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Wandering around from place to place had become such a bore these days. Theo literally never saw anything change. Same ol' same ol' to the point where he even considered going back to college just for something to do. But tonight wasn't one of those nights where he was just listlessly wandering around because Chip had stunk up their little apartment with his latest invention.

No, he was out and about because the little Mauvian brat had eaten him out of house and home, again. Ever since the little brat got fingers, he raided every single inch of food in his place, not even his locked up fridge could survive what looked like a 14 year old going through puberty!

So here Theo was, on a mission to buy up all the chips and cookies and pre-made pizzas he could. And maybe a salad. Because someone once upon a time told him veggies were important.

Though not many places were still open at like, 3 in the morning. Hell, the only place even within reasonable distance was the raggedy ol' 7-11, and who was he to deny the munchies when he got them? Their empanadas were legit though.

The awkward door binged above his head, and he gave a quick glance at the bored looking cashier before grabbing a basket and literally dumping in everything he could see that seemed atleast partially interesting.

But damn was that TV Irritating. Sure he didn't need to hear like Mozart while debating which Doritos were worth it, but he didn't need some weird lecture about faith going on.

"Hey, can you change that s**t off the TV? I'm gettin' some really weird vibes from it." He called out, lost somewhere between the donut counter and the GFuel. "Jesus ain't helping any of us out of this hell hole, now is he?"

Watching the girl behind the counter struggle with the TV was kinda funny. Or as much as he could see her try half over the shelves. He wasn't the tallest guy out there after all, and these shelves were stupidly high.

"I bet. There's weird s**t always goin' on. Like, who even puts that on air in the first place? Who are they trying to get to watch it? Jesus's good lil pawns are way in bed now, not delving into debauchery at the asscrack of dawn and all that." Passing by the soda cabinet, he grabbed a few Sugar Free Rootbeers and put them in his basket too. No kittens getting cavities tonight!

"That's an old a** TV. If my cat were here, he'd say to turn it off and on again." Which wasn't entirely a lie.... But at this late at night, most people would just think it was some guy being silly.

"Some of it is cool, but some of it.... Sometimes you just want a walk in the park to be just a walk in the ******** park. Not getting chased by some spooky specter or having a creepy raven tell you to go eat a**." Had he experienced that before? Maybe. Nothing a stop at the cappuccino machine couldn't fix though! Reece's cup flavor was back, baby, and he was gonna get the biggest cup he could! For himself of course. and a little cat sized hot chocolate for kid at home. One second thought, no, he put that small cup back because ******** that child who ate all his snacks!

"Oh, he talks, dances, gets on my goddamn nerves. That's why I'm here, lil s**t ate everything in my house, and Wal-mart isn't opened anymore near my house because of the yearly "Halloween ******** you" the city gets." That didn't explain much, or if anything it was all the more confusing if he was talking about a cat.

The scream though, THAT made him flinch and look up with a scowl. But he didn't yell at the girl for it, only scrunch up his already homely face. "Ugh... Damn, they got you with the shitty tv too? Thanks though, Weird not-zombie man is better than actual zombie man. And It's Theo. Yo."

"Pretty ******** much. I was just minding my business at like, 3 in the morning like one does, and then this lil spooky b*****d comes up at me spouting insults. Like, seriously, what the ********? I ain't even do anything wrong that time either! So yeah... No Wally world opened either, my paycheck is too low to be all bougie shopping at Target, so here I am." His basket was full, cappuchino hot, so he all but dragged himself up front to the counter.

The T.V. Seemed to be okay for now so.. He'd just let it slide. So ******** weird, this is why he didn't have cable.

"I'm hoping you're more the cool cryptid like, I dunno, mothman, and not the wendigo that wants to eat your guts." A half squinted, analyzing gaze was given over her real quick, and he came to a quick conclusion. "Yeah, you seem cool. I bet you've seen all sorts of weird s**t, huh?"

Item after item after item was piled up on the counter, but he did do his best to make it neat and non-burdening to his cashier. Sure he could be an a*****e sometimes, but he wasn't a *rude to service workers* kinda a*****e.

"'Preciate it. Seriously though, the little s**t keeps eating everything, then looks at me with a dumb grin going 'we're out of cheese poof, Theo!'. Like he doesn't know how to order instacart or something!"

"... Tell me why I thought you were going to say you would burst into flames if you stepped inside. I dunno, maybe some weird cryptid fun fact. It was kinda funny to imagine though, just walking into Target and hearing "MY SKIN IS BURNING FROM ALL THESE HIGH PRICES!" He may have snort laughed to himself over it.

"Ah yes, the frat ********. I haven't seen one in a hot second. Online college and all that. Saves money if you're not going to an overpriced school in this city." He browsed the candy on the rack before them, and picked up maybe three candybars himself. Not for him, but for the *cat* of course.

"Don't worry about the prices that way. The cat pays for it himself. I don't gotta bother. But Nooooo, the little s**t wants to use my wallet for everything. Like, he's gone and bought so many pulls for some Insun Gempact or something, and for what? Nothing but shiny bits of fake people covered in cute outfits. ... Beh." ... Okay, he'd have to admit he liked those games too, but he EARNED his prismams, not just bought them with his not-hard earned cash!

The weird things... Yes, he had seen so many, it was hard to count! "Well, I have a vague memory of like, ten years ago, people were falling off rooftops. just straight up going up there and just falling. But there were no bodies. It was like they were teleported away! And there was this one time a train literally came alive and started eating people! That's how I lost this eye." A finger was pointed to his eyepatch. It was real, hiding a fake eye that looked real enough that he didn't actually need the eyepatch, but hey, it looked cool! Granted, he didn't actually know how he lost his eye, but it was fun to think that maybe he had been caught up in super weird s**t before he lost his memory.

"Maybe you need to beg your boss to let you work days sometimes. Then again, you'd probably be dead tired trying to come in after a night of hunting, wouldn't you?"

"If that's something that'll burn the hairs out of your nose, can you imagine going into like, Tiffanies or something? Seriously, bones immediately to dust." When was the last time he ever bought himself anything? ... There was a Steam Deck from around last christmas, but he used it so little because Chip kept stealing it for 'parts.' How could he be a gamer with no games!

"More like 'hackin' into the mainframe to steal catnip-coin' or something. I dunno. He just does weird things, but my boss told me he's my problem now, so just gotta deal with it. And he's not so bad, he's just a brat cat." The more Theo talked about him, the more the cat seemed like an annoying roommate than an actual feline. There was still very clear affection in his voice though, even when he muttered 'lil s**t' under his breath once or twice.

Goddamn!! The way Morgan's hands moved was like something out of a cartoon! more like a single blur that never ended instead of someone flipping through a coupon book! Needless to say, Theo was impressed, even moreso when he saw them pretty much drop him to the single digits. Color him blown away!

"Seriously, they didn't find nothin. But from what I hear, it's less vicious these days. Still s**t happening, still can probably be killed if you're too out of your way during the night, but it feels like things are... Kinder? I dunno, maybe all those really ******** up ******** from back then happened to finally grow the ******** up and stop murdering people left and right. See, if I were going to go all murder happy, do you think I'm gonna target a bunch of random teenagers just minding their own goddamn business? Nah, you see, you gotta go all Batman on their asses! Take out the ******** who get away with too much and clearly don't know how to learn their lessons." Theo seemed to have alot of opinions on murders, but he'd kinda tuck that away for now, wanting to talk more about the eyeball itself.

"It was some really gnarly s**t... I saw it bounce across the street when it happened. They plucked it out like they were plucking out petals from a tree! A 'souvenir' or some s**t. But some super hot guy came by and saved my a**, dumped me up in the sunlight again, and then I lived. ... Not gonna lie though, I did go back down eventually to see if some rat did the 'subway pizza' thing with that ol' eye of mine, but nothing at all. A shame!" He grinned stupidly wide at the idea, finding it amusing, though completely lacked awareness if the girl before him was icked or not Given her whole vibe herself, she seemed like the sort that would really enjoy a morbid story like that.

Seeing the cash, he pulled out a worn out looking wallet. It was clearly covered in claw and teeth marks, like a cat managed to sneak into his coat pockets and drag it out to the nearest TV to input the credit card codes.

"You must be some sorta magical sorcerer or something! Like, That's nothing! Thanks, I appreciate it. My budget has gone up a bit lately but it's not like I'm rich or anything. I owe you for that, for sure!"

"Heh!" Theo's laugh was more like a chuff of breath let out, but it was very clear he was amused by it all. Stars knew he hadn't felt this amused by someone in a hot minute! But how was there any real way to like, make a friend in this city anymore? Was he supposed to just keep coming by like a creeper to see her? If that happened and he were Morgan, after the third time, he'd threaten them, and then after that, they get the s**t beaten out of them in the alley if they didn't explain.

... That would probably explain why he didn't have many friends at all.

"I'll bring him by sometime. Let him try the nachos nice and hot and kinda fresh. And for the train thing, I think this was like.. what, nearly 8 years ago? Maybe if you look it up, you'll find some papers about it, but you know how it goes. The government is always covering up the big s**t. But sometimes there's answers if you knew where to look. Or who to talk to." Not that he knew anyone to talk to at all, honestly. He just happened to scan all the Negaverse archives and old Missions.

OH. OOOOOH!!! Sometimes other people would extend their hand out first, and he swore to the stars that his mind was legit blown! Who would have guessed it! He would have been absolutely giddy at the idea if it weren't for the fact he was certain he'd look ******** stupid jumping up and down like a little kid, so he played it cool... By grinning like an idiot and nodding, taking the receipt with bond hands and looking at it with one big ol' eye.

"Ayeeee, thanks! I'll have to def reach out. But you know, I'm sometimes a little like, forgetful, so..." He ripped the phone number in half, and used the little scratch technique he learned from Chip to write down his own number, then handed the other half the bog witch. "Just let me know when you work, and I'll come by and keep you company if you want! I got lots and lots to tell!"