#c: mateo 001

[masonxmahir]

At the mention of celebrity, Mason had to turn a few times to see who was around, but as the guy kept talking the realisation allowed dawn that it was themself! There wasn’t a lot that could render Mason speechless, having the ability to talk a mile a minute, they were hardly silent, but as the guy with the camera and ice-cream cone - already a talent for balancing the two highly droppable objects, set up for a high-five, Mason readily returned it and clapped at the beauty of the talent, “Hell yeah! Now that’s what I call talent! Dude, that’s wicked cool, and like I fully trust you on that, no need to prove it or anything. Folks! We have one talented dude in Lunar Cove!” Turning to face him now, Mason beamed, “Dude, Imma like send a trophy out your way okay, that’s a hella cool thing you can do! And, of course! You’re on my show, I’d be super thrilled, honoured even to be on your live steam! Oh! How about you teach me your talent and like you can stream that, that's gotta be good content!” 

Mateo stepped outside with an ice-cream cone in one hand and a camera in the other. He tilted his head to lick up a bit of the ice-cream trying to drip off onto the ground then said to the camera, "Yoooo, everybody we've got a celebrity sighting--hold on one minute. No peeking." Mateo had only been in town for little over a month, but that was more than enough time to get familiar with the local celebrities, and Mason was one of them. Mateo beamed. "Yo, that's awesome, dude. I'd high five you but I don't have any hands. Hold up." He put the whole ice cream in his mouth so the tip of the cone stuck out between his lips and then covered his camera with one hand and used the other to offer Mason a high-five. "Yeah, dude, sure. I can rub my stomach and pat my head at the same time." Again, not a feat he could accomplish with his hands full--nor particularly stimulating for a radio interview. "Hey, can I get you on camera? I'm sort of doing a live stream here. And you'd be like a VIP guest."

[lucayxng]

"excuse me," luca called out to a man passing by the beach, hoping his voice would travel far enough to be heard. he was standing on some rocks amongst a collection of rock pools, a little lopsided although the reason why wouldn't become clear until he walked closer and saw that luca had tripped and lodged his leg between two rocks. he had his hands cupped to his chest and a bag strewn on the rocks behind him. luca watched the man, trying to get his attention and hoping he would come and help.

@mcteofuentes

[masonxmahir]

So it was a movie! He was glad to have Mateo's wide range of knowledge to help them out here. "But you know what though, exactly, they gotta get it from somewhere! Ok, new task for me, I'm gonna go hit up some of my buddies at the aquarium, surely they gotta have seen some things right!" While yes it didn't seem possible for an octopus to do something like this, but like those sea creatures there were human creatures present that could turn invisible too, it could've been a case of inspiration. Mason needed to get to the bottom of this.

"Oh my god, the butterfly man!" he exclaimed and nodded with extreme seriousness, "Right! That's what I'm thinking. Evil twins always gotta be doing the bad stuff. This is a set-up and it's so bad!" Growing quiet at that, Mason thought for a minute, "Can we trust them though? What if they police are on the Butterfly man's side? But we should tell someone though. But dude you could make that poster," he pointed to Mateo's drawings, "You're so good already!"

Taking a sip of their drink, looking up when the video was show, Mason was held a hand hand across their heart warmed by the song, "Awhhh, that's so cute. Dude, would you still hang out with me if I was a worm?"

"That's what I'm saying! I saw that in a movie, right? And they gotta get their ideas from somewhere." He put a finger to his temple, nodding seriously. He too had seen that scene in Finding Dory, and even if it wasn't a documentary, he was sure the creators must have gotten their information from real science; no one in Hollywood would just make things up for entertainment. They had integrity! They were trying to get the hard hitting, important information out to the masses, just like he was doing with his YouTube channel. "Yooo." Mateo's eyes went wide. Mason might have been on to something. Did it sound a little crazy, maybe. But a few months ago, he didn't know there were half fish people or people with wings, or people--like himself--that could turn into wolves once a month. If all that was possible, anything was possible. Since moving to Lunar Cove, all of Mateo's rabid beliefs in the supernatural and mythic beings had only become more serious and substantiated. One day, he was totally going to take that selfie with Nessie like he'd always wanted to.

"Duuuuude," he said, shaking his head seriously. "That might be something. Maybe it's like Moth Man's evil twin, the Butterfly Man. And he's tryin' to pose like a fae and make 'em look bad. It's a set up!" He lowered his voice seriously. "Should we be telling the authorities this? Maybe they can make up one of them wanted posters." At Mason's question, Mateo paused, looking stumped. "I think so. Hold on." He started googling: are worms spineless. A minute later, however, he was grinning and showing Mason a TikTok video of someone singing a worm love song.

[lucayxng]

gratitude rushed over luca when the man came over and offered to help. he waited until the man was closer and then cautiously held his hand out, showing the crab he had held in a careful grip. "i'm fine, sorry for interrupting your walk, i just need an extra pair of hands." he nudged his head towards a group of teenage boys walking further down the beach. "i saw them fish this little man out of the water and throw him around, but when i came to check that he was okay and get him back into the ocean, i slipped and now my leg is trapped. embarrasing, really, considering trecking through rock pools is half of my job some days. would you mind helping me get my leg free?"

mateo was a frequent visitor of the beach, always taking walks along the shore, as cliche as it sounded. he usually took them as a way to get his mind off of things when he was feeling stressed, something about hearing the ocean's waves made him feel calm. mateo wasn't really paying attention as to where he was going until he heard a voice call out to him, his ears following the voice. as he got closer, he could see the other was in a tricky situation and concern was immediately pouring out of his body. "are you okay? do you need some help?" he asked, though he knew it was an obvious answer that it was a yes; the other did need some assistance. pushing his glasses up, mateo reached forward and put out his hand. "here, let me help."