BLÅHAJ and Sustenance | Vinzent + Matsu | Furniture Car

Vinzent Mayer

This car was fortunately much more spacious, but still strange. Vinzent wasn’t unfamiliar with the popular store’s layout, even if there weren’t many in his country. At least there was one in his city (as it’s naturally the capital.) and he definitely has gone shopping there a few times.

What was a little stranger, but that Vinzent figured he’ll get used fast, is the stuffed sharks (who are somehow alive) populating the stores. Guess it is An Occurence.

Making a point to ignore Neko-Neko’s nonsense, Vinzent was looking for the restaurant and beelined there. It was difficult to ignore the pang of hunger eventually. Once there, he wondered if he should pick something off the menu. If the menu is to be trusted.

… Or maybe he’ll cook and check what’s there, that might be the safest way. Vinzent wouldn’t realize that someone else had a similar idea as him right now..?

Matsu

Matsukaze was hungry. The layout of this car was confusing – they have never been to IKEA – but the smell of food had at least paid off. When Vincent arrives, they are sitting at one of the tables, pushing a piece of moose-shaped pasta around the plate for a few moments before stabbing one of the meatballs with a fork.

It… looked like regular food, at least. So it… it would be fine, right?

An open bottle of water is next to them, along with their face mask laid neatly on top of their gloves. Well… if they didn’t try it, they would starve, so they might as well.

Matsukaze experiences their first IKEA meatball. It was… good? Surprisingly good? And despite everyone here being walking sharks, it tasted like normal human food to them. Though, they haven’t ever tried shark food. They aren’t really sure what the difference would be in a cafeteria.

The sound of someone else gets their attention and they look up to see Vinzent. They look wary, but thankfully for the moment their mouth is full. One major difference from last time, though, is the fresh bruising on their face and swelling in their lip and under their left eye.

Vinzent Mayer

Matsu

Oh. Well, they did beat him to the punch for the food. Figuratively. And of course… Vinzent couldn’t help but frown at the bruising on Matsu’s face. Should he say something? Would they snap back at him like last time? Maybe he shouldn’t, because his own hand too has started showing more dark bruising and it still hurts a bit (Not as much as earlier but still…).

And Vinzent really doesn’t want to get in a fight, if he can help it.

… So it wasn’t long before he looked away from Matsu and picked the classic meatballs for his food. That’s always a good dish, plus it’ll be filling, he’s sure.

Vinzent sincerely hoped the meal will go without much fuss, then perhaps after, he might try to talk to Matsu again. But for the moment? He’ll leave them alone.

Still. What happened? He wondered. Vinzent clearly missed something there.

Matsu

They catch him looking, and they know it’s the bruises. It’s humiliating. Matsu lowers their gaze and tries to angle their face away, and they dread him asking about it.

Thankfully, he doesn’t. Or… is that really better?

Matsu steals another look at Vinzent, watching him select his food, but the silence is deafening. They know he’s thinking about how they look like a wreck. Maybe he even already talked to Viper and knows. They prod at the pasta again, before speaking up.

“It’s not like. Shark food or poisoned or whatever.”

Wow, that was awkward. They reach for their water and keep their eyes locked on their plate.

Vinzent Mayer

Matsu

He made a point to still not bring up the bruises at all. Especially after that little remark by Matsu.

“… Huh.”

Vinzent didn’t notice Matsu looking at him while he took his food before picking a seat. It took him a bit to understand what they meant by shark food- Ah. The denizens.

“Uh… Good to know it’s neither, then.”

He then started eating, finally. It did feel better, as clearly his stomach rumbled right after his first bite. He hoped it wasn’t within listening distance.

… Unsurprisingly, the classics were always good, and despite the car being a copy of the store, the quality didn’t seem to differ, thankfully.

… What should he tell them, really? Should he try to chat with them, despite their attitude? Or just eat in silence? Perhaps with the robot out of the picture this time, it won’t be as miserable as last time.

Still, Vinzent isn’t talking until he’s done eating.

Matsu

Vinzent walks towards the seating area and… sits down two tables away. Right. Matsu stabs the fork at a moose head a little too hard, making a noticeable clink on the plate.

Whatever. They didn’t want to sit with him anyways. If anything, staying away is doing them a favor.

They lean forward and gingerly rest their cheek on their left hand with a heavy exhale, continuing to eat. Silence, aside from both of their eating ASMR. They wish he would go away, make up his mind whether he was going to bother them or not.

Maybe they should just go. They were here first, thought.

The atmosphere is really, really awkward the longer the quiet stretches.

“How the fuck did the sharks cook this?” Matsu chases their last meatball meanderingly around the plate with their fork. “They don’t have thumbs.” Their eyes flick up to look at Vinzent for just a second before going back to the food.

Vinzent Mayer

Matsu

Yeah, he definitely isn’t attempting to get any closer to Matsu. Who knows how they’ll react if he got any closer. No Thank You.

He continues eating, at his own pace. It was quite awkward, but as if he’d scarf down his food just to leave them alone. He, too, he wanted to eat without risking feeling ill too quickly, so they’ll have to deal with it, whenever they wanted it or not. (Not.)

A question. Which is very pertinent, even.

“… Yeah, I wonder that too. Adapted fins, probably.”

Like hell he’d know how these sharks even manage with just one surface on each limb.

“…Honestly, can’t tell you. I’m not a shark expert.”

Vinzent nearly wanted to tell Matsu to ask the sharks directly… Although he, too, was curious about it.

Matsu

“I didn’t think you were.” Matsu snaps a little, not as aggressively as they could be but there was definitely some hostility. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

They were frustrated, both with him and with themself. They know they were fucking this up, but it’s not like he was making it easy! It was a stupid question, anyways. Normal rules didn’t apply here, clearly, since sharks were going around in uniforms, not even underwater.

Matsu finishes their food and pushes the plate to the side, then pulls their gloves back on. They don’t move to get up or anything, instead just staring at the water in front of them.

Vinzent Mayer

Matsu

Great. That’s great! Vinzent was a little annoyed at the snapping, and he squinted at Matsu. He really didn’t like their attitude and it was quite grating to him at the moment.

And he knew it didn’t make sense in the end. He knew the question was gonna be stupid. But they fucking asked. So they shall get his thought. It was fine. They weren’t going to throw hands with him, right? … Hopefully.

Vinzent wouldn’t try to push them further, he really. Doesn’t want to find out.

Even if Vinzent saw Matsu had their hands gloveless while eating, their number was none of his business, so he made no effort to get a sneak peek during their entire conversation. He genuinely tried to keep the distance to a maximum. And Vinzent kept his numbered hand well hidden anyway. As if he’d show it to anyone.

“Yeah, anyway. It doesn’t matter, indeed.”

You started this though, he muttered under his breath, hoping that they won’t catch on. But yeah, he was salty.

Matsu

The tension in the atmosphere is palpable. Matsu takes another drink of water and stares down at the table. With each second it gets more and more uncomfortable.

Unfortunately for Vinzent, Matsukaze has good hearing. Their gaze snaps up to him, narrowing their eyes. “Well ex-fucking-scuse me for trying to hold a conversation. I don’t know what to talk about – how to build shitty furniture? How to get these damn numbers higher?”

Finally they stand up, though they don’t make any moves towards him.

“You artists are all such self-obsessed assholes. Don’t know why I bothered.”

Vinzent Mayer

Matsu

Oh. Oh shit. He froze at their reaction. How did they-

“That’s not- Okay look- I’m sorry. It wasn’t necessarily a bad conversation, just… Unusual, that’s all!”

It… Was not entirely a lie, really. But what made this unpleasant was Matsu’s attitude, which was why Vinzent reacted this way. Still…

As he was about to try to respond to their latter questions, their next statement definitely made him frown.

Matsu “You artists are all such self-obsessed assholes. Don’t know why I bothered.”

“Wow. Fucking wow. Way to lump us all in one basket. There’s assholes everywhere! In all fields! No, I’m not perfect, nobody is, but if you think you can justify your vitrol by labeling all artists that way, then buddy I have news.”

“A lot of people suck, but there’s absolutely not limited to one area, and most certainly not just in arts! I also wonder why I bothered talking to someone who is just rude as hell for no fucking reason!”

Tentatively, he took his distance. Especially to avoid having Matsu coming at him to fight. Just in case that it ever happens.