I once met Cobes in real life. It was a few years ago when I was briefly living in Casper and well before I had even heard of him.
I was riding the bus to work and had to transfer at the local Walmart near the mall.
I'm standing there minding my own business when I notice this strange little man scrounging through the ash trays.
You see, Casper is mostly full of normie Midwesterners, although it does seem to have a larger than usual amount of mutants (my favorite local legend was Don Wash, a man whose sole purpose in life was to steal and drink mouthwash).
So it was strange to see someone who had clearly bought everything they were wearing from Hot Topic. Trench coat, spiked wrist bracers, dog collar, eyeliner etc. I felt a twinge of nostalgia for the early 00's and a heavier sense of pity for this guy was clearly stuck in that time period.
After snipping his snipe, he sat down on the benches to enjoy the two puffs he had searched so desperately for. I briefly considered approaching to offer to buy a pack of smokes for him sense I used to smoke and knew the struggle he was clearly going through.
But before I could fully form this thought, he approached me and committed one of my least favorite faux pas.
"Hey maaan, you got a cigarette I can borrow?"
My pity quickly transformed into anger. I can't stand that shit. The begging part is fine, I just hate when bums ask people who aren't smoking for a cigarette. It tells me that their plan is to bother everyone instead of being tactful.
"Do I fucking look like I'm smoking?"
His face goes through a rapid change of emotions. Fake chillness to shock to hurt to anger.
"Geez, sorry man" and away he scuttled back to the already rummaged trays.
It took me a while of watching Cobes to realize who it was that had briefly irritated me that day. You don't forget the hairline or googly eye.
