Chicken and Candy [Nimrod]

[Stagger Lee]

„Get your free pack of super sweet candy with every kid’s menu. Our super sweet candy comes in six exciting colors and flavors: sugar rush yellow, hyper orange, candy sweet pink, gigglely green, rocket engine red and beam-me-up blue.”

Stag had a last look at the poster, displaying the candy pieces in their bright neon colors. Business at Jasmine’s Chicken Shack had been going very well so far. But it could do better among parents with children. Kids were the customers of tomorrow. And it seemed like a good idea to get them to eat at Jasmine’s early on. Once they had tasted the special recipe chicken pieces they wouldn’t want to eat anywhere else anyway. There was no chicken place north of the Mason-Dixon Line that sold better chicken than Jasmine’s.

And Stag would gun down anyone who claimed otherwise. Well fortunately no one did so far. But Stag had the impression the store’s owner, Lyonel, wouldn’t approve the shooting of dissatisfied customers. Working at the shack was Stag’s first honest, respectable job. The owner had not only hired him as a cook but also made him responsible of running the place while he was away.

Stag took this duty very seriously, even though he had to learn to accept that shooting at problems to make them go away was not a acceptable way of dealing with issues when working an honest, respectable job. He placed the sign with its bright, screaming colors on the entrance door now then looked over to Amy at the sales counter to see what she thought about the placement. But the redhead was busy serving customers. Thus he took a step back in his alligator leather boots taking another good look at the poster. The colors were so bright that he felt an urge to put on his shades to protect his eyes. But kids nowadays were supposed to like colors like those.

[Nimrod]

Nimrod liked playing in the snow, but he then would quickly get cold. He wanted to make a snowman but he didn’t have any items for like a nose and eyes and such. He frowned, he wondered where he could get stuff for that. Then again, where would he build it that no one would knock it over. He shivered and ran off for the mall. He kicked the snow off before going in fully.

He went into a couple of shops, looking for Nice Lady or Song Lady but they were nowhere to be seen. He was sure the vampies were busy. His stomach started to growl at him, he couldn’t remember when he ate and his candy was all gone. Though he knew he had to eat more than that, people kept telling him that so it must be so. He smelled food but it wasn’t from the first floor.

Nim stared at the moving stairs, frowning. He wished someone was around to talk to him, help him with these things. They were scary looking. He moved slowly towards the evil stairs, touching a foot to it before quickly moving back again. He poked the railing. The food smell made his stomach hurt. He took in a deep breath and placed both feet on one of the stairs, his eyes wide as he started to move. “Don’t like this…don’t like this.” He muttered, why wasn’t there normal stairs. He quickly jumped off as soon as he could, turning around, staring at what he had just done.

Distracted by the smell of good again, he started to sniff out what he was smelling. Until he saw the colors of the brightly colored candy. His eyes grew big. “Candy!” he said. He rushed towards the poster. Kids meal? He was sure a kids meal didn’t have much food in it. So he would get two kids meals so he could get more candy too! He bounced slightly and went to the counter but ducked down low, poking his head over the counter. He was wary of the cameras places had, fearing that he would be locked away again if the wrong people found out he was free.

“Hi! Can I have two kids meals, please?” Nim said politely, pushing over his bank card. He looked back a moment, “Hey, am I seeing things or is that a cowboy?” he asked softly to the redhead.

[Stagger Lee]

The promotion seemed to be going better than expected, because as soon as Stag had placed the poster on the door, the first customer rushed into the store with a blissful exclamation of “candy!” It surprised Stag that a grown man got excited over candy so much, but everyone had their guilty pleasures. He had a another good look at the entrance area, making sure the janitor kept the place tidy, then stepped back in, to his surprise now seeing the man at the counter, in an oddly ducked position, like a child playing hide and seek.

This indeed was quite peculiar. Having a closer look at this strange customer, Stag realized he knew the man! This guy was the man who frequently hung out at the Wickbridge bank just like he did. But unlike himself, this man seemed to know a lot of people, who all addressed him as Nimmy, or Nimrod. He had noticed before that the man seemed to be of a rather childlike nature. But in a city like this one with so many crazy things going on the ones who seemed most crazy might actually be more sane then those that claimed to be ‘normal’.

Before Amy was able to reply to the customer, Stag walked up to the counter. “This gentleman is my guest, put all his expenses on my bill”, Stag told her, then turned to the customer with the strange behavior. “Howdy, Mr Nimrod, my name is Stagger Lee”, he introduced himself, lifting his Stetson hat politely to greet the stranger. He had never talked to the man when he met him in the bank. Stag was a cautious man, and the bank was always full of people, a popular meeting place frequented by humans as well as vampires. Not the place to discuss matters with a person who although seeming a bit crazy most likely knew a lot about this city. The chicken shack on the other hand was a much better place for this.

[Nimrod]

“Eep..” Nimrod said, his eyes widened, he hadn’t expected the man to come over and he knew his name! “Are you a psychic cowboy?” he asked in awe. He didn’t put two plus two together that the man might be from the bank, he liked hanging out there a lot and the people he did know greeted him and gave him candy. He tilted his head, he was paying for his food? He put his card back in his pocket. He was getting use to kindness that he has been shown.

“Thank you.” He said, he looked back when his food was ready, taking the two kids meals and waving the man over to a spot out of the way, in the corner. Always having a wall to your back meant no one could sneak up on you. Habit he learned while in the nut house, but having been bitten by a few vampies, it proved useful still.

Once he sat down, he went straight to the candy before touching the chicken. “Should eat here more often.” He said, “Candy and food, can’t beat that..” he was more talking to himself than to the man. He had an odd name, must be a cowboy name.

[Stagger Lee]

“A psychic? No, certainly not?” Stagger Lee spoke as he took his seat at the table in the corner, opposite Nimrod, “I just tend to spend a lot of time at Wickbridge bank. Have seen you there.” That’s what he had done for a lot of the time in Harper Rock, watching observing, getting to know people before they got to know him. From the way people behaved one could learn a great lot about them.

Stag had noticed how carefully the man had chosen his seat. He might be a little crazy, but he certainly was no fool. “Sometimes I think Harper Rock is like the wild west” He said, part in reply to the man’s cowboy remark, part as a comment to his choice of seating. “It’s quite a dangerous place, yet full of opportunity.”

He watched as the man ignored the deliciously smelling chicken and went straight to the brightly colored candy. Some people had rather odd tastes indeed. “You seem to know a lot of people here in Harper Rock. Been here for a long time?” Stagger Lee asked sitting back in his chair. A quick look at the door told that the candy promotion didn’t yet attract scores of hungry children, so it seemed he’d have a little time to talk to Nimrod before his work was needed in the kitchen again.

[Nimrod]

Nim stared at the man, “Oh.” He said. “Bank was good to hang out at but kept getting attacked by nutty Russian girl. Big meanie.” He said, popping some more candy into his mouth. “Very dangerous…always has…for me.” He said, he wasn’t sure about opportunity. Once the candy was gone, he started on the chicken.

He tilted his head, he knew a lot of people. “Suppose I do know a few people. They help me out.” He said. He remembered when he woke up from that long sleep. He wasn’t doing too well then. He frowned a little about being asked if he had been here a long time. “Yeah, all my life…but I wasn’t free for pretty much all of it..” he said, staring at the table. “Parents sent me to nuthouse when I was young.” He said, he wasn’t sure about talking about how he got out. The zombie outbreak, the escape. Getting hit on the head.

[Stagger Lee]

“Ivy?” He asked as Nimrod referred to the ‘nutty Russian girl’, “That paladin who got turned into a vampire?” He had read about the woman on the forum and had seen her at the bank. Now he was just guessing, but how many crazy Russian chicks could there be in one small Canadian city.

“Why did she attack you?” Stag had never gotten attacked by vampires, apart from the random biting, which seemed to occur to pretty much everyone in the city who still had a pulse. And Nimrod didn’t really seem like a man who’d make enemies easily. But appearances could of course be deceiving.

Now the man referred to being sent to the ‘nuthouse’ as he called it and Stag nodded sadly. “Never fun to get locked away”, he replied, making sure that none of the other employees were close enough to hear him as he spoke with determination, “been to prison once, not ever planning on going back.”

[Nimrod]

Nimrod tilted his head. “Paladin turned vampire? I didn’t think she had been. Only paladin I know is Windy.” He said. “I don’t know why she attack me. I don’t cause trouble. Robbie said it because I’m friends with him, under his protection and stuff. She really trying to kill me..”

He lowered his head as he finished his food. “Locked away…yeah, not fun.” He said. He twitched a little, course when he was locked up, he was put through all sorts of tests, experiments and drugs. Most of it was not to help to ‘treat’ him. Not viewing Stag as a dangerous person he didn’t even think about what he might have went to prison for. He has seen many dangerous people, that he tried to stay clear from. “You work here? I work in a shop in the mall too.” He said, course it wasn’t anything big. He helped clean up, he didn’t have any skills after all.

[Stagger Lee]

“Maybe I got it wrong then”, Stag replied to Nimrod’s statement about Ivy. “I heard she had associated with them before, but so many rumours on the net, so little truth. Is she the only vampire you ever had trouble with?” He paused as the name ‘Robbie’ was brought up. Who was that? A vampire? A blood thief? An imaginary friend? “Robbie’s a good guy?” He asked, trying not to sound too curious.

“Yes”, Stag replied proudly, “I work here. It’s a good place to work. I like chicken.” He really liked all kinds of meat, still hunted out in the wilds when he had found the time for it. In a way Nimrod and he had something more in common. Strange diets. The man seemed to prefer candy over anything else, Stag almost exclusively ate meat. “Where do you work?” Stag asked after bit of a pause, “I could come over and visit you there too, if you like.”

[Nimrod]

Nim thought about it, he didn’t know much about it other than Windy muttering about the woman under his breath. “She say she help them but she two time paladin and vampies a like. Bad woman all around. She the only one I have trouble with.” He said. “Robbie, he good guy. He takes care of me sometimes. He explained vampies to me.”

“I work at Quartermaine Custom Creations . I know the owner. Also know the owner of the shop next to it. Triple Moon Blessings.” He said, he knew song lady owned another place but he went in there once and wasn’t about to go in there again. He grinned, “Yeah, you can come over and visit. Owner really nice.”