Young Writers Society

"A lovely emerald green one," Thytes said, still blushing. "Nothing particularly frilly or gaudy, though it could sparkle in a well-lit room. Not to say I have problems with more excessive outfits; I merely did not feel like it would suit the occasion. Custom made, as I am somewhat of a sizeable lion, and it went down to my wrists and ankles." He leaned a little closer. "Had I known that you were interested in it, Bear, I would have brought it with me."

Lunis, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes at Francis. "What's so magical about ketchup? I haven't heard of ketchup magic. It's a really stupid name for magic, now that I think about it."

Bear managed to pull himself away from Thytes's enchantment and answer Lunis with, "If you had been around just ten years ago in the 60s, the ketchup we have now would be much more magical. There's a constant fight in the foods industry about the quality of ketchup."

A spiky boot heel went into Bear's ankle.

Resting his chin on his arm bent against the table, Francis leaned across to Thytes. He wanted to see these two be as happy as they could as soon as possible. Francis didn't want them to be stretching this slow burn out so long that it took down an entire forest.

"Now, Bear, do you really think our guests want to hear about condiments?" He stopped and drew back to rest a hand on one of Lunis's paws. "Maybe they'd like to hear about a case you solved recently."

Oh, now that sounded promising. "A case?" Thytes said, leaning closer to Bear. Now that it was Thytes's turn to metaphorically nudge Bear, the lion's blush quickly faded away. "What did it entail?"

"Hopefully not magic ketchup," said the panther, giving Bear a weird stare.

Bear grumbled at the corner Francis was backing him into, taking a sip of his drink, and pondering how long it would be before food was on the table. By the time Bear had looked at his watch for the fourth time and he had been stabbed in the ankle for the third, the deputy slowly began recounting the details.

"I don't know if this is the best topic of conversation for a food establishment, but the case I just wrapped up was a murder."

Francis leaned back with a smirk and drew a line between the lion and the hunter on the table, knowing their fates would intertwine soon.

"Oh dear," Thytes said, putting a paw up to his mouth. "What happened? Did you address the killer?"

Lunis, meanwhile, moved a little closer to Francis. "And why is it bad thing to talk about murders at a restaurant?" the panther whispered. Maybe Francis wouldn't be entirely helpful, or would make some other comment Lunis didn't understand, but Francis seemed to have a better idea of what was going on.

Why is it bad? Why isn’t it bad?, Francis thought. Where the hell is this guy from anyways?

The softness of the panther’s voice did surprise Francis and he found it hard to match the tone with the many distractions of the diner. Aside from the other patrons, the waiters chatting, and the storm gathering outside, the choice of songs on the radio were incredibly awkward.

Now was not the time that Francis needed to hear about members of the Raspberries getting to go all the way or Eric Clapton telling Sally to lay down and spend the night with him.

It just wasn’t.

And so to finally answer Lunis, he simply said, “On our planet and location in space and time, it’s considered rude.”

Lunis pulled his head back, scrunching his face. "That's weird," he said. "So people in this world like to talk about 'going all the way,' or whatever the music they're playing is about?"

Thytes also made a face, but Lunis ignored it - it probably wasn't important.

Francis could do nothing more than choke on his Shirley Temple at Lunis’s confusion, and soon found himself leaning against the table with Bears fist in his back. Surely the man was lending aid and getting back at the stabbing earlier in the evening.

Thytes crossed his arms and looked towards the window, whistling as innocently as he could (unfortunately, he couldn't quite whistle).

"What?" Lunis said, eyes darting between everyone else. "It's a legit question, isn't it? Why are they going all the way? Where are they going to? Should we go there?"

Neither Bear nor Francis could come up with a way to explain the birds and bees reference to Lunis. Instead of directly staying anything, they both downed their drinks and signaled the waiter for a refill.

In the middle of his coughing fit Bear managed to say, "Lunis, I think you might be a little too young to understand what this song is about."