The Choccy Chronicles

Chapter 7 - Calm before The Log

He was tired. He got pranked. But most of all, he wanted something to eat. The alluring scents of an underrated and underappreciated restuarant/bar was the one thing keeping him going for this specific day.
The Silver Skillet.
Such a mis-valued little place. It wasn't his favourite place to eat out, but definitely a place he favoured to going to when getting a bad day. The allure was the fragrance and flavour. The simple uniqueness of a protogen approach to barbecue. From proto-pancakes and something called "The Log."

Treble couldn't care less but bringing along Marlowe and the rest felt like a good idea to him. Plus it meant more sight-seeing and less pranking on his behalf. He turned around to look at the rag-tag group.
Ezra was just sheepishly walking and turned around as soon as Treble looked at him, no doubt laughing to himself about the "really epic prank" he had thought up by "himself."
Marlowe and Avi were somehow still close but distant at the same time, if he walked any closer to them, his body could perhaps even be pushed by the tension of the air between the unaffirming couple. Like it was plainly obvious to anyone, just like Shadez and Jon. Except that was a very hard thing to explain. But Marlowe and Avi, the newcomer that's been around for just two days and the cold but firey anthro that never gave away any weaknesses or feelings.

To be honest, having Marlowe around seemed to shift everyone's perspective on a lot of things. Like the sudden personality shift of Avi, or the unexplainable long period of time why Jon's gone. Or the fact his fur was vibrating to one of his tunes.
Oh wait, that's mine, Treble realised, smacking his forehead in stressed frustration while scratching at the watch screen. It blared out about some sort of news report about some people dying by the western side of Calitoria.
Creepy, but I'm sure it's nothing, Treble thought to himself.

In front of him were two identical buildings. Both seemingly coated with silver with shining purple neon lights. By the entrance, a large neon sign that shows both the type of cuisine served and the trademark element; a silver skillet flipping a mix of food into the air. The tavern with smoke billowing out of chimneys, scents of barbecue and fried delicacies wafting i out the misty cloud.
"That smells amazing." says a relatively new voice.

Marlowe walks next to Treble, taking in the mirrored building architecture. "What's cooking?"
Avi and Ezra also walk up to the two, taking a sniff at the delightful scents that came from the left building.
Rubbing the back of his head, Treble gives a slight laugh before explaning. "Well tonight it'll probably just be barbecue and some leftovers. They do have this thing called the 'Log' which we can probably try out if you're all really hungry."
In response, all of their bellies rumbled out with such a roar that it made him laugh a bit.
"Can we just hurry up? YOU clearly know we're starving." grumbled Avi through clenched teeth. Her new dress clearly irritating her. "Isn't this the hangout place of that depressed protogen that walked in earlier."
"Oh you mean Smokey?" Ezra piped into our conversation. "Doesn't he have this cool code name... It was uhhh." He curled his paw up, squishing and fiddling with his paw pads and claws till he could catch what was at the end of his fingertips. Till he clicked his fingers as he remembered.
"The Silver Phantom! That was his epic bounty hunter name, because all he ever accepted payment from his bounties was silver and silver items. Literally a protogen with a silver obssession. I wonder what he'd do if I told him that every cloud has a silver lining." he quips.

Treble chuckles at the joke. Ezra wouldn't actually make that joke in front of the protogen. The only person brave enough to even joke about Smokey while beside him was Jon. Not just a joke, but he had the boldness and spirit to play a prank on the solemn, unsmiling and undoubtedly humourless bounty hunter legend. No one knows what happened after Jon's first and only prank on Smokey, but it appeared that Jon was completely untouched and honestly happier than before. No one knows about what could've happened between the two, but it must've been hectic. Smokey wasn't the one for pranks, or anything "Funny."
"Can we get going?" grumbled Avi, pulling at her clothes while already going through the doors of the Silver Skillet. Her words bringing Treble out of his thought track. They all entered one after the other, the fragrance of whatever was cooking in the kitchen infiltrated their noses with such pleasantness.