“I apologize if I came off as…” Janus let out a huff of air to cool his bowl of potato soup. He took his spoon and stirred the broth, pressing the edge of the utensil into one of the chunks, “desperate.”
Itzel sat on the opposite side of the booth, her arm resting along the length of the cushion. Her head was angled towards Gurk who was sitting at the far end of the table on one of the stools taken from the bar. He took hold of his bowl by both hands, opened his jaws wide and cascaded the contents of the bowl straight into his mouth.
“Came off as desperate?” Itzel said rhetorically, watching Gurk as he chomped on his meal with glee. “You clearly are.”
Janus took a bite of his soup. The potato and broth were still hot, making him wince when the spoon came in contact with his tongue. Plain. No seasoning. No spices. Just hot potato in a bland broth. Despite its unassuming flavor, Janus hurriedly swallowed the food and let out a sigh of relief. He could feel the warmth travel through the course of his body and start to quell his hunger. “I know,” he said in a long and drawn-out manner.
“Here’s the deal,” Itzel explained as she placed one arm on the table and leaned forward, giving Janus a serious look. “For some reason Gurk likes you. So I’ll give you a chance. Tell me a bit about yourself. I’ll tell you a bit about ourselves.” With her other hand she pointed to Gurk and then to herself. “And we’ll see where we go from there. Alright?”
With another helping of potato, Janus nodded. “I’m from Oregon,” he mumbled before swallowing again.
“We know that part.”
“Right. My name is Janus Campbell. I’m studying physics. I plan on becoming a rocket propulsion engineer once I finish my graduate work.” Itzel and Gurk glanced at each other, exchanging bewildered looks before turning back to Janus. “But I’m not sure that’s going to happen now. And it’s not just because of the fact that I’m here and not in Oregon. You see, while I was at university, my student loans had compiled to the point where the interest rates-“
“Stop,” Itzel said as she put one hand up.
Janus sat up straight, looking at Itzel as if he was in the pair of oncoming headlights he saw earlier.
“What do you think Gurk? You think this guy’s telling the truth? Or is he just another nutjob?”
The crocodile squinted his eyes and leaned in towards Janus before sniffing his shoulder. Janus stared back, still wide-eyed as he tried his best to prevent himself from inching further into the corner of the booth.
“Truth,” Gurk replied with a nod.
Itzel crossed her arms and leaned back into the cushion of her seat. “I’m guessing all that stuff you were going on about is typical in Oregon. But I wanna talk about why you’re here. In Labrisson.”
“I wish I knew,” Janus replied with a shrug. “I just… appeared here. Woke up next to one of those refineries, wearing this,” he spread his arms as he looked at his purple leather jacket and black and white pants. “Then those Lurkers started chasing me and you know the rest.”
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Itzel put her thumb on her chin as she examined Janus from across the table. “Something’s off here, that’s for sure. Don’t know if it’s you or if it’s something bigger. Normally I’d just brush you off as another one of those crazy beggars that roam around the Refinery Sector. But you talk too well to be one. Not to mention that you don’t have an Implant.”
“Now imagine how I feel,” Janus said as he downed another chunk of potato.
“What do you think we should do about this, big guy?”
“Stay.”
“You want him to stay with us?” Itzel asked her friend. Gurk answered with a nod. “Oh I see. It’s because you bought him that meal and you want those four-hundred and thirty tokens back, huh?”
“Kinda.” The crocodile got up from his seat and walked towards the counter and began browsing the options once more.
“I told him that he was still going to be hungry,” Itzel said quietly with a short wag of her head.
“I truly do appreciate what you’ve done for me. I dread to think what would have happened if you two didn’t come along.” Janus dragged his spoon around the bowl, disappointed when he realized that he had finished off the last potato.
“Yeah, yeah. Too bad the world doesn’t run on appreciation. Since we were busy helping you, we missed out on valuable Extermination time.”
“I understand. And that’s a fair point you make. It’s not like you two are volunteers at a charity. You and Gurk have done more than enough for me at this point. Maybe I could find someone else to help me out. Could you point me in the direction of something like a police station? Or a shelter? Anything that you think could provide assistance for someone in my situation would be fantastic.”
Itzel leaned back again, tapping her fingers against the table’s surface as she rested her head on the cushion of her seat. “Hate to break it to you but you woke up in the wrong city. Labrisson isn’t like that. You’d be better off trying to fend for yourself and learning everything the hard way than trying to ask for handouts. Everybody’s got their own issues to deal with here. No one’s got time to babysit some foreigner that can’t fight, let alone doesn’t have an Implant. You’d be asking for a lot. No offense.”
“I see.” The muscles in Janus’ body became lax as what Itzel said sank in. Despite his hunger, he couldn’t find the motivation to finish the remaining broth inside his bowl. He twirled the spoon, creating miniature whirlpools inside the liquid. Janus felt his heart sink further into his chest as a shroud of helplessness overcame him. He angled his head up just enough to look at Itzel’s face. Deep down, he was hoping that he would be able to see pity in her eyes. But she just looked bored as she watched Gurk return with more food.
“What’d you get this time?” she said to her friend that was returning to his seat. There was the clatter of ceramic as he placed the dish on the table. All eyes were drawn to the plate of plain yellow noodles. “Skipping out on the sauce, huh?”
“Broke.” Gurk looked downwards as if he were embarrassed.
“Of course you are!” Itzel reply was accompanied by an eyeroll. “You’ve got a taste for exotic vegetables and you’re a sucker for helping out any poor sap you come across. Those kinds of traits don’t mesh well when you’re living on an Exterminator’s income.”
Perturbed, the crocodile returned to his second meal, using both of his hands to make sure none of it fell to the floor as he guzzled his noodles straight from the bowl into his mouth.
“Hurry up and finish. We have to make up what you spent tonight. If we’re lucky you just might break even.”
“I understand that you’re in a hurry, but would you be willing to explain a bit about yourselves to me? You agreed to do so if I told you who I was,” Janus interjected, worried that the other two would leave him if he did not.
“Sure. Go for it. It’s not like-“ Itzel ended her sentence short. The diner’s electronic doorbell went off. Her attention shifted towards the front entrance, her mood instantly souring upon seeing a familiar face enter. “Great,” she replied with a sigh, “Just who I wanted to see.”