From the moment the meat hits the flame

[fragileandsoft]

Who: All those not gone to hell.
When: Evening Day 67 - Day 68
Where: The cookhouse
What: Stress cooking, stress eating, general stress.
Note: General mingle thread!

Many have been taken, many have gone after, and those who remain have little else to do but wait for the results on the other end. For once, the carnival is very, very quiet.

Though the rides are shut down, the games are still, the attractions unattended, there's still one central place for people to gather. All the kitchen staff has gone, but the lights in the cookhouse remain on, and the smell of food still wafts through the air. Anyone not content to wait alone would do well to look here for company and comfort.

Comments

[mylastchance]

He nods, not realizing Lars is trying to be rude in the first place. In his mind that was a normal thing to ask if you wanted someone to elaborate on their thoughts. Lauren didn't really feel like explaining how deeply he'd been thinking about Lars' and how good his blood might taste though. So of course he tried to change the subject.

"What are you doing? Waiting for the food?"

[mossbuds]

"Yeah," Lars answers, slumping onto the table so that the top half of his torso is across it, resting his cheek on his bicep. "Haven't eaten anything in a while. Just been sleepin'."

Lars glances at Lauren, furrowing an eyebrow. "Were you helpin' Steven's dad cook?"

[mylastchance]

It's kind of weird to just watch someone lay down across a table, but Lauren doesn't comment on it. The intrusive thoughts return, telling him how easy it would be to attack right now. Lars wasn't expecting it and he was already weak, no one was around, no one would know.

"Uh.. Yeah. I was."

[mossbuds]

There were people around! Greg was around! And presumably some others—Lars was waiting for food!

Unless, of course, Lars was convinced to go elsewhere. The carnival is so empty that it wouldn't be difficult to get him alone... but he's also pretty hungry, so there's that.

Still resting on his bicep, Lars glances dully to the kitchen.

"All that food's gonna taste like post traumatic stress."

[mylastchance]

Lauren steps closer, taking a seat next to Lars at the bar. As long as he was taking a break from the kitchen he might as well sit down. The fact that it moved him closer to a potential meal was just coincidence.

"I didn't realize stress had a taste."

[mossbuds]

Lars is a little surprised that Lauren sits down next to him. He glances down the way to look at him, still half laying on the table. He furrows an eyebrow, looking a little confused. What did this guy even think about him, he wondered. Did they even get along? Was Lars some kind of acquired taste Lauren was getting used to?

"Sure. Makes stuff taste bad. I almost never wanna eat when I'm stressed."

[mylastchance]

To be honest, Lauren wasn't even sure what he thought of Lars. Sometimes Lars was a jerk, and sometimes he wasn't. He was easy enough to talk to though. He was one of the few people around his own age here at the carnival at least.

"That's not healthy."

[mossbuds]

True, and he's not nosy, unlike Annabelle in what's probably a refreshing contrast. Lauren and Lars were the only boys around one another's age, anyway.

"I know that," Lars mumbles sourly, frowning as he rolls his eyes away, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. "I ain't really too worried about my health all the time, but even if I'm stressed out, I ain't tryin' to skip any meals cuz I ain't tryin' t'get any thinner'n I already am."

[mylastchance]

Lauren looks confused for a moment, distressing intrusive vampire thoughts pushed to the side as he thinks over Lars' response.

"Is being thin a bad thing?"

[mossbuds]

Lars feels uncomfortable, and he wonders why he even said that much. Probably loopy from hunger and blood loss weakness. He brushes a hand over his face gently, huffing. He doesn't actually think it's bad, it's just not what he wants for himself.

"Nah, but..." He shrugs a shoulder. "...big's hotter. More manly. Know what I mean?"

He's probably this way from watching so much WWE through his childhood...

[mylastchance]

Lauren frowns, he definitely doesn't agree, but that's not to say Lars is wrong to have his preferences. He didn't really equate bigger with manlier though, bigger just made him think of bigger races, or people like Fat Mar. Maybe it was a cultural thing.

"Do they have orcs where you're from?"

[mossbuds]

Lars, for the first time since Lauren's sat beside him, sits up, staring.

"Huh?"

He boggles at him, very eager to know what the hell he's getting at.

"Yeah, sorta. I mean, they're fictional, in books and movies and stuff. Why?"

[mylastchance]

That was... strange, to think that a whole race could be nothing more than an imaginative creation in another world. His brow furrows as he mulls that over. Was Lars' world like the matrix where only humans seemed to exist?

"Oh... Well I guess bigger just seems more monstrous to me."

Dwarves were bulkier, but not bigger.

[mossbuds]

"Well, I mean, I guess literally monstrous isn't what I'm into—er, like, what I'd wanna be more like, I mean."

Lars rolls his eyes, lifting a palm as he tries to explain.

"It's like, you know, muscular dudes are just more manly. I don't mean like hulking freaks or nothin'. Just strong lookin'. Sturdy. At least a little intimidatin'."

[mylastchance]

He shrugs, "I guess I just don't agree."

Then again, he didn't often take the team to think of a persons traits and decide which were the most masculine. But, he didn't think elves were naturally less masculine just because they had slighter builds. Of course even a humans build was slight compared to an orc.

"I guess I prefer slighter figures." Which is as close to admitting his own preferences as he will ever get.

[mossbuds]

"Yeah? For yourself, or other people?"

Lars is sincerely curious—he's never talked to another guy about this, actually... Not face to face, anyway, or with anyone he knew, or in earnest.

[mylastchance]

He shrugs again looking embarrassed. He wasn't attracted to himself. The idea of even having a preference for his own looks was totally foreign. He looked the way he looked, that was pretty much the beginning and end of that line of thinking in his mind.

"For other people, I guess?" He'd also never really talked about this before, or thought about it in depth either.

[mossbuds]

If only Lars could have a similar line of thinking. He'd be a lot less stressed out over petty nonsense almost constantly.

"Pff, yeah, agree to disagree," Lars concludes, resting his elbows on the table as he rolls his eyes a little. "I mean... not sayin' I'd never date or hook up with someone closer t'my shape." He did kind of have a crush on Jenny, back when... and currently, er—well. Point is, he's contradicted the reality of what his type is and what he thought what his type was more than once. "But I'd rather be bulkier, personally. And the..."

Lars furrows his eyebrows, unsure of how to describe this. He sinks a little where his palms prop up his chin. Part of him doesn't want to undersell it, but he feels like he has to.

"...the girl I was...messin' with, I guess, before I came here—she was chubby, and I thought I wasn't into that. Or maybe I didn't wanna be, or something. But I was super wrong!" Lars looks exasperated. "It's actually, like, the best! Ugh. So dumb..."

[mylastchance]

He looks surprised by that.

"You have a girl back home?"

[mossbuds]

There's a weird, abrupt drop and twist in Lars's stomach at Lauren's question. It feels horrible, and it's confusing. Lars almost wishes he could say yes, but it's his own fault that he can't.

"I don't... have her," Lars says tensely, his face turning a little red. "It wasn't—we weren't...dating. We were coworkers. And...friends." His shoulders slacken a little. "But... closer than friends, too, I guess."

He'd normally never admit so much, but it doesn't feel like he's going to see her while he was stuck in this stupid circus fiasco.

[mylastchance]

Using the past tense either meant they weren't close anymore or something worse. Lauren doesn't really want to know which is the truth. He looks away, something close to shame crossing over his features.

"...I'm sorry."

[mossbuds]

"N-no, no! It's cool, it ain't—" He slaps his hand over his face, feeling embarrassed. He doesn't realize how.... morbid he may have accidentally made that sound. "It's not like I'm never seein' her again, or anything. And we weren't dating because I didn't wanna date."

[mylastchance]

Lauren nods. He can't say he understands exactly what Lars is talking about, or why Lars wouldn't want to date a person, but he assumes there's circumstances to both their situations that are outside his understanding.

"Do you want to see her again?"

[mossbuds]

Lars deflates a little, glancing at Lauren, his eyebrows slanted back pensively. Why is he telling all of this to Lauren? He barely knows him, and he's not even sure he likes or trusts him. But it's the first time he's really talked about it, and besides... Lars feels, weirdly, a little compelled, almost flattered by Lauren's casual concern. Lil vampire things.

"Every day," he finally concedes, glancing away.

It feels kind of good to admit it.

[mylastchance]

Lauren nods, honestly a bit impressed by the depth of Lars feeling. He didn't have anyone at home he was desperate to see. The thought makes him grimace.

"You won't be stuck here forever."