2019-12-10 - The Werewolf is a Metaphor

There's a chill in the air, and Elias hugs his jacket around him as he makes his way into the pizza place, holding the door open for Tyler as they make their way inside. The place ahs that warm smell of freshly baked dough, spices, and tomato sauce. Walking up to the menu board, he pauses and asks Tyler, "What do you want to get?" His eyes scan over the options, deciding just what he feels like eating.

Tyler shoves his hands deep into his pockets, shrugging a little as he looks up at the menu. "I like meat," he says, grinning just a little as he realizes that sounded a little dirty. "Honestly, though, I'll eat anything but pineapples and anchovies on a pizza. You should get what you want. I'll love it."

Elias gives Tyler a little nudge with one shoulder and grins over at him. "Alright, how about sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom, then?" He checks to make sure him sneaking a vegetable into the meat will be met with approval before he steps up to order a pizza, some cheesy bread, and whatever drinks that they decide to order. He forks over the cash at the register and then takes their number, wandering over to find a place to sit until the food is ready.

Tyler laughs, "Yeah, that's perfect." His drink is, not surprisingly, a Diet Coke. Settling into a chair at their table, he leans with his arm draped over the chair next to him, smiling at Elias. "You're in a good mood," he notes. "Good day at the store?"

"The store's doing well. I finished the latest chapter of my project. Went dancing at Firefly to celebrate surviving Black Friday. The holidays are coming up. I mean, I have little to complain about," Elias says as he settles back into his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Oh, did you hear that Frankie got engaged?" He wasn't sure if he'd mentioned that to Tyler yet or not.

Tyler lifts his brow, "Engaged?" He chuckles a little, "It, um..." He leans back, tilting his head to study Elias a moment, eyes clearly looking at Elias' hand. "... Not to you?"

"Yep, engaged," Elias confirms as he watches Tyler's reaction, and then laughs when he notices the glance down to his hand. He lifts both of them to show front and back. No rings hiding there, none beyond the couple of silver bands he wears all the time that are pretty familiar at this point. "No, definitely not to me. To Greg Sumpter, the guy who owns the dispensary."

Tyler laughs, "Sorry," he notes about checking the hand for rings. "Greg Sumpter," he repeats, softly. Shaking his head a little, "No. I don't know him." He takes a drink of his soda. "Is he cute? Do you like him?" He smirks, and asks playfully, "Do you have to make out with him, too?" Then he shrugs, "What's a dispensary?"

Elias shrugs his shoulders and smiles, apparently not minding the ring-search. "He's cute, sure. But no, I don't know him at all. I met him really briefly at the book shop when Frankie and he were there for Dante's reading. Then I haven't seen him since." He smirks a bit and says, "And no, things with Frankie and I are done since she got engaged. She's all head over heels in love, and I'm happy for her." Then he explains, "A place where you can buy legal marijuana and marijuana products, like edibles and whatnot."

Tyler seems a little surprised by that, "Really? I would have expected she would have just told him about you and pulled you in. You two go quite a ways back, I thought." He shrugs again, "I mean, you know, not judging or anything. Whatever you're good with is cool." A little laugh escapes him as he picks up his soda. "I never really understood you two like that, so maybe I shouldn't think too hard on it now, either, right?" He takes a drink, sitting the glass back on the table, looking a little surprised, "Wait. He's a drug dealer?"

"Oh, she told him about me," Elias says with a little grin. "I don't think that he swings that way, however, and I get the impression that he wouldn't be okay with that. And sure, she's my best friend. She'll be my best friend forever, regardless of whether we have sex. I wouldn't get between anyone and their whole true love thing, least of all my best friend. That'd make me kind of a shitty best friend." He smiles a little bit when Tyler mentions he never really understood them and says, "I mean, everything was good then, and everything's good now, so no, probably not? Unless you really want to." He takes a sip from his own drink, "A legal one, yeah."

Tyler lifts his brow, and exhales slowly as he leans back in his chair. "I dont' get that, either. Legal drug dealer." He shakes his head, "Seen too many lives ruined by too many drugs," he explains, but stops short of noting he includes his own in that. "You said you finished a bunch of work on your new book. What's it about? Am I in it?" he asks, a little excited.

"Pot dispensaries are legal in this state, Tyler. They're not called drug dealers when it's legal," Elias points out. "I know, I remember," he says when Tyler mentions seeing lives ruined by drugs. His tone is gentle, though. "I know you went through a lot with your folks and all." He grins a little when Tyler asks about the book and he says, "It's the one I was working on before I met you, but I do have a character that I'm working on that is inspired by you for a different story. This one is the sixth book in my Shattered Reflections series."

Tyler grins, "I've not ever read six books, let alone thought about writing that many. You're incredible, Eli." He reaches out and lays his hand on Elias'. "Inspired by, huh? Do you want to share? I'm pretty inspiring, so I'm not at all surprised something like this would happen," he says, jokingly.

"I just have a very active imagination with far too many characters running around in my head and stories that come out of the trauma of growing up in Gray Harbor," Elias says with a grin, only partially serious about that. He doesn't seem particularly traumatized at all. "Yeah, he's a werewolf and a medic, who leads a very disciplined life in order to manage the difficulties he has with the primal urges that are a part of him. He's got a sense of humor about things, though, and tends to crack jokes and make light of things, but is occasionally a little too self-deprecating."

Tyler listens carefully, mouth open just slightly with interest. "Huh." He smiles quite widely, clearly in some way flattered. "A werewolf!" He loves it, "Why a werewolf? I worry there's a metaphor there I'm maybe not getting..." Then he laughs, "I just totally self deprecated, didn't I?" He rolls his eyes, "Am I really so bad?" he asks, amused by all this in a wonderfully good way.

"A werewolf because in his case, it's something that he struggles with that was inherited from his parents, not something he is in control of directly, but something he can decide how to live his life with," Elias says and then chuckles. "You are pretty bad about being self-deprecating, yes." Just then, their order comes up and he gets up to go fetch the tray, returning with the pizza, cheesy bread, and some paper plates and napkins as well as a shaker of parmasean and a shaker of red pepper flakes.

Tyler laughs, "It's like everyone I know is reading me like one of your books. Are um..." He furrows his brow a little, "Am I really so easy to figure out?" He's still grinning. "I like it." And there's the pizza. He serves himself a piece, then deposits one on Elias' plate. "This werewolf sounds like a pretty alright fella."

"I don't know," Elias says, "You're the one who just said that everyone you know is reading you like a book. Who else has been reading you?" He grins a little as he reaches out and takes the slice of pizza that Tyler set on his plate and half-folds it a little to funnel it more easily for a bite, and sighs contentedly at the too-hot melty cheese. He takes a sip of his soda and says, "Yeah, he's supposed to be a good guy. He tries to help people out and do right by folks."

Tyler is a little amused by that, "Well, at least I'm a good guy. I'll take it. It is fiction, after all, right?" He takes a bite of the pizza, chewing it up and then swallowing. "So, I met this guy. He's this computer geek guy, Blake. More screwed up than you and I combined, but he sure did figure me out uncomfortably fast."

"Well, you're a good guy in non-fiction, too," Elias points out with a little bit of a grin as he takes another bite of his pizza and listens. One brow arches a little bit when Tyler describes Blake as more screwed up than both of them combined. "Yeah?" he asks, curiously. "Is that a good or a bad thing? I mean, sometimes it's nice to be understood.. but sometimes it's.. uncomfortable, I guess."

"You think?" asks Tyler about being a good guy in nonfiction. "I was told once people like me end up being the villain of the story." He drinks another swallow of Diet Coke and wipes his mouth off on the back of his wrist. "I don't know. It was bad in that no one should have to be screwed up like that, but..." He furrows his brow, and looks a bit more direct at Elias. "It was good because it was really hot." He rolls his eyes at himself, "Which maybe makes me the more screwed up one then again?"

Elias takes a sip from his glass and his brow furrows a little, "I really can't see you as a villain. Sorry, Tyler." He then tilts his head a little bit and studies him when Tyler looks at him more directly. One brow ticks up a little and he smiles in amusement. "Hot, huh? Howso?" He pulls a piece of pepperoni off of the top of his pizza and pops it in his mouth, "And why does that make you screwed up?"

Tyler shrugs, chuckling a little. "Yeah. Hot." His cheeks actually flush just a little at that confirmation. "He uh... he has I guess, like, two personalities. One's the computer nerd that likes me but is super shy and uncomfortable about the whole thing, but then, this other... He's this brash, brutally honest guy who just wants to have fun and make the other him all squirrelly and uncomfortable. It's sinister, Eli."

Elias can't help but smile a little bit more broadly at Tyler's flush as he toys with the straw in his drink. "So, you're seeing two personalities of the same guy?" he asks, reaching over to pick another bit of pepperoni off of his pizza before grabbing the slice and digging into it again. "I gotta say, that's the first time I've ever heard /that/."

Tyler sits there a long moment, watching Elias. Finally, he starts to laugh. "Really?" He laughs a little more, "Seeing's a strong word, but still..." He leans forward, "And you're not mad?" He pushes a bit of water on the table from the condensation on his glass around in a circle. "First time, huh? Somehow, I feel like maybe I've just, what do they say... unlocked an achievement? Right?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" Elias asks, seeming a little bit surprised. "I mean, I think it's fascinating. I've never known anyone with dissociative identities, but to meet one who can read you, likes you, and likes you on both personalities? That's pretty unique." He chuckles and says, "That is a very super nerdy way of putting it, but yeah I suppose you could call it that. Is he cute?"

Tyler shrugs, "I think one likes me, the other just likes me for having fun. Either way, I've never seen it before. I still don't really completely understand it, either, but, I mean..." He laughs, and gestures at himself, "I'm all brawn, not brains, right?" As for if he's cute, he nods, "Yeah. It's a quirky cute, though. Like... He's got this adorable odd look about him. Almost a little sickly look to him. Gives this pitiable kind of thing to his face that's really... It sucks me... I can't explain it."

Elias points his slice of pizza, or rather, the crust that remains of it at Tyler, "See. That. Right there. The self-deprecation again. Stop it." He then bites off a chunk of the crust, working his way through the end of his first slice and then reaching for another one, which he slides onto his plate before saying. "Hey, you seem to like him, he seems to like you, and you at least found something about what he was doing hot. I'd say that's a win win all around."

"Well, he's no you," Tyler reassures him. "I could sit here and just talk to you all night. You're really the only person I can think of I could say that about. I think I'm better when you're around. I don't know what you see in me, but..." And then he furrows his brow, "I don't mean that self depracting. I'm just saying, honestly, is all." He smiles, "This is good pizza."