Inge’s hand with all the might his small frame could muster.

“I don’t want new clothes. Let’s go home.”

Unfortunately for Oxiin the reactions of the numerous people who’d scorned Inge were far outweighing his pity for his charge and he batted away the protests and continued scouring the chaotic board for deals. Thus he could do naught but resort to a child’s most potent weapon of disruption – stropping. Thus, with a sour pout on his face Oxiin stomped a foot. “I want to go home now..!” He was ignored again and so the volume and dramatic actions were cranked up a bit – his voice turning into a slight howl and his fist balled into a hard knot as he snatched his hand away from Inge’s.

“Take. Me. HOME!”

“Oxiin. Behave... People are looking. We won’t be long.”

Not used to being so carelessly ignored the dustling was about to release a screech of moody child anger when an ominous feeling washed over him. It was almost like a cool breeze hissing over his skin and instantly the thunder was sucked out of his and replaced by goose bumps... Freaked out he stumbled backwards gripping the neat trousers of another man, who seemed to be taking notes from the board.

“Oxiin,” yelped his carer; noticing the child’s stumble and instantly leaving his task to aid him regardless of the fact it appeared to be the child’s own fault for throwing a hissy fit.

“Sorry, he’s just a little bit grouchy today... No harm done, right?”  

[Snoofington]

On top of Ezekiel still not situating himself in an advantageous place for Alfons' work, there now seemed to be an unruly child coming their way. He refused to look up and acknowledge it, keeping his eyes locked towards his notepad and scribbling away. Hardly anything was of genuine interest but fact checking was fact checking and he had been asked to do this, so he was putting down things such as the exact weight of the largest fish caught this year, how many boats so and so had and the current state of the fish market between Aimes and the rest of the continent.

Complete drivel.

Another light tap sounded as a drop of water hit some other part of his paper, just as he felt a large amount of weight be applied to his slacks. If not for the suspenders he wore, they would likely have been pulled down to his ankles.

His expression shifted from annoyed to horrified in almost an instance but the change felt slow to him; as if the other people and even the world had disappeared from around him and there was only this boy, this dirty looking boy, clutching hold of his pants and looking as though he were about to be sick all over his polished shoes.

"Oxiin!" came a nearby yelp but it sounded like it was miles off. All sounds were muted but the area was coming into focus again, however bleary. It felt like it was taking hours for things to right themselves but he watched as Ezekiel stepped in front of Alfons and patted his shoulder and suddenly sound returned all at once, in a loud fwoosh of increasing volume.

"Are you alright, there?" the doctor moved beside Oxiin and knelt down, along with what seemed to be his care taker--father?--and hoisted the boy up. The bottle shifted agitatedly against the inside of his pocket.

"Sorry, he's just a little bit grouchy today... No harm done, right?"

Alfons felt a large vein throb against his temple but his expression only revealed him feeling dazed. For a few seconds, there was a terribly awkward silence that blanketed the four of them before he mustered a response. Placing the clipboard underneath his arm and sliding the pencil behind his ear, he bent down and began straightening out his pant leg. Rusty flecks dropped off and he made a quiet sigh of disgust.

"...Children shouldn't go around touching people they don't know." Clearly Alfons was oblivious to why, exactly, the boy had grabbed hold of him at all but Ezekiel had seen the stumble.

"He tripped," in light of Oxiin's presence, he left out any crude insult directed towards the blond. "It was an accident." Doctor Sykes tried to give Inge a reassuring smile that there was, indeed, no harm done but it ended up looking more sympathetic than anything.

"Make sure it doesn't happen... again...." Alfons' brown eyes locked onto the child's arm, the right one. What was wrong with it? Was it gimpy? Injured? A sudden chill froze him stiff and he was reminded of the bottle and was assured he felt its presence around. As more droplets began to fall, flattening some pieces of his fluffy hair, he turned abruptly to Ezekiel.

"...I smell dog."  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

The slightly apologetic smile on Inge’s face curdled slightly with the overreaction of the man. Kids were kids; surely the man knew that at worst Oxiin’s lurch for him was an immature joke, it wasn’t as if it’d hurt and he’d already explained it was an accident anyway... Yet he was still being uppity about it and acted almost disgusted as he brushed the tiniest flakes of rust off his trouser leg. Such a fuss over a trivial mess – Inge’s room had the rust scattered all over it; Oxiin moulted almost as badly as a cat would.

Fortunately the man accompanying the person Oxiin had tripped onto was less over the top about the situation and gave the dustling carer a sympathetic look. Inge muttered another faint apology before reaching for Oxiin’s hand, they’d probably cut their hunt for clothes short... Just one final glance at the notice board then they could make their exit – before the heavens opened onto them.

Oxiin however was still reeling from the ominous aura surrounding the men. He’d felt nothing really like it before – the only thing he could relate to it was when the lamps were turned off at night, Inge was asleep and Oxiin could hear the groaning of the boat in the swell and he’d tremble as his mind forged monsters clawing at the belly of the boat. But even so, that fear was minute compared to the aversion that was gnawing at him now. As his deep copper eyes stared at them in a concoction of intriguing and horror and managed to narrow down the source... It wasn’t the prissy man he’d fallen on, but the other man – the one who seemed nicer; he was sporting a hal-smile as Inge apologised...

Why did he feel so uneasy? Oxiin glanced at his pa. No. Inge seemed perfectly normal; admittedly slightly flustered as the first spots of rain dive-bombed through the humid air, but nothing that portrayed him experiencing anything close to what Oxiin was...

“You’re scary,” mewed the dustling very uncharacteristically, shuffling into the safety of the teen’s shadow... Eyes never leaving the intimidating man.  

[Snoofington]

It might have seemed crazy to anyone else, but a mess on Alfons' clothes to him was just as terrible as an actual injury. Perhaps his priorities were skewed but he couldn't help it. After all, it wasn't a choice of his to be as uppity as he was, it was a clinical condition that he could do nothing for but speak to Ezekiel occasionally and find some natural remedies for, which usually equated to some incense to sooth himself that then backfired as soon as he spilled some of the resulting ash.

Ezekiel was still staring confusedly at Alfons after he mentioned smelling dog; clearly there weren't any dogs around, not even an animal to be seen at that moment. "Maybe you're just not used to the sea air for so long?" As far as the doctor knew, it had been some time since Alfons had been out for several hours. The last actual time had to have been when he found the bottle, but that wasn't even in Aimes, but Amies, and far from the shoreline at that. The blond just shook his head, glanced over Inge and Oxiin once more, and then returned to his scrawling.

"You're scary."

He barely heard the small boy speak, which caused Ezekiel to do a double take. "I'm sorry?" The kid's words registered right after he asked for a repetition. Scary? That was something he hadn't gotten before and he was puzzled, looking between the boy and Alfons. Was he really referring to him and not his patient?

Kneeling down, Ezekiel attempted to make himself appear more palatable but was greeted with the smell of dog. He was beginning to get soaked, as well, but didn't seem bothered unlike Alfons who was muttering up a very uncouth storm and kept switching between writing and holding the notepad over his head as a makeshift umbrella. A few sniffs to the air alerted Ezekiel that the smell of dog was very close, possibly right on his person.

Holding up a finger to give pause to Oxiin, whatever he may have thought of doing, Ezekiel reached into his pocket and pulled out the dark blue bottle and held it close to his face, attempting to give it a discreet sniff. Alfons cursed in the background as the rain hit against the glass bottle. It smelled like wet dog.

Over at the bulletin board, Alfons could feel eyes on him once again. Those eyes. The eyes he hated. He turned to Ezekiel to let him know, as well as suggest the two of them leave for a while to wait out the rain, but his jaw dropped open and he lost his ability to speak. Rain steadily increasing in strength and velocity was the only sound for a few moment before the neurotic blond belted out "YOU BROUGHT THAT THING!?" his voice echoed and a few people stopped walking.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Despite still trying to focus on the notice board for some cheap clothes Inge’s attention was once more drawn away by the child holding his hand. However, this second time wasn’t due to screeching and the stamping of feet, but instead because Oxiin was now tightly pressed against him and his small hand was gripping his like it was a precious lifeline. “Oxiin, you alright?” He murmured, just as the child said something to the more understanding of the two men Oxiin had managed to crash into. Perplexed he looked for what the child could find so terrifying about the man, it had to be something pretty drastic; never before had he seen Oxiin so scared... However nothing revealed itself to the teen, the other man seemed to be totally normal; no hidden weapons, no scary disfigurements, just a totally mundane guy with nothing out of the ordinary.

That was until he pulled the bottle out of his pocket.

At the sight of the familiar blown glass object Inge sucked in a deep breath. Only a few weeks ago he’d been owner to a bottle just like that – only his had been shrouded in a mist of rust... This guy’s bottle was darker with... Eyes? Yes they were definitely eyes glaring out of the shiny glass surface. It was no wonder Oxiin was intimidated by it... Though Inge was curious to how Oxiin knew of the bottle’s presence before the man had actually withdrawn it... Perhaps it was due to the fact Oxiin had come out of a similar bottle. This was the second encounter he’d had with another bottle owner. The first had been with Rose on the cliff tops of the mainland... Perhaps the curious child-bearing items were more common than he first thought.

Oxiin actually whimpered a bit when the bottle came into plain view... So it wasn’t the man that was causing this gut panic, but that... That thing. Another shudder ran down his small frame. "YOU BROUGHT THAT THING!?" Apparently the stuffy man was just as uncomfortable as he was.

“What is it?” He asked warily, tentatively sniffing the musty scent that was beginning to hang thick in the rain clogged air.
 

[Snoofington]

It took Alfons every ounce of his strength not to belt out that it was a terrible, evil bottle that wouldn't leave him alone or stop staring at him. The eyes weren't really there, of course, ..not yet, anyway, it was just a blank, blue, blown glass bottle that he had rescued from Deith Forest. Totally average, right?

"It's no--" he started, stopping himself and shaking his head. He didn't have time to answer questions, he needed to fact check and get back to Dodge with some decent potential story material, this was what he was here for and now it was pouring. He had to try and keep up.

Ezekiel shrugged slightly at the child's question, holding it up toward whatever light there was. Thunder went off in the distance and he felt it reverberate within the blue glass, as if the bottle were shivering or, even, growling. What it was, he didn't really know. It seemed the bottle was intimidating to both Alfons and the boy but the doctor couldn't wrap his head around why.

"I'm not really sure, ...Oxiin?" he looked up at both the boy and his would-be "father" before eyeing the bottle more, bringing it to eye level with the child, "Is this what was scaring you?" The rain continued to pick up and he was soaked. Alfons, too, but he was on a mission--it was still obvious he was bothered, though, as he would occasionally shake himself off like a dog and continue writing. Once the job was finished he would probably yell at Ezekiel to take him home so he could have a quick warm bath and a change of clothes.

As the storm got closer, many areas of light flashing in the cloudy sky, the thunder was still far off. Still, every time one sounded off, the bottle vibrated in retaliation, almost as if it were challenging the noise. Ezekiel had his head turned to watch Alfons when two ghostly red eyes flashed from within the bottle, locked on Oxiin's own browns, before disappearing again. The bottle was agitated--it didn't like this situation one bit.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

This situation was becoming ever so interesting to the teenager. Evidently neither of the men knew what was to come from the spooky looking bottle – they were as clueless, just as he had been. After all, who would even begin to expect a child coming from a bottle? However, he was plagued by a dilemma. Should he offer his advice to the pair, possibly prepare them for what could be the biggest shock of their lives? (Especially since one them already acted like he hated kids) Or should he remain quiet and allow nature, if you could call it that, to take its course – just as it had been with him?

His face reflected this mental weigh-up of the options as it twisted from recognition to a reluctant thoughtful expression. Best to keep quiet for now, nobody had actually asked him yet. Oxiin seemed most interested in the bottle; he knew of his origins, but it hadn’t clicked that this could be another of his kind yet...

In reply to the man’s query Oxiin nodded reluctantly. He didn’t like admitting that the small actually harmless object inspired such a gut churning reaction but at the same time he couldn’t deny the horror that every flare of the eyes induced. “It’s like it’s looking at me.” He replied quietly, voice nearly being swallowed by the crack of thunder fast approaching the city. In fact, even the familiar thrill of an oncoming storm wasn’t raising his spirits. He’d been born in the heart of a maelstrom but now in the presence of the ominous object the thunder was like roar of a savage animal and his knobbly knees were almost knocking together in pathetic fright.

Inge squeezed Oxiin’s hand to reassure the child, but it seemed to be having little effect. When in reply the dustling looked up at him he had the appearance of a drenched and terrified house cat caught in the rain – eyes wide and his auburn hair plastered to his head. Perhaps making a move would be wise – he being a fisherman was used to being drenched by freezing sea spray, but this downpour probably wasn’t so miniscule to the child.. He could catch a cold and Jeremiah would be mortified if he let his 'lucky charm' get ill... Perhaps...

“It’s not really sensible to stand out here in the rain... There’s a cafe just over there. If you want? Just to dry off before you go home and...” He glanced at the sodden notes the man was making... “You could rewrite that list before the ink runs?”  

[Snoofington]

The kid could feel it, too; the bottle's eyes. He frowned deeply, glaring at Ezekiel for being so disbelieving. The entire week he had been stuck in the house with him, Ezekiel had been very off putting and dismissive but this was the validation he had been looking for, had wanted so badly.

Had needed. Even if it was just from a child.

"It's always looking at me," Alfons retorted, twisting the clipboard and knocking Ezekiel on the top of his head. Point made.

The green haired man sighed agitatedly, pocketing the bottle just as Inge began to speak. Rain was falling faster and harder than ever, thunder rolling in with the growing maelstrom. The young parent was absolutely right and both men knew it--Alfons was just stubborn and Ezekiel had gotten distracted. In point of fact, there was no downside to the offer besides company they might not approve of but they didn't care. Even Alfons wasn't that bothered and he took one more calculating glance to the bulletin board, eyes flying as he skimmed through.

"Sure," the tone he used was dismissive, as if it were a terrible idea, but he turned and began making his way toward the cafe he assumed Inge was referring to.

Ezekiel got back on his feet and straightened his coat but huffed when he realized how horribly soaked it was. Hopefully the place would be warm. He would be sure to offer the two young ones some nourishment for the trouble of scaring them and then so gallantly directing them to a dry spot.

"So, I know your name--Oxiin," he held a hand toward the boy after they were all walking but didn't have it out long, just enough for a shake if the boy wanted, "But not yours. I'm Ezekiel and the troublesome one is Alfons--sorry about him." For some reason, it felt weird not to introduce the bottle but what would one really say?

Hello, there, I'm a doctor, my associate works for the local newspaper and we've got this weird bottle here that scares your kid. What a cheeky trio we are!  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

With the decision to move somewhere dry being announced, Oxiin also decided that this was his opportunity to put some distance between himself and the dreaded bottle. Evidently the two adults didn’t experience the same gut churning fear and sticking near his oblivious carer wasn’t helping him in the slightest. Thus, when the man, Ezekiel, offered him a more formal greeting he curtly bobbed his head and sped up without getting into a conversation; child-length legs working overtime to catch up to the other man – the one who was apparently called Alfons. Despite being grumpy and a tad strange he could relate to the blond headed male’s terror, thus making him the best person to stick to whilst Inge conversed with the bottle barer.

“Hey, mister. Wait up,” he yelped, feet splashing in the fast forming puddles as he tried to sidle next to him.

What was with this guy and acting really indifferent? He’d been all silent earlier too – just fervently making his notes off the notice board. He’d even acted slightly snooty when Inge had suggested they go to the cafe... Now that he had escaped the aura of the bottle Oxiin’s demanding nature slid back into existence and he grabbed the sleeve of the man just before he entered the cafe, giving it a hard yank. “Hey!” The Dust’s face was fully expressing his annoyance now. Pout firmly placed on his lips and thin brows crunched into a frown. Oxiin did not like to be ignored!

The fisherman teen winced as his child’s rude streak suddenly reappeared and his toddled off after Alfons...

Understanding and having some sort of control over the child was near impossible!! Only a minute ago Oxiin had been clinging to him with a death grip! Perhaps his odd nature was due to the fact he wasn’t human? He shook that thought from his mind. No. He couldn’t hold that as an excuse. Human children were just as volatile and unruly, if not more so – he knew that well from his orphanage upbringing! However, he couldn’t help but feel as though all this acting up was making him appear to be a bad parent in front of Ezekiel. Yet his apology came almost simultaneous to the wacky haired man’s excuse regarding his companion’s offish behaviour.

“Yeah, it is Oxiin... Sorry about him-“ he chuckled slightly as they spoke the later part in unison.. “I’m Inge.” He offered his hand, unlike Oxiin he would try to meet this exchange of names polite...  

[Snoofington]

Anything to distance himself from the bottle.

Alfons had taken the lead and the rain and thunder giving him hearing problems; with how quickly he got away from the group, he didn't notice the molting boy following him, much less calling his attention. It wasn't until the two reached the door to the cafe and Oxiin grabbed a hold of his shirt sleeve that he became aware. He tensed, froze up and glowered sourly at the child, easing up only when he was sure that he wasn't being grabbed by that hand.

"What?" he hissed, though kept his voice quiet. It wouldn't be good to stir up attention in a small, crowded place like the cafe. Then he might really be pegged as insane. He already felt like he was.

Alfons tugged his arm, not intending to throw the boy off but to direct him further inside. Because Ezekiel had the bottle, he was going to sit at a completely different table than he and Inge. Whether the boy joined him or not was the kid's purgative, not his, and he didn't really care either way so long as he kept that nasty, shedding arm away from him.

Ezekiel also found the tandem apology amusing and smirked, hand lightly against his pocket, cradling the bottle inside. "Inge, then," he nodded, filing away that face and name along with Oxiin's. It was probably he wouldn't need it in the future but Amies was also a fairly small place and it was easy to run into people again, so he might as well remember. "Oxiin seems to have taken a liking to Alfons...?" Ezekiel figured it had something to do with the bottle. The boy had initially clutched Alfons when he first "sensed" it, as it were, and he pegged Ezekiel as the scary one. Since he was still holding onto the bottle himself, and so close to the child's parent, it stood to reason that he was probably tagging along with Alfons out of necessity rather than interest.

At a small booth, Alfons shifted uncomfortably. There was a menu in front of him that he fingered through with one hand but he was agitatedly wondering when the kid was going to release him. Clipboard and pen had been set on one side of the table, thoroughly moist and probably going to leave a small puddle. Some how, the ink wasn't running so much that his notes had become illegible but it was bleeding through to other pages and making the words look all long and scraggly. He wouldn't be able to rewrite them in the cafe but he could rewrite them later when he got back home. His brown eyes met Ezekiel's violet ones when he and Inge arrived and Alfons held up his hand to stop him.

"You're going to sit there," he motioned toward a small, two person table on the other side of the cafe, "I don't want that thing near me."

A sigh. "You're a piece of work," but he didn't fight it, "Inge, I imagine you'd like to sit with Oxiin, so I'll leave the three of you until we're all nice and dry." Ezekiel gave an acknowledging smile to both the child and guardian, reserving a scowl for Alfons before he crossed over and dropped himself heavily into the chair as instructed.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

The snappish retort of the man made Oxiin quite displeased. First the man ignored him, and then he had a go at him for trying to prevent him from charging off! All he wanted was to stick to the older man and perhaps tell him that he wasn’t stupid for being petrified of the bottle, comfort between whimps... However, rather than his original – quite comforting words – he simply let go of Alfon’s arm and looked disgruntled. “Nothing; just wanted you to wait up.” Yet, upon entering the cosy atmosphere of the cafe he also lowered his voice and didn’t make such a fuss. It wouldn’t do him any good to stir up attention in a small place like this. Inge was touchier about him showing up in situations like this – more likely to haul him off by his ear and play the bad cop...

“I wouldn’t say he’s fond of him, just an alligence due to circumstances,” Inge chucked, as they crossed to the cafe, his head bowed against the lashes of rain now hurtling from the heavens.

Promptly he ducked inside the cafe, holding the door open for his sodden companion. They were both thoroughly soaked and Inge was definitely dripping all over the floor. He glanced over to where Oxiin and Alfons were seated – their swift movements seemed to have spared them from getting as wet as he and Ezekiel... He smiled slightly, at least that meant Oxiin wouldn’t complain. Adding whiney to the list of faults he had already exhibited in front of the two men would pretty much be the cherry on the top of the cake...

Oxiin greeted his father with a brief smile but as the other man approached alongside him it fermented to a scowl. Luckily Alfons had no qualms about sending his companion away and as Ezekiel conceded and moved to the opposite side of the cafe Oxiin piped up. “I want some coffee.”

Raising a brow Inge coughed slightly. “Pardon?”

“I want a coffee.” Repeated Oxiin, holding out the menu and deftly pointing it out.

Inge frowned. He was determined to install some manners in the child before his status as a terrible parent truely became set in stone. “What do you say when we would like something?”

Oxiin pouted slightly, scratching his arm and causing a flurry of rust flakes to fall underneath the table top. “I don’t know...”

“Please?”

Not amused by this forced politeness Oxiin’s expression soured. “I want a coffee. Please.”  

[Snoofington]

Alfons quietly cleared his throat as the parent and child had their back and forth about manners while staring intently at the drinks. Why Oxiin would possibly want coffee was beyond him but he wasn't going to comment--he wouldn't be paying for it. Ezekiel would take care of his own bill, just as Alfons would pay for his and if Inge expected him to treat them, that would be the end of their interactions.

Once they were done and Oxiin stated the proper mannerism, he leaned back against the booth's bench, waving toward one of the waitresses. She came over and he allowed Inge and Oxiin to order first before asking for a cup of tea and a corn muffin. Something quick, simple, and anything to keep him from having to talk to them more than necessary.

She was quickly directed to Ezekiel and another group of people after a few more gestures.

An awkward silence followed, where Alfons stared between his two companions. Again, he cleared his throat, resting his hand against his chin. "So..." the first question that came to mind was 'how long have you been a parent' but that was clearly rude and could cause the teenage father to walk out and leave Alfons with the tab. "What, ah... what do you do for a living?" He'd missed the introductions between Ezekiel and Inge so left the end of his question even more open ended.

Before he had time to ready himself for a name or a response, their orders were set on the table in front of them, snapping him out of his posture as he leaned back. A typical reaction to make sure there were no crumbs or droplets to land on him.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

"So... What, ah... what do you do for a living?"

That was an easy question and Inge was wholeheartedly glad that Alfons had decided to break the awkward silence that had descended after he had enforced manners upon the bottle child. Spending the entirety of their stay at the cafe locked without conversation would have been almost unbearably frustrating. However, as he was about to reply his young charge chipped in... “He’s a fisherman. We go out to sea all the time and catch fish.” Although it was rude to cut in Inge couldn’t help but smile at Oxiin’s eagerness to join with the conversation. That was surely a good thing. However, what was to follow his pleasant reply as the orders arrived wasn’t so pleasing to the teen.

“He has to fillet the fish too. Slice them open and remove the bad bits. The insides are all slimy and grey, and they smell horrid.” The rust child wrinkled his nose, as if he could still smell a faint whiff of the internal fishy odours of Inge’s last catch. After completing this gross addition to Inge’s job description he calmly reached out to the tray which had been placed on the table, collected his coffee and stirred it with a content look on his face.

Inge was flabbergasted. Dumbly he also claimed his order – a simple mug of hot tea. “Why did you have to include that?” He hissed to the auburn haired boy. Perhaps it was a simple slip up. Kids liked to tell vulgar tales. Like war stories - who ate the biggest worm this week had been a popular topic of discussion whilst Inge had been a child...

“It’s true.” Oxiin responded, stitching an innocent smile onto his face. “It’s not like we keep them or anything though. Just put it out for the gulls to eat.” Revenge was sweet. A sour and immature response to being reprimanded for manners, but utterly gratifying none the less.  

[Snoofington]

Oxiin had painted a grand picture for the Obsessive-Compulsive man and he cringed, crinkling his nose just as Oxiin had while speaking. Now, looking at Inge with the same face, he could only see the young fisherman standing in fish guts with smelly intestines wrapped around his hands and squelching up to his knees. As the boy continued, his image of Inge was quickly flocked to by gulls and pecked away at until there was no more, seeing every disgusting motion of the birds picking and swallowing both the intestines and the boy's flesh.

A visible gag followed and his hand flew to his mouth. It took him a few seconds but Alfons was able to calm enough that he could sit normally, albeit more slouched than before.

Why was the boy speaking for his father? He had clearly asked the older of the two and the boy seemed to have some difficultly with manners as it was. This wasn't particularly pleasing; bad parenting usually lead to neurosis' later in life--like himself. The action displeased him greatly, especially with the boy already being physically messed up, he didn't need to become so mentally.

"...Right, then... I wonder if the Atlas will ever have need of fisherman interviews..." he mused aloud, but with a detested tone; he wanted nothing to do with that, especially if they were going to ask him to tag along and be fact checker.

Fact checking stories from a distance was one thing but he always hated going out into the field. If they had asked him to go to the oddities zoo and see the creature that took the man's hand in person, he would have handed it off to someone else then and there.

"Speaking of which, that's... what I do. I work for the Aimes Atlas..." he swallowed hard before taking a sip of his own tea to keep his gag reflex in check.

At this distance, he couldn't feel it but he still knew it was there. Staring. Being critical. It would likely make fun of him with its eyes for this idle banter later. He needed to know more about it but he couldn't stand the thought of researching it or thinking of it more than he had to. Every time he did, it made him feel physically ill and he was already on his way there.