A Guide To Medicine and War

Six

A couple people come up to them with matching grins, excitedly chattering. One of them wears a baseball hat, dirty blond hair cut short. He looks excited, though not nearly as excited as his friends.

His shirt has some sort of blue creature that Tommy really doesn't understand the point of.

"Tommy!" He yells, putting his hand around Tommy's shoulder. Tommy, surprised, growls and bites his arm, causing the man to jump back.

"What's wrong with him?!" He yells, shaking his arm.

"Nothings wrong with him," Purpled replies, smiling.

"He literally just bit me!"

"Look, he only bites people when he's scared. You scared him."

"No wonder he doesn't have friends."

"We checked him for rabies, he's fine. But seriously, he only bites people when he's scared. He's very nice on the inside."

"Sure he is."

Tommy smiles happily, though the mask covers it. Purpled, of course, can easily tell.

"He's nice, I promise. He's kinda like a sad puppy."

The glare Purpled gets is as strong as one would get from a sad puppy.

"Okay, sure," the guy says, still rubbing his arm.

"So, who are you?" Tommy asks happily.

"Jimmy. Uh...Mr. Beast."

"Oh, you make those chocolates!"

"Yeah. Why do you have a mask?"

"That's kind of insensitive, Jim." Purpled says, glaring.

"Bit one too many people, I guess. That's what the authorities said at least," Tommy chirps, stumbling a bit over the word authorities.

"What?"

"What?"

Mr. Beast looks perpetually confused, but doesn't question it all that much.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you're alive, and what you did was brave, so you can have some feastables," Mr. Beast says, seemingly shrugging off the confusion.

"Really?" Tommy asks, grinning when Mr. Beast nods.

Mr. Beast, naturally, walks away, leaving Tommy in awe.

"Purpled, it's feastables!"

"Dude, I heard that."

"But feastables?!"

"Yeah, Tom, I know.

"Feastables," Tommy whispers again, completely in awe. "Fucking feastables."

Purpled just sighs.

Sometimes Tommy is just so Tommy that it's hard to believe someone isn't acting as him. But that's just Tommy.

"Tommy! And Purpled! How are you boys doing?" Sam yells, green hair covered in grime. He sits next to them, opening his MRE as the boys do the same.

Purpled and Tommy swap after Purpled's turns out to be chicken noodle soup, which he hates with such venom it's a wonder he hasn't killed the people (monsters, he calls them) who created it.

Purpled, excitedly, responds, "Well, I'm doing pretty good. Tommy fell off a cliff, but that isn't really my problem. Your weapons ideas are incredibly helpful, too!"

"That's good! Not that Tommy fell off a cliff, of course, but it's good to hear you're doing good," Sam says, ignoring the way that Tommy kicks at Purpled in annoyance.