Ted tried to comfort Justin. He had knelt down beside the distraught man and was rubbing his back. "It's alright." Ted said. "Maybe they just didn't realize you were still there?"
"Unlikely," Sid explained. "From Justin's description, it appears obvious that he was left behind as an attempt to delay the police long enough that they too would die in the explosion."
Justin appeared to sink even lower to the ground as he remained on his hands and knees with tears streaming down his face.
Ted looked up at Sid. He couldn't believe he would just out and say that. I mean, he was right. It did seem to be the obvious explanation, but it was also definitely not what Justin needed to hear at that moment. But, as Sid looked back at him, he remembered that yet again, they didn't really have time to spare just messing around.
"You know what," Ted said. "I think I know just what you need."
"What's that?" Justin asked through ragged breaths as he turned his red and puffy face to look up at Ted.
"A stiff drink!" Ted said as he gave a firm slap on Justin's back. "Now come on. I know the perfect place to help fix you up."
Ted offered a hand down to Justin. The monster tamer looked at the hand through tear filled eyes, and after he wiped the snot and tears off of his face onto his sleeve, he reached out and grabbed ahold of it.
----------------------------------------
Sentenza scratched his neck. "What, think you can do better?"
Bakade turned around to look at him as she finished tying on an apron. "Yyyyeeesss." She said succinctly.
The apron she had on was clearly made for someone who was more of a regular height. On her it barely went below her waist, despite having it as low as she could.
Sentenza pulled off his jacket, folded it and set it on the counter. Next, he slipped off his hat, and set it on top of the jacket.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As he walked up to her, he asked, "You uh...you don't know what this stuff is for, do you?"
He pointed to the two pots on the stove. One empty, and one with a spoon on top, half full of a strange brown liquid. Bakade picked up the half full pot and sniffed it, before she pulled back and shook her head.
"Uuuuggghhh," she groaned. "Sssssmmmeeeellllsss llliiikkkeee iiitttt'ssss gggooonnneee bbbaaaddd, wwwwhhhhhaaattteeevvveeeerr iiiitttt iiissss."
"Well, go on and dump it, and I'll get to scrubbing." Sentenza told her.
She did as he said and dumped the somewhat chunky brown liquid down the sink. Once it was empty, Sentenza turned on the water and rinsed what he could down the drain before he sealed the drain plug down at the bottom.
Next, Sentenza grabbed the pot from her and tossed the serving dish he had the dough bowls on onto the top of the pan. He pushed the sink faucet to the side as it continued to pour out water.
He rolled up his sleeves as he said, "I've got to earn my keep after all. Now, don't I?"
Bakade shrugged. "Aaaassss lllooonnnggg aaaassss iiitttt iiiisssnnn'tttt wwwiiittthhh mmmooorrreeee cccoooookkkkiiinnnggg."
Sentenza snorted as he plunged a bar of soap down into the rising water. "You didn't use to be so picky," he said.
"Ppppeeeooopppllleee ccchhhhaaannngggeee." she replied with a shrug as she opened what could only have been a sort of refrigerator. She scratched her skull at the empty contents inside.
"Some monsters change too, huh?" Sentenza retorted as he wiped the soap against the inside of the pot.
Bakade let out a short chuckle. "Yyyyeeesss. Eeevvveeennn mmmooonnnssstteeerrrsss cccaaannnn ccchhhhaaannngggeee."
BAM!
"You are aware that we could have gone in through the front door, correct?" Sid asked as Justin and Ted stormed into the kitchen through the side door.
"That would deflate all the drama of a proper...who are they?" Justin started to explain but stopped and almost looked like a deer caught in headlights as he saw Bakade and Sentenza.
Almost instinctually, Justin moved behind Ted as his eyes focused in on Sentenza.
"Looks like you're not getting that fancy introduction." Ted said. "This is Bakade, and he's Sentenza. And this guy behind me is Justin. Another newcomer."
Justin waved weakly, and Bakade waved back, while Sentenza seemed to ignore them all as he placed the soap back outside of the sink and turned off the water. A moment later, he plunged both of his arms back into the water and scrubbed the dishes.
"Wwweeeelllcccooommmeee," Bakade cooed.
"You're a big one, aren't you?" Justin remarked as he finally pulled his eyes from Sentenza. "Say, that mask is pretty impressive. Such attention to detail. Even the cracks are stupendous!"
Justin looked Bakade up and down enviously. "Why, that whole outfit. It's hard to even pick out where your body fits in that thing! How do you do it? Mirrors? Strings? Puppetry? Psychic monsters?"
Bakade looked away in embarrassment and crossed her arms in front of herself.
"That is her normal form." Sid explained. "Although the choice of clothing is new, she looks that way naturally."
One of Bakade's hands tried to push down the bottom of her apron as her embarrassment seemed to grow every second.
Ted felt sorry for her, and he tried to intervene. He moved between Bakade and Justin as he looked at the newcomer. "Look, I already told you. There's a lot of different people here. Most don't look all that regular. I mean, you already saw Sid. His color? His arm?"
Justin waved a hand dismissively. "Come on, a little prosthetic? That's more than normal. Same with skin dyes..." Suddenly his face froze and his eyes shrank. "Wait...wait wait wait wait wait."
He stumbled back and looked up at Bakade's skull. This only made her turn away even more, but it did little to hide her massive antlers, or the white of her skull.
"YOU MEAN THAT"S REAL!"