On the Radio [Oliver]

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“Yeah! That’s better! Let’s go now!” he said, still flailing around the room. He paused and took in a deep breath, trying to collect himself. He could imagine that, after being so relaxed, it probably wasn’t very great to be shaken by a manic djinn. He sighed and sat next to Oliver again, hugging his legs. He put his fingers on his lips. “I’m allergic to salt,” he said, embarrassed. “Humans used to trap us with it. A-and I’m kind of afraid of singing.” He bit his lip buried his face in his knees. “Is there salt and singing in a diner?” he asked.

A bright grin appeared on his face once more. “Hey! Did you know that I don’t have to look human?” he asked cheerfully. He shut his eyes and concentrated on the image of a cow. However, as his spare energy was pretty much depleted earlier, he just managed to grow black-and-white cow ears. He rotated them experimentally, frustrated. “I’m still kind of young,” he blushed. “Hey, when you’re a wolf, do you have a cute little tail?”

He stood from the couch once more, jumping up and down. “Hey, Oli? Why were you blushing earlier? Your face was sort of red,” he asked. “D’you think I’m cute or something? Because once I was sort-of friends with this one guy and whenever this lady would come up to him he’d turn really red and he’d look uncomfortable and he said it was because he thought she was cute!” he paused, and looked contemplative, stilling his jumping. He could remember the lady dancing around the building – but not like he danced with flailing limbs – and that a lot of guys thought she was cute. “I’m not a good dancer, though,” he said, disheartened, the cow ears lowering.

Focus!

The cow ears perked back up, and Aixa whizzed back into life like some sort of manic toy soldier. “Hey Oli! Hurry up I want to go try and eat all of the human food!” he said cheerfully. “And we will get you steak!” he chirped, grabbing a hat and covering his ears with it. “They’ll go away on their own when I get enough energy back,” he explained, wriggling around impatiently.

[ninth]

Oliver's ear twitched slightly at the mention that Aixa was allergic to salt. He nodded slowly. "You'll have to mention that to your waiter or waitress to make sure they don't put any on your food. I'm allergic to silver and mistletoe, an odd allergy but i am," he shrugged slightly. He laughed, "No probably there isn't, unless its your birthday and people started singing happy birthday to you." His eyebrow rose when Aixa said he didn't have to look human. He laughed when he grew and turned black and white. He shook his head, "Not in my human form, but it still feels like i have one, you know when you hear about people getting limbs amputated they can still feel them moving, itching? I have that sort of, my tail still feels like its there and i feel it wagging but its not." Oliver thought a bit about his blushing question, "A little," he admitted slightly shyly, he wasn't one for being shy very much but something about him made him feel somewhat shy. He wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was the fact that he was a guy. "I'm sure you could learn how to dance," he said his ear twitching slightly as he watched him. He laughed then as he grabbed his crutches and pushed himself up to his feet. "All righty! lets go," he laughed.

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Aixa opened the door cheerfully, letting Oliver go out first. “It’s very bad that you’re allergic to mistletoe,” he said thoughtfully, walking over to the building’s elevator and pressing the call-button repeatedly. “Humans use mistletoe to kiss each other,” he said. “Although I’ll never understand why they use a parasitic plant to symbolize kissing. Humans are so funny,” he giggled, putting his hands in his pants pockets. He could sense Oliver’s uneasiness with him – it was subtle, sure, and it came and went randomly, but nonetheless it was there.

Once the elevator opened, Aixa walked in quietly. “You don’t have to be shy about thinking I’m a little cute,” Aixa said with a simple shrug. “I think you’re a very beautiful specimen of both human and werewolf,” he chirped blithely, pressing the button for the ground floor. Once the elevator opened again, Aixa jumped out, keeping his hat firmly in place to cover the cow ears he’d grown.

“A diner, then!” he said, looking up at Oli with a wide smile.

[ninth]

"It is a very strange custom," Oliver agreed, "All human customs are weird," he said giving a little shrug. "If you want later i can show you my werewolf form." he suggested, not mentioning that the change was painful. "Thank you," he said at the comment Aixa made about him. "Couldn't you change it back just as easily as you changed them?" he asked as he covered the cow ears with his hat. A little bit later they arrived at the diner, it was a somewhat small diner, but it had a home-y feel. It wasn't very busy because it wasn't exactly lunch time yet. "Two please," Oliver said polietly to the waitress. She led them to a booth. "Can i start you boys off with something to drink?" she asked. "I'll have a sprite." Then Oliver glanced at Aixa realizing he probably hasn't tried any drinks either. "Get him a coke," he said. She nodded and handed them the menu's and walked off to get their drinks. Oli opened the menu already knowing what he wanted. Some steak and fries. he was looking at the appitizers, "Get anything you think looks good," Oli smiled a little.

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Aixa looked down at the menu curiously, storing the information away inside of his mental banks. His ears twitched in anticipation as Oliver told him he could eat anything from the menu. And the menu was huge and full of food that as new and probably wonderful. “There’s so much food,” he said, pouting. “What is an omelet?” he asked, looking frazzled about the sheer amount of food. He sighed and took off his cap. His curly hair hid most of the cow ears – except for the black tip that blended in with his hair. “Om-e-let! I like that word. I think I’ll like om-e-lets!”

“Does it hurt when you…” he drifted off and made claws with his hands and bared his teeth. “Because it kind of hurts me when I use my energy,” he said quietly.

[ninth]

Oliver smiled when Aixa asked what an omelet is. "You know what i had you put on the bread for french toast? Thats egg, an omelet is a different way to make an egg, sometimes with cheese and ham in it. Thats usually a breakfast meal. The point of a diner is the fact that it lets you have whatever you want basically say you want french toast for dinner, you can have it. Or Steak for breakfast you can have that too." He chuckled softly, "that's the nice thing about a diner, you can have whatever you want. Ya can even have some deserts after you have your meal, cake, pie, or other sweet things like that. Though that stuff isn't very healthy for you." He paused looking at something on the menu, "If you want to have something from breakfast we can get Three Way Sampler which is Chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers with honey mustard, marinara sauce and blue cheese. That way you can try the fried stuff, depending on what ya get that is. You obviously don't want to get fried chicken and french fries if you get mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers for the appetizer. You'd want something different. When your having an appetizer you usually share it with the person your with. Or if your not really that hungry you can just get an appetizer to say money," he gave him a little wink, "which its nice to save money a lot, but usually when you go out to eat to a diner or something your usually pretty hungry. Or your me and your always hungry." He thought about his question for a moment, "it does hurt, but not as bad when there's a full moon, I don't know why but it hurts a lot more when you change on full moon. Most of my body is use to changing, all expect my legs, and my ribs, the ribs hurt." Oli glanced around he placed his arm on the table and it started snapping until his arm was a little longer and his fingers were out of its socket, "thats what happens basically," he said then pulled his arm back quickly making the arm snap back to normal.

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It seemed like there was a lot to this eating business. Aixa tilted his head, staring down at the menu. “Desserts? I like sweet things, I think,” he said thoughtfully. And then Oliver began talking about money and Aixa twitched, staring at the numbers beside the meal. He’d never understand why one was to pay for food, but he’d never given it much thought because it seemed to work out for the majority of humans – well, the majority of humans that he saw – and it wasn’t like he had to eat. “Three Way Sampler?” he asked quietly, his mind running together with all the possible food combinations he could get. How could humans manage this? How come they could so fluently decide on what they wanted? “I’m not making a very good human,” he said, disheartened as he stared tearfully at the menu. He sighed and scooted closer to Oli. “Can you pick something out for me?” he asked sheepishly.

It does hurt,

Then why would Oliver offer to change for him? He rubbed his cow ears, aware that he had been willing to change even though it’d hurt him. It was strange, though. Aixa normally didn’t get along with other people – and nobody had ever thought he was cute before. He rather liked being called cute, he decided.

His eyes widened when the werewolf snapped his arm out of place. Aixa squirmed, visibly distressed at the sight of his friend breaking himself. “O-oh,” Aixa said, giggling nervously. “That’s cool,” he said, biting his lip uncomfortably. “You shouldn’t do that if it hurts you, Oli,” he mumbled, glaring down at the menu.

[ninth]

"Yes you do, you tried that french toast earilier and thats something sweet, though that wouldn't be desert that would be breakfast." He looked at him and frowned "you make a fine human, Aixa, neither of us are human, well i'm not totally, i'm kind of half human, but still neither of us are human, we don't need to try to be human, except when we're trying not to be noticed." He reached his hand out touching his hand with Aixa's trying to make him feel better. "Yeah sure I can pick out something for you." He looked through the menu and decided it would be good to have him try some form of meat. "I found something that you will probably like." The waitress walked back with their drinks and placed them on the table with straws. "Are you boys ready to order?" she asked. Oli pulled his hand away from Aixa's and nodded at the waitress opening the straw. "I'll have the steak and the steak fries, and he'll have the burger with everything on it and for an appitize we'll both have the three way sampler, also tell the cook not to put any salt on his food, he's allergic to salt." The waitress nodded, "coming right up." The waitress was cute, with blond long hair in a phony tail with manicured nails and a cute little body. Oli looked back at him, "you hurt yourself for me," he said a matter-of-factly.

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Aixa’s cheeks and ears reddened when Oliver touched his hand. The Djinn flexed his fingers, squirming happily. His hand had never been held before, except for once when he was in the body of a child and he was so lost and a mother took pity on him. But that hadn’t felt nearly as nice as Oliver’s hand over his. “Thank you,” he said gratefully, still quite obviously pleased with the fact his hand was being held. By Oliver. As in – Oli’s hand was purposely touching his. “Something I’ll like?” he said, distracted by the amount of energy going off through his head.

The waitress interrupted them by putting their drinks on the table. Aixa jerked, a little startled by her stealthy approach. He felt Oli’s hand slip from his, and he gritted his teeth, more than a little annoyed. A small, logical part in his mind told him that it was because Oli needed both hands to work the straw and the incoming food, but the stronger part of Aixa blamed it on that stupid little human. His eyes flashed white, and her hair jerked backwards, causing her to stumble slightly. She glanced around, but continued her way to the kitchen. Once the Wicked Witch was dealt with, he looked over at Oliver, pouting. He almost asked whether or not Oliver found the girl cute, but decided that he really wouldn’t like to know the answer.

You hurt yourself for me.

“That’s different,” Aixa grumbled. “I’m just a Djinn. We’re used to pain. You’re like a cute little puppy,” he said, a playful smile curling on his lips as he patted Oli’s cheek gently. “Like a teddy bear, but in puppy form!” he giggled.

[ninth]

Oliver laughed softly, "I still don't see the difference, I've been changing since I was 16 I'm use to changing by now pretty much." He took a sip of his soda, "Try your soda, you'll probably like it, its sweet and bubbly." He extended his leg into the isle, stretching his legs slightly. They felt tense again. He knew his body just wanted the drugs again soon. He hoped his body could wait till he was done with lunch. His ear twitched slightly as he thought about this. He slid back again, he had moved slightly to stretch his legs. He looked as if he had a headache and he did, the lack of drugs was giving him a headache, a pounding one. He couldn't stand headaches.

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Aixa sipped the drink, rolling the drink over his tongue experimentally. The syrup from the drink was sweet and sticky, and he swallowed. “It feels burn-y going down,” he said thoughtfully, not wholly sure if that was a bad thing. It was different than what he was used to. He crossed his arms and looked curiously at Oliver as he stretched out his legs. It was a show of discomfort, and Aixa wondered if he had gone too far by being jealous of the cute little human girl. After all, wouldn’t Aixa be slightly creeped out when somebody was showing him a lot affection? He moved away from Oliver, attempting to give the werewolf space to be by himself.

And then he realized that it wasn’t total discomfort just from being around Aixa – although that may have had something to do with it. It was because his poor little teddy-wolfy was hurting. Aixa frowned and took Oliver’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers. “I wish I could help more,” he whispered, his mouth close to Oli’s ear again. His energy was focused on Oliver’s head and legs. “Do you need something?” he asked.

[ninth]

Oliver thought about what he said about the soda for a moment, "I never thought of it like that, but your right it does feel kinda burn-y, its from the bubbles." He blinked his eyes that now looked a little tired. "I just gotta eat, then take some of my medication, then I'll feel better. Its just a stupid side effect of them. I get bad headaches when my body needs its next dosage." The waitress came out carrying a plate with the appetizers on them, and two little plates for both of them to use for the food they wanted. This time Oliver didn't take much notice. He looked at the food. "Enjoy," she said, "call me if you need anything." Oliver picked up a chicken wing, "careful its going to be hot, don't burn your tongue," he smiled a little. He picked up two mozzarella sticks and cut them in half and put them on his plate. "I usually do that for those, it makes the cheese inside cool faster. You deep the mozzarella sticks in the red stuff which is marinara sauce. The chicken is usually good on its own but sometimes people like to dip them into the ranch which is creamy or the blue cheese, i don't like blue cheese personally though."

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He nodded as Oliver mentioned needing to eat and take his medicine. Aixa shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though it was his fault that Oliver was so uncomfortable. It was his fault that Oliver hadn’t gone home from the library, wasn’t it? And if he had gone home, he would have had food and his medicine, right? Aixa squirmed once more, dismayed at his train of thought. Sure, Oliver had gone home with him willingly, but they had already whiled away the hours, much longer than Aixa had ever thought they would or had intended they would. And of course Oliver was a big boy and didn’t need Aixa to fret about him, but he wondered if the werewolf was too nice to tell the Djinn to back off. He glanced down at their intertwined hands, confused about his own intentions and Oli’s interpretation of them.

It’s way too early for this.

Aixa looked up as the waitress came over. He glanced down at their intertwined hands and loosened his grip, allowing for Oli to let go if he wanted. Aixa blinked, his cheeks burning when Oliver left his hand in his. The werewolf was merrily cutting away at cheesesticks and talking about dressings. If he thought anything was strange about their hands being together, he surely didn’t mention it or look bothered. Aixa dipped the cheesestick into his mouth, cautiously munching on it. His nose and ears twitched, and he scrunched his nose up.

“Ah, it burned my tongue,” he said, slipping his hand from Oliver’s to hold his wounded tongue. He sighed and brought his legs up. “Don’t worry, I’m fine,” he said cheerfully, continuing to eat. “Is blue cheese really blue?” he asked curiously.

[ninth]

"You all right? Your face is a bit red." He asked. He laughed a little when he said he burnt his tongue, "I told ya to be careful. Drink some of your soda, its cold it'll help." He said taking a sip of his sprite himself. He bit some of the fried chicken. "Try dipping the mozzarella sticks in the sauce, it makes them taste better." He thought about Aixa asking about the blue cheese, "It is sort of. There are some specs in it that look blue though its usually visibly white. They grow a certain type of mold in it which gives it a distinctive taste and smell. I think its fine if you don't eat much of it, but if you eat a lot of it that isn't healthy." He gave a small shrug. "Some people dip breads and stuff in cheeses where they melt them. But that isn't much of my taste. Apparently I've heard its good with wine, but i don't drink much." His eyes became distant as he thought about his father who was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He wasn't much of a drinker because of his father. But there would be times where he would get very depressed and drink himself until he passed out. But now he preferred the pain pills. He denied the fact that he was addicted to them, but he was.

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You all right? Your face is a bit red.

Aixa’s cheeks turned brighter and he nodded. “I’m fine. It’s just a little hot in here,” he said, slightly uncomfortable that he had been blushing over the man. He was two hundred years over a thousand, and this man was hardly a fraction of his age. “Well, that was a lie. I guess it’s only hot to me,” he said, pouting down at his food as he dipped the cheese stick into the sauce.

It’s a certain type of mold..

The blush from Aixa’s face vanished and he made a face. His mind flipped to a dictionary he had memorized:

Mold: Noun. A furry growth of small fungal hyphae occurring mainly in moist conditions.

“Humans eat mold?” he asked, distressed. “That just seems very gross to me,” he said finally, still looking rather uncomfortable. It wasn’t as though it was his place to judge what humans ate, but the practice of this mold-eating seemed so inconceivable to him that… oh, he had no idea. It just sounded gross.

Despite all of his inner disgust at mold, he noticed the mood drop suddenly. Aixa looked curiously over at him. The last thing he had been talking about had been drinking – drinking and eating the moldy stuff. He scooted closer and nudged Oliver gently.

“You okay, Oli?” he asked, looking up at his friend worriedly.