Strange Cravings

Wendi trudged down the sparse street with almost zombie like steps.  Her shark teeth completely visible for the few people on the street to see as she breathed ragged breaths.  It had been almost thirty minutes since her to-go snack supply ran out, and she had somehow gotten herself lost in the shopping district.  Her eyes were wide and ravenous, scanning for a viable source of food to fill her ever growing void of a stomach.  Wendi's arms swung loosely at her side as she stepped.  Her stomach roared, drawing the eyes of a couple passerby's, but that didn't stop her in the slightest.  The passerby's continued on their way, a few whispering something to each other while still sneaking looks her way.  

Wendi glanced back and forth, desperate for something to eat.  She took a step and tripped, falling flat onto the concrete.  After a moment of just laying there, with visible effort, she raised her head and looked up, seeing a nearby alleyway.  The alley was pretty well worn and had an assortment of broken glass and a few bricks laying about.  A bit into the alleyway was a lone trash can, overflowing with garbage.  Sitting at the top of the pile, was a half eaten cheeseburger, still in the paper wrapping.  Here eyes nearly popped out of her head.  

She was there in an instant, probably never having moved so fast in her entire life.  She stood over the trash can, gazing down at the scrumptious looking food magnificently presented just for her.  She began drooling profusely and watched without blinking, for fear it would disappear if she looked away, as she reached down with both hands for the delicacy.  Haphazardly grabbing the treat, she paid no mind to whatever else she picked up along with it.  She opened her mouth inhumanly wide, showing off her monstrous teeth before biting down through the wax paper and into the half even burger.  She chewed, in ecstasy after finally finding something to eat.  As she swallowed her bite, she slurped up a shoelace that had been dangling from the side of her mouth like it was spaghetti.  Licking her chops, she continued feeding upon her gourmet dumpster cuisine.

The twins had enjoyed their Saturday as they enjoyed many Saturdays: a bit of a shopping spree in the Alexandrite Shopping District. Their day was winding down, and they decided that they would take the long way home, partly to see the sights, partly to see if some street criminal would be foolish enough to antagonize them, but mostly to indulge their habit of people watching. The twins found that the strangest and most amusing people conglomerated in the shopping district, and today was no different. As they walked down the street, a woman stumbled down the street, almost staggering as though drunk. She collapsed to the sidewalk a short ways in front of them, and slowly raised her head, looking around as though dazed and confused. The twins continued walking, thinking she was little more than a drunk, but she nearly knocked them over as she suddenly dashed into the alleyway they had been passing. Suddenly intrigued, the twins stopped and stared as she began devouring the contents of the dumpster. The two stepped into the alley after her, their hard-soled shoes clicking on the concrete.
"I don't think that is the healthiest of eating habits, sweet sister..." Yang loudly told his sister.
"Neither do I, dear brother... Food tends to be thrown out for a reason..." Yin agreed.

Wendi hadn't even noticed the two she nearly ran over while sprinting to the alley.  She started to, very noisily, eat the dumpster burger, and it was devoured and gone almost instantaneously, both the burger and whatever other trash she happened to be in her grasp.  Once it was gone, she began licking her empty fingers before giving a small burp, causing her to raise a hand to her mouth.  "Excuse me."  Her movements were returning to normal now, and her strength was returning.  She began looking around the alley again, searching for another source of food.  She spotted a crumpled up newspaper near the entrance of the alley and, unexpectedly, her mouth began to water again.  Before she had time to contemplate on that though, she noticed that the newspaper was at the foot of one of two people standing side by side, just watching her.  

"Oh!" She looked at them in surprise, "Hi there!" She smiled her toothy grin and gave a little wave.  She had not noticed their earlier comments as she was to focused on filling her gullet.  She watched the two, curiously, wondering why they were here.  A sudden realization hit her.  "Oh, so that's it!"  She looked around frantically to where she had just finished her meal.  "Aww, I-I would've shared, but I didn't know you were here.  Sorry."  She looked at the twins, slightly dejected.  

Wendi's eyes drifted to what was in one of the twins hands, a shopping bag.  Wendi's mood immediately shifted, "Ooo, so you were out shopping today, huh?  Did you buy anything good?  Is it tasty? -uh"  She brought her spew of questions to an immediate halt, remembering something.  "Oh right!  Almost forgot! Name first, name first."  She cleared her throat and spoke with an energetic smile, leaving her toothy grin exposed again.  "My name is Wendi.  Wendi Gore.  Nice to meet'cha!"

The twin's eyes shot upwards at the woman's bombardment of speech. They cast a wayward glance to one another, having one full smile between the two of them. The looked back to Wendi and bowed slightly. "We're sorry. We did not mean to intrude on your meal..." Yin apologized, playing along with her odd mannerisms; the twins enjoyed humoring the strange.
"Of course. Now, as you said, names first. This here-" Yang gestured to his sister. "Is my beloved sister, Yin Equilan."
Yin curtsied, lifting the hem of her black checkered dress. She returned to her normal posture and gestured to her brother. "And this is my wonderful brother, Yang Equilan." Yang gave a formal bow.
"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Gore." The twins said in unison. After they spoke, the y raised one shopping bag each.
"We did indeed to quite a bit of shopping, but we're not sure if it would be considered tasty..." Yang said.
"Then again, mother always did say we were picky eaters..." Yin cooed, pulling a small cardboard box out of her bag. In it was a pair of black leather shoes, polished to a shine. "But you don't seem to be a picky eater..." She tossed the box of shoes to Wendi.
"Sweet sister..." Yang suddenly exclaimed, as though having an epiphany. "Did you know that soldiers used to eat shoes for nourishment?"
"No I didn't, good brother! That's surely interesting!" Yin answered with a small amount of mock surprise. The two were putting on an act for Wendi, as they put on for everyone.

Wendi looked at the two quizzically as Yin pulled a box out of her shopping bag.  When Yin tossed the box to her, Wendi made a frantic attempt to catch it, hooking it just barely by the tips of her fingers.  She looked between the box and the twins questioningly.  Once Yang began speaking, she held up the box and slowly lifted the top, revealing a pair of shiny new pair of black shoes.  She glanced up as Yang finished explaining how soldiers ate their shoes, and returned her gaze back to the shoes just tossed to her.  Her stomach grumbled, and she stared with eyes bordering on ravenous.  Her teeth were showing as she licked her chops.  I wonder... what it tastes like... what flavors did those soldiers know... I want... to know... to taste... to eat.

Wendi looked up to the twins, almost quivering from either excitement or her attempt to stop herself from just feeding.  "W-What?  Are you really giving these to me?  Is it really okay when you bought it yourselves?"  Her breathing was beginning to become ragged.  "You are fine with... letting me have a taste?"  What is it... that feeling... it's familiar but...  Wendi waited as best as she could for the twins to respond.  As soon as they would give her the go ahead...

EEEEEEEEEAT

...She tore into the paper surrounding the shoes, placing her teeth around the tip of the left shoe.  She bit down, tearing into the leather, her teeth slicing through with relative ease, taking only a bit of effort to tear off a chunk.  She began to chew, at first rapidly, but as she began to recall herself, more slowly, savoring the flavor.  It was quite unique.  A new flavor she hadn't discovered before.  How would one describe this taste?  It wasn't like the food she had eaten at the restaurant, but it's consistency was similar to a tough steak.  She let the taste spread through her entire mouth before swallowing and immediately taking another large bite.  As she moved up the shoe, she found new flavors from the leather, to the rubbery soles to the stringy laces.  Relishing in the new tastes, but ingesting it quickly nonetheless.  She finished at the neck before moving onto and devouring the right shoe in much the same way.  She looked around in the box for more, finding a replacement lace sitting at the bottom.  She picked it up and slurped that down as well.  "Ahhh, that was delicious!"  Wendi looked up at the twins.  "That sure was nice of you guys to share with me like that."  Wendi let the box with, only the wax paper inside, dangle in her hand by the edge at her side.

The twins' smiles faltered for a moment as she delved so animalistly into consuming the shoe. They were not expecting her to actually eat the shoes; they were expecting her to be offended or upset by such a rash proposition, but instead here she was, happily eating a pair of black shoes...
They quickly readjusted their smiles as the strange woman finished her meal, and they looked at each other, intrigued by Wendi. How far do you think she'd be willing to go, curious sister?
I say we find out, quizzical brother...
The two knelt down, and Yang picked up one of the bricks off of the ground. "We're curious, hungry Wendi... What all are you willing to eat?" He asked, handing the brick to his sister.
Yin tossed the brick to Wendi, which clattered to a halt at her feet. "Perhaps you'd give this a taste?"
"It would surely be a new sort of flavor, don't you think?"
"Normal food tends to taste the same when its eaten day in and day out, after all..."

Wendi had expected the twins to say something in response but they instead just stared at each other for a moment as if they were reading each others thoughts.  They finally bent over and reached for an object laying on the ground at their feet.  It was a red brick, chipped at a few corners.  The action confused Wendi, especially since they practically ignored that she was talking to them.  Yang handed the block to his sister who then tossed it over to Wendi, clattering at her feet.  She watched it roll to a stop before looking up at the twins in confusion.  

"You mean, eat this brick?"  Wendi gave a concerned look, unsure of how to react.  Even to her, such an insinuation was unnatural.  How could she eat something like that?  "Eating a shoe is one thing.  Like you said, soldiers eat them for ner-ish-mant."  She struggled to pronounce her last word.  "But a brick is a little-"

FEED

Wendi stopped mid sentence and stood completely straight, staring into space for no apparent reason, her pupils dilated.  Wendi's breathing quickened for a moment, the air slipping through her slightly parted teeth.  CONSUME  The empty shoe box slipped from her fingers, bouncing once on impact with the ground before coming to rest.  Her stomach growled, making a sound more like a hungry wolf snarling rather than a typical noise.  The sound alerted her, letting her slowly come back to reality.  Her eyes refocused, ignoring the twins and slowly moving to rest on the brick at her feet.  "What would it taste like, I wonder..."  She steadily bent over to pick up the brick in her right hand, eyes remaining focused on it.  

When she took hold of it, she stood up straight and examined it for a moment.  She moved it closer to her face before sticking her tongue out and licking along one side, picking up specks of dirt along the way.  What was this taste?  Salty?  Bitter?  She positioned one of the chipped corners next to her gaping maw and bit down.  It was a bit difficult to bite through, like hard candy, but not to the level of something like a jaw breaker to a normal person.  Her teeth successfully plunged through, meeting in the middle, and causing a few fragments to break off and fall to the ground like crumbs.  She chewed, examining the flavor, the texture, the aroma.  She swallowed.  As she continued to eat, any form of panic or seriousness she had from before slowly dissipated and it appeared as if it was just any other girl enjoying a nice treat.  Her mouth full of crumbly rock, she spoke, "Definitely salty."  She swallowed another mouthful.  "Wow, you were right, this tastes pretty good!"  Wendi held out the half eaten brick to the twins she had been ignoring up to this point.  "Did you want a try?"  Wendi asked innocently, completely oblivious to the physical barriers other people had with eating such things.

The twins cocked their heads curiously as Wendi froze, staring past them. They took a half step back at the sound her stomach made, worried that it was Wendi's throat making that sound, enraged and suddenly offended at them, but then she scooped up the brick and began examining it. They watched in awe as she began to eat the brick, amazed and enthralled by her resiliency and capability. When she offered the brick to them, they politely raised their hands to decline. "No, thank you, generous Wendi." Yin politely said. "The two of us are trying to watch our weight, and we already overdid it at lunch today."
"Besides, it seems to us that you are thoroughly enjoying the meal yourself, and it would be rude to take such joy away from someone." Yang added. The two were enthralled by the peculiar woman, and they walked up to her, now within normal conversation distance as opposed to all the way across the alley. Yang rummaged through his bag as they did and pulled out a bottle of nail polish remover; the twins always had their nails painted, Yin's black, Yang's white, and the two were running low on remover. Still, this girl was intriguing, and it wasn't particularly expensive. Yang offered it out to her. "That brick looked like it was incredibly dry." He said as he held out the bottle.
"Perhaps you'd like something to wash it down?"

When the two politely declined to indulge in Wendi's newfound tasty treat, she shrugged and continued munching on the end.  "Well, if you are sure you don't want any.  Yeah, it is pretty good.  I never new something like this could have such a unique flavor.  Why doesn't everybody eat these?"  Wendi simply watched as the two walked up to her, and noisily consumed the brick.  As Yang was rummaging through his bag, Wendi finished the last piece of brick with a burp.  She was curious as to what he would bring out next, so she made an attempt to look and see what he was pulling out.  When Yang pulled out a small bottle, Wendi at first didn't recognize what it was.  IN-GEST  When Yang offered it to her, she gladly accepted.  The things they had offered her had been good so far, why would this be any different.  "Oh yeah, thanks!"  Wendi took the bottle from Yang's outstretched hand.  She unscrewed the top and gave it a quick sniff.  "Hmm, this smell seems familiar."  She thought for a moment then gave a shrug, downing the small bottle in a single gulp.  She moved her eyes to the side in thought, contemplating on the aftertaste.  "Hmm, that's interesting.  Not really great, but there is something familiar about this.  What is it?"  She held up the empty container.

The twins frowned slightly when she said it wasn't great, but more of a stage frown, an act for Wendi. In truth, they were completely amused by her and her antics. "We're sorry it wasn't too refreshing for you." Yin apologized.
"It's nail polish remover." Yang explained. "We drank the rest of our water earlier today while we were out and about, and we thought that that would suffice to help you quench your thirst."

Wendi put up her hands, reassuringly, "Oh no!  I didn't mean it was bad!  Don't worry at all.  I really appreciate you offering all this stuff to me."  When Yang revealed the contents of the small bottle, Wendi's eyes widened in surprise.  "Really? No wonder it smelled so familiar!  I had no idea it could be drank like that."  Wendi examined the bottle, finally reading the label.  "Well, it was able to wash down those snacks you gave me earlier.  I'm not thirsty anymore."  Wendi dropped the bottle into the garbage can.  Wendi reached into her pockets and drew out nothing.  Her face down-turned suddenly.  "Sorry, I don't have any money with me right now to pay you back for the food.  Is there something I could do to return the favor?"  Wendi looked at the twins exactingly.

The twins laughed heartily in harmony, sounding oddly melodic for laughter. They both raised a hand and shook their heads. "Oh, no, hungry Wendi, there is no need to repay us for this kindness." Yang insisted.
"You seemed miserable and exhausted, on the verge of collapse." Yin continued.
"It would be heartless of us to watch on while a fellow human being suffered."
"And even more heartless for us to demand payment of any sort in exchange for it."
The twins smiled kindly at Wendi. "Seeing someone enjoying themselves in such fashion is payment enough for us." They said in unison.

Wendi gave a little giggle.  "Wow, you two sure are nice.  I like you guys.  Would you like to be my friends?"  Wendi leaned forward, eyes gleaming at the two.  She seemed very excited for the twins to respond.  "Oh! And if you want, you can stop by my work.  It's a little restaurant in the edges of the shopping district called Eddy's Eats!  The owners have helped me a lot and the customers are so nice.  It would be fun to see you guys there too!"  Wendi showed her shark teeth with a wide smile.  Wendi's expressions snapped in realization, remembering her situation.  "Oh yeah, actually... I'm kind of lost.  Could you show me the way back?"  She gave an embarrassed chuckle.

The twins giggled and put a hand on each of her shoulders. "Of course, little Wendi, we'd love to be friends with you." Yin cheerily answered.
"And we'd love to stop by Eddy's Eats. We're not particularly hungry right now, as we said earlier, but..."
"We'd love to come and say hello to everyone!"
The twins stepped back and started towards the entrance of the alleyway again. "Do you at least remember the street that it's on? We should be able to help you back once we know the direction we're going."

"Really?  You would?  I'm so glad!  The customers at work are nice and all, but it's nice to make actual new friends.  First it was Dia and now Yin and Yang!" Wendi giggled to herself, elated at her growing number of friends.  Wendi put a hand to her chin in thought.  "Hmmm, it should be on the east side of the shopping district.  Ummmm-" She grabbed her head, wracking her brain to remember the street name.  "Ahhhhh... Oh yeah!  It was Maple Street!  I remember because Shawna helped me remember it was something tasty, like maple syrup!"  Wendi giggled.

The twins glanced at each other for a moment when Wendi mentioned Dia and couldn't help but smile a bit, but said nothing on the subject. They turned back to Wendi and smiled warmly to her. "It would be our pleasure to escort you back home, Miss Wendi." Yang said kindly, stepping to one side of her and putting an arm around her shoulder.
Yin stepped around the other side and mirrored her brother. "Maple Street isn't too far from here, only about ten minutes." She explained, and the three of them left the alley, heading towards Eddy's Eats.
Once they arrived, the twins stepped back from Wendi and rejoined one another. "Well, sweet Wendi, you're back home." Yin cheerily said.
"Unfortunately, we have school tomorrow morning, and we can't stick around very long." Yang continued.
"It is getting quite late, after all."
"So this is where we must bid farewell." The twins exclaimed in unison, bowing slightly to her.

When the twins moved to either side of Wendi, she felt no discomfort and merely gave a delighted smile.  "Really? Thanks so much!"  The trio walked merrily along the sidewalk, Wendi chattering away, regardless of the twins responsiveness or contribution to the conversation.  After what was roughly ten minutes the three happened upon a road sign that read Maple St. and a little ways off, a small restaurant with bolded words above the entrance reading Eddy's Eats.  "Oh, you have to go?  Well, thanks for showing me back!  It was fun today!"  Wendi giggled, once again revealing her carnivore teeth.  "Make sure you drop by soon!"  Wendi gave a little wave before skipping off towards the restaurant.