Here we go! The introductory for this funny little AU!! This more or less takes place a few days after the events of the game! Either way, hope y'all enjoy it!!
Introductory to Melted Memories
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It was almost too much for the melty mass to take in.
Peppino….no…no that's not its name…did it even have a name other than what the others called it? Fake Peppino? Feppino? Those were the only names that it was ever called….
It guesses that Feppino will have to do for now…
Either way, it missed it's home in the tower, nice and cool, a little bit dark, and quiet for the most part…until Peppino showed up and destroyed the tower.
It wasn't angry at Peppino for doing so, after all, he did have the courtesy of leading it and the others out of that place.
But now it didn't know where to go. It's restaurant was gone, the tower was gone, everything that it knew was gone. Nothing but rubble now, so there was no going back.
It slipped and glooped through the underbrush, hoping to find something, or even someone, that was familiar to it.
That's when it spotted a ginormous rat sitting by the back of a building.
Feppino sludged it's way into a nearby dumpster, peeping out of it to observe.
It watched as the back door of the building swung open, and a short mustachioed chef stepped out, a bulging garbage bag over his shoulder.
The small man pulls a good piece of cheese from the bag, and feeds it to the gargantuan rodent, petting it's nose before throwing the bag into a nearby trashcan, and heading back inside.
Feppino slips out from the dumpster, snagging a half-eaten sandwich from it. It presents the sandwich to the rat.
The rat in question, sniffs the sandwich, and tentatively takes it from the melty man with its hands, and nibbles on the free food with content.
Feppino gives a gurgled giggle, giving the rat a pat on the nose, just as he saw the small man do, before entering the back door.
It slinked it's way through the kitchen, keeping out of sight as it silently followed the small man, all the way to the walk-in freezer, slipping inside of it before the small man could see it.
It was cold….dark.…quiet….it was no tower, but it felt just right….
Feppino wedged itself in between some boxes of frozen dough, getting perfectly comfy as it became the freezer's newest resident. Perhaps taking a little nap wouldn't hurt….
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Gustavo washed his hands in the sink before returning up to the front to where Peppino was, the latter frantically trying to keep up with orders.
Peppino wasn't one to really complain about the influx of new customers, but he did slightly wish that they were, well, more on the normal side. Most of the people that were milling about his restaurant, were the fiends that he met back in the tower, the ones he had to toss around and run through in his escapade to mow through the place. But now? With the tower gone, there was no place for them to go, other than the closest building that they could find. That place, being Peppino's own restaurant.
Needless to say, he was just glad that they weren't trying to attack him.
As soon as Gustavo came up to him, he handed him some order receipts, urging him to help get them started.
Gustavo simply nods, and rushes back to the kitchen, clipping the orders up on a small rack to maintain them, keeping one off to the side, an order for a cheese supreme, complete with stuffed crust.
He pulls out a few pizza pans, greasing them up with some olive oil before running to the freezer to grab some dough out to defrost. But when he opens it, he's quite confused by what he sees.
Wedged between the boxes was what looked like….
Gustavo peeked out to the front counter, and saw a frantic Peppino, trying to keep up with orders, and deal with rowdy customers.
Looking back in the freezer, he saw something that appeared to be someone, or better yet something, that looked like Peppino, but just…really off. Despite it being scrunched up in a ball, the differences between it and the real Peppino were subtle, yet obvious.
Gustavo steps into the freezer, hesitantly approaching the strange being. It looked like it was asleep at the moment, so he tried to keep as quiet as possible to avoid waking it up.
He gets a better look at the odd creature, becoming more worried as he makes note of its seemingly half-melted appearance.
He leaves the freezer to retrieve Peppino.
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"And for the last time, NO! WE DON'T PUT PICKLES, ON-A THE PIZZA!"
Peppino has only known The Noise for a few days, and already had the yellow-suited nuisance on his shitlist.
"Uhm, hey uh….Peppino? Can I talk to you?"" Gustavo asks worriedly as he approaches the angry Italian.
"What's goin' on back-a there Gustavo? We gotsa lot of hungry customers!" Peppino wasn't one to really yell at Gustavo, sure, they would squabble with each other every now and then, but it was never anything that got out of hand.
Gustavo wrings his hands. "Well, uh….you might-a need to come and see this…."
Peppino groans, rubbing a hand down his face. "Fine, but we gotta make this quick…"
Gustavo leads Peppino back into the kitchen, and to the door of the freezer. "Just keep-a your voice down…."
Peppino is already worried about the request. He takes a deep breath and gives Gustavo a nod to open the door.
Upon opening the door, Peppino is hit with a wave of anxiety as his gaze lands upon the creature in the freezer. Memories from a few days ago surface in his mind; a decrepit pizzeria, sludgy copies of himself, and a chase through a labyrinthic basement. Drops of sweat already appearing on his forehead as he bites on his knuckle.
"...Peppino? Are you ok?" Gustavo asks nervously, looking up at his stress-filled co-worker.
Before Peppino could respond, the creature begins to stir, lazily opening it's droopy eyes, and unfolding lanky legs. Peppino would've yelled if it hadn't been for Gustavo's hand slapping over his mouth to stop him.
The creature takes a moment to readjust itself, but freezes upon meeting the gaze of the two Italians, Peppino being the one it knew all too well. After all, it was made to mimic him….it tries to wedge itself back in between the boxes, squishing itself back into place.
Peppino stares in anxious confusion. He somewhat expected it to jump at him or something….
"Hey Peppino….now that I'm-a thinkin' about it…isn't that one of the people from-a the tower?" Gustavo asks, removing his hand from Peppino's face.
"Uh…y…yeah…somethin' like-a that….." truth be told, Peppino had no idea on what was going on here. All he could think of was the first time that he had met it. The placid smile it wore, the distorted scream it made, not to mention the way it looked when it finally chased him out, a forfeit by it on technicality. But it was nothing like that now, probably since it wasn't on its own turf, and yet, it still made Peppino unsure about, well, anything.
He grumbles. "Well," Peppino starts off, "best to get it outta here before it causes trouble…"
Gustavo wasn't fond of that idea. Sure he was a little scared, but that wasn't going to deter him for long. He goes to approach the strange creature, sitting on the floor to be at eye level with it before looking back at Peppino. "Maybe he's just as scared as you are Peppino….I mean, just-a look at the poor thing!"
Peppino was looking, how could he not? It was right there in front of him, but Gustavo was right, it did seem a bit skittish.
Gustavo turns back to the creature in the shelf, speaking softly in an attempt to calm it and to coax it from it's spot.
The creature timidly moves out from the shelf, placing a hand on the floor, but keeps glancing between Peppino and Gustavo.
Gustavo offers a hand to it, to which it tentatively takes, slowly removing itself from the shelf and unfolding to its full height, but remaining somewhat hunched over as it looks to Peppino with a nervous gaze.
"Look! He's-a completely harmless! He can stay with us!" Gustavo says to his co-worker cheerfully.
Peppino's brow furrows, still unsure of his distorted funhouse mirror of a copy.
Gustavo puts his free hand on his hip. "Boun dio Peppino, just give him a chance! Besides, we could always use another set of hands around here!"
Peppino crossed his arms and hummed in thought. Gustavo was right about them being short-staffed, seeing as how it had always just been the two of them for the longest time, but then again, they never had this many customers before….
Peppino lets out a deep sigh, admitting defeat.
"Alright, fine, he can stay….as long as he doesn't cause trouble, and earns his keep."
It gives Peppino a wobbly grin, already pulling dough from the boxes, as if it already knew what to do.
Gustavo simply smiles as he helps their new employee to get started in the kitchen.
