One Evening at Beelzebuddies

PREVIOUSLY

Aah, yes, Prophets Road. Well known for its industrial importance, many warehouses, and a lot of health and social cleanliness complaints and issues. Where you thought your last problem would be the trash and rust on the road. Prophets Road is quite poetic for the many issues it has, really. Going hand in hand with the urban decay despite the booming industrial business is a notable crime statistic. Warehouses naturally attract thieves and such. And yet, even in these harsh places in civilization, you can still find peace and a reminder of the integrity of sapients.

Because workers get hungry, and hungry people want food. And they will flock to whatever nearest food spots they can find. Street stall, vendor, shop, you name it.

And one such shop happened to be a restaurant that had gotten a good fiscal year and had decided to pass a new round of advertisments with their new cash. They were promoting a special 25% off sale on all menu items on account of a "limited time special weekend" offer. Most certainly a marketing stunt.

Beelzebuddies was the name of this restaurant. A family owned joint that had served the workers in Prophets Road for years since it had opened. It was quite close to the area, and many had praised it's affordable prices and good taste though some would say their food was nothing to write home about. Most didn't mind and would come anyway. It did help that Beelzebuddies, despite it's small size, had great customer service and, unlike a vast chunk of Prophets Road, was notable for being a rather clean establishment. It's floors were polished, the walls were mostly spick and span, the glass doors had only some number of scratches but no dirt. The waiters (who were children of the owners) were very polite and quick in their job. Really, for an establishment run by the fly insectoids, the dipterai, a species often mocked in olden times for spreading plagues and disease, the owners of Beelzebuddies were proud of how clean they could keep the place despite the state of Prophets Road, and that was on the marketing too.

It was this places ads that had wound up in Naganas mailbox.

Nagana sat outside of the Beelzebuddies restaurant with a stricken look on her face. Her suspiciously clean to the point of being recently purchased sweater and skirt cute look clashed with her powerful frame as she gripped the nearly torn with a steelish grip. The ad in her hand absolutely trashed from the amount of times it had been crumpled, uncrumpled, and recrumpled again. No matter how many times Nagana read the ad, the words never changed. She scanned the page at least twenty times, and nothing on it anywhere said it was run by flies! If she had any advanced education she might have caught the connection with the name of the restaurant being similar to that of the lord of flies, but right now the snake was past that point. Nagana had already invited Becky to this restaurant, and thanks to her somewhat primal lifestyle, she had no way to intercept her avian associate to stop her from arriving. The restaurant was clean and tidy, but Nagana couldn’t help but think about the implication of inviting someone to eat at a restaurant run by a species whose genetic cousins ate garbage and waste.

Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling me to get a phone…

Scratching the back of her hood, Nagana debated about going inside or not. She couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious about hanging around outside. Prophet street was somewhat barren on weekdays thanks to this primarily being a rougher, more work oriented part of the city. Thanks to that, there weren't too many customers inside. Which made the giant green Naga outside the window something that was tough to ignore. Going in early before Becky was an option…but the looks from some of the customers she caught through the glass irritated her a bit too much to give them the satisfaction of leaving their sight. So, a cycle began of Nagana flicking her tongue to taste the air and guess what they might have been cooking at that moment while occasionally side glancing at the people inside.

For the love of the Overseer, I hope Becky gets here soon.

As she looked in, the door in front of her suddenly opened as 2 of the dipterai waiters popped out. It was clear they were still children, because neither of them was reaching Naganas waist, while she could see a waitress inside as tall as the average person. But even then, their faces were hardly flattering. Their skin was made of an exoskeleton, and it had this rough look like of a rock to it. Clear joints and lines all over their body where the exoskeleton bends around and what not. Their eyes had a strange sort of goggle look to it and there were 3 beady dots staring at Nagana through each eye. Their antenna curved along their heads and then curved upwards, looking more like horns. They had multiple limbs, very thin paper-like wings, and their hair was rather messy and dishevelled looking, even when wearing rather ok looking clothes.

One of them was flying, while the other was on foot and both gave a courteous bow.

Foot: "Welcome to Beelzebuddies!"
Flying: "We hope you enjoy your stay!"
Foot: "Please come in!"
Flying: "Don't leave yourself out of the experience!"

Each young waiter came on eithernside of Nagana and pulled at her hands.

Foot: "Doesn't matter who it is."
Flying: "Doesn't matter what you are."
Foot: "Child of a king or spawn of a destroyer."
Flying: "Everyone is welcome at Beelzebuddies!"

While Nagana sat outside, the cycle she had found herself in suddenly shattered to bits when the front doors of the restaurant flew open and interrupted her train of thought! Nagana might have yelped in surprise if it wasn’t for the two insectoids immediately welcoming her in an unintentionally eerie fashion. They were smaller than the other waiters inside, but Nagana had no clue what sort of lifespan these creatures had, and could only blink at their strange appearance. The way they spoke was like they were finishing each other's thoughts, almost in a hivemind fashion. As creepy as Nagana’s eyes were, she felt that the hard to read gaze of the two insectoid’s multiple sets of eyes could be disarming themselves.

“A-actually I’m waiting on a- HEY!”

The two eager waiters would each grab one of Nagana’s hands and insist she was welcomed, pulling her along happily. Despite the fact Nagana could have easily broken away, the sheer shock of everything happening so quickly kind of stupefied her into going along with them. She slithered along with them, unsure why as she passed through the double doors and into the restaurant. Inside, a wave of gentle heat washed over Nagana’s scales as the inside of the building was a few degrees warmer than outside. It was actually somewhat comfortable for a cold blooded species like herself, and rather than wait, the two waiters seemed to seat her in an open booth made for species that had larger lower halves.

“Look, I appreciate the effort…but, I was…actually waiting for someone.” Nagana muttered, noticeably trying to avoid the two young staff’s expecting eyes. The serpent tried to hold firm, but thanks to the flies' silent treatment, she relented. “E-eh…Look, would it be alright if you just sent her over here when she shows up? She’s an avian species, and her name is Becky. I think she’ll be here soon, so can I have two menus please?”

Giving in, Nagana hoped her request would please the flies enough for them to leave her be for the moment, the snake needing to get ahold of herself in time for her guest to arrive.

The youngsters both bowed.

Foot: "Absolutely!"
Flying: "Count on us!"

They both scampered off towards the door, right as another dipterai waitress appeared. This one was more adolescent, being taller, and with a notably harder looking exoskeleton, with a blackness almost like obsidian. Her hair was longer too, but more wildly branching out like there was a bush on her head. Perhaps the most concerning part was the fact that she was wearing her dress such that it bore her midriff; but her midriff showed more of that obsidian-dark exoskeleton with a movable line joint visible running both along her waist, and going down towards her crotch which was hidden by her long skirt. Not to mention, unlike the young ones, her exoskeleton was covered in scars, crevices, and what seemed like strange dots like boils all over.

"Menus for two." She said in a very laid back voice, showing Nagana the two menus with the Beelzebuddies logo, showing a very bubbly and stylish logo with 4 arms giving a thumbs up.

She walked off after passing the menus to her. "Just say the magic words when you're done." she casually muttered as she walked off to another table.

Just as Nagana thought she’d managed to get rid of the two youngsters, a larger insectoid began to approach her table. Nagana looked this one over just as she did with the children. That was to say, she glanced at her for a split second and deeply regretted doing so. Nagana understood that appearances were not something to judge someone on, as her entire species were thought of in a poor manner simply for their appearance. But for some reason, the sudden stress of the situation made her want to vomit. A defense mechanism her species had kept for generations. Thankfully, Nagana hadn’t eaten anything, otherwise she might have had her breakfast all over the table. With a simple ”Thank you.” Nagana retrieved the Menu’s while doing her best to push past her instincts and respectfully look into the waitress’s eyes. She hoped it didn’t look too forced when she finally took her eyes away from the multi-eyed gaze and began pawing through the menus.

Magic word…? Maybe Becky will know it…

There were a surprising amount of different things to order. Nothing a smaller restaurant like this place couldn’t handle, but more than the serpent expected. There was at least one thing on each page just about any species could eat, though Nagana figured that so long as she ordered meat she herself would be fine. She couldn’t help but think she had an advantage over Becky, since Nagana could never taste much of what she ate. If the food was awful or amazing, the flavor would be gone in an instant. Nagana would look for whatever dish had the most flesh on the menu, while occasionally looking out the window to try and spot Becky.

What if she didn’t show?

The thought hit Nagana like a punch to the head. She blinked at the menu as she marveled to herself that she never had considered the idea until just then! She looked at the empty seat in front of her, wondering if that was how it was going to be for the entire meal. While Nagana didn’t get that fearful feeling from Becky that she usually got from others, the two really were total opposites. Even Nagana’s own culture was raised to despise bird beings thanks to Harpy’s being Naga’s mortal enemies. But Nagana hadn’t felt that way about Becky…

Maybe Becky felt that way about me…

The Serpent wasn’t so sure. She couldn’t feel sadness when she tried to put any faith into her nihilistic thoughts. She didn’t know Becky enough to be sad if she did ditch her, and it wasn’t as though it would have been the first time someone did something similar to Nagana. If anything, she could understand Becky’s perspective if she did choose not to show up. Heck, maybe Becky knew about this place and spared herself the trip. A thought that Nagana herself couldn’t help but envy at that moment.

As Nagana stewed away at her thoughts in that little part of the restaurant, the doors of the restaurant would open again as the two young waiters would once again spring away and out at whoever it had been just passing.

The older waitress who had given Nagana the menu passed by her again, and casting a glance, asked, "Something wrong, snitty? That's a hard face you got there, and I don't just mean the scaly bits either."

The doors opened, causing the two young fly’s to rush over and greet the incoming customer. Nagana tried to catch a glance of the newcomer, but it was difficult to see with her back to the door. Her tongue flicked past her venomous fangs as she caught herself resting her head in her hand. She looked over at the clock, apparently being caught up in her thoughts for a good five minutes. The taller fly waitress was walking past the large, probably to greet the next customer with a menu. Nagana tried to look busy, staring at the menu in awkward silence as the second menu lay across from her, unused and unopened. But to her unwanted surprise, the waitress stopped by her table. Nagana looked at her, wondering if maybe the waitress was trying to gauge if Nagana was a bum or not. Even dressed in new clothing, serpents had a rough reputation.

Is she going to ask me to leave?

The waitress did ask something of Nagana…but it wasn’t something like leaving. Apparently, Nagana looked interesting enough to ask about, the fly woman asking if something was bothering her. The snake woman’s yellow eyes seemed to search the fly’s exoskeleton expression to try and find a hint of what the insect might have been trying to do…but the hard face was too alien for Nagana to derive anything from. Deciding to take the Waitress as someone who was overly sympathetic.

“I’m fine…just hard to decide, y’know? It’s been awhile since I ate out…and it all looks so good.” The serpent said with a subdued smile. She wanted to play nice, hiding her fangs and venom away from the staff and their customers. No need to give them trouble, even if they did make her a bit nervous.

“But…I might just order ahead of my friend…they seem to be coming late.”

The waitress stared at her response, and looked at the unopened second menu.

"Some people really do come very late, don't they?" she said, right as she turned her head. The two smaller waiters popped up from besides her, one flying and one on foot.

Flying: "May we present to you!"
Foot: "The special guest of the hour!"

Both: "Ta da!"

The taller waitress herself stepped back to reveal.....

A tiny figure of 3 feet tall, wearing a sleeveless blue jacket revealing her feathery arms with wings, baggy black pants, and avian foot wear for keeping their feet bundled and comfy.

Except Becky was also holding a menu to hide her face. She peeked out a bit and noticed Nagana, and then saw her clothing.

"OH." she said, the menu suddenly flipping out of her hands as she tried grabbing it, and accidentally punching a hole in it, then quickly hiding it behind her. Tapping her feet on each other, she said nervously,

"H-hi-Nagana........you-look-good-today."

Internally, she was freaking out.

She came here in such a cute dress! I thought she was into tough tomboy stuff! Aaack, I messed up my first real impressions!

Nagana tried to chuckle softly, as if giving into that simple fact the waitress laid out to her. But they both were probably thinking the same thing, that Nagana’s friend might just flat out not show up. At least the waitress humored Nagana, it eased the heavy feeling a bit. Nagana kept up her smile, at least until the waitress would turn to leave. But that didn’t come too soon, because soon the other two waiters were right underneath the tall waitress’s feet. A part of Nagana wondered how they moved around so quickly, but that thought was soon dashed as they revealed Becky, who was curiously peeking out from behind a menu.

“YO~” Nagana greeted in an unintentionally loud voice.

Becky jumped, accidentally dropping the menu and moving to catch it, but tearing a hole in it instead. Nagana chuckled in good nature, relaxing substantially now that her guest had finally arrived. The serpent tried to hide her smile behind her hand, her fangs protruding thanks to her laughter. When she finally got control of herself, Nagana simply smirked. Happy that Becky seemed to like the outfit the snake threw on for her.

“Thanks. But don’t you look fierce! I didn’t think that was your style Becky.” Nagana said while her upper body slither closer, getting a closer look at Becky’s threads before returning to her coiled lower body.

“But you’re rocking it~”

Without a word, Nagana’s tail moved over towards Becky, the serpent offering her guest a lift up to her seat so that the serpent could speak with her easier. As much as Nagana seemed pleased, she couldn’t help but tease her avian guest.

“And here I was, wondering if I had gotten dumped. What took you?” She said, keeping her smile to let Becky in on her teasing.