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Dr. Thomas Shanks, PhD, was just getting off a series of zoom calls with various networks and news agencies about his latest paper. It was exhausting, but he was getting better at it. Probably because of the time he spends at Maddy's discussing things with friends and family.
This led him back to the portal, and through the iris, into the Diner. He wore a business black suit, higher end, but with an emerald tie to punch up the color of his eyes (Thanks Hailey!).
Setting down his satchel on the big booth, something in Fate told him he'd need it today, he ordered a large spread of pancakes, breakfast meat and scrambles. Whatever he didn't finish, he could drop off at the Center. And of course, Coffee with some mint creme.
Just around that time, Hailey comes bouncing in. She's in a bright yellow sun dress today, ready to be her usual sunny self. She can't quite remember who she's supposed to be meeting, but that's okay. She's sure it's a friend. And look! There's her bestie. The Fairest's eyes light up when she sees Bones and she hurries over to greet him, dipping down to kiss his cheek. "Hi!!!"
Maddy's was indeed a popular spot this particular day, as Asbolus made his way into the diner not long after Hailey's arrival. The Darkling was casually dressed in dark jeans and a grey t-shirt as tended to be his wont when not working, the sharpness of his mien cutting through the air in almost visible whorls to those who could perceive behind the Mask.
Keen eyes scanned the area and paused as he spotted the pair in the booth, a small smile forming as he saw Bones in considerably better shape than their last encounter and he moved to join the pair. "Looking to be in much better spirits these days, Doctor. You've been well, I hope?" (edited)
The door cracks open, and instantly floods all inside with the sense of Wyrd, of Autumn, reinforcing the Possibility inherent in every closed door. It swings wide and admits Vorpal, holding the door as she steps in, waiting for someone else to pop in.
June is the next one through, wearing denim shorts and a tank top that says "I flexed and the arms fell off" on the front of it, plus a pair of running shoes. She has her red hair pulled back into a ponytail, all of which works together to give the strong suggestion she decided it's a pretty casual sort of day, today. "Thanks V," she says with a big smile on her way in. "Oh my god, it always smells so good in here. I'm going to eat the heck out of some breakfast foods."
"Bestie!" he grinned up at her after kissing her cheek back. Bones was always happy to see his people, and his people came here.
And a smile locked in to Asbolus, "Oh, yes, thank you so much for your help last summer. It was needed, deeply needed."
"And there come Vorpal and June. This is exceptional. Such great people... I'm glad I ordered a ton of food for me, and Hailey, and June, and Asbolus. Sorry, Vorpal, I don't have enough to share with you."
Hailey giggles at the return cheek kiss.
"Asbolus!! Hi! I haven't seen you in forever, oh my gosh. It's so good to see you again. He walked me home from here and I didn't even have to say I was scared I was going to get lost again!" She half greets the Winter Courtier and half explains to Bones.
Her head is already swiveling with a wider smile as Vorpal steps into view. Oh right! How could she forget that's who she was meeting? Answering her texts before she was fully awake, most likely. "Hi V!!"
Then there's a brief pause when June enters as the Playmate takes her in. The shirt gets a giggle though and Hailey is back up from her hunched cheek kiss to greet them properly.
The wave of Wyrd was familiar enough to the Darkling that he didn't seem too fussed at Vorpal's entrance, turning to give the pair a smile and a nod before sliding into the booth all overly dexterous and the like. "Happy to help, on both counts."
"It does smell amazing, doesn't it? And one of the only joints in town that cooks hashbrowns properly. Gotta love it- there she is! Heya, Hailey, baby~ brought you someone lovely to meet!"
"Hello, Tommy, Asbolus- and don't fret, Tommy. I forgive your limited food budget~"
"You are all welcome to join. I'm so happy to run into an entire group of friends here all at once."
"Well, you're not allowed to steal any of my hashbrowns," June says sternly to Jackie. She takes a moment to put an arm around V for a quick hug, because she's pretty sure that in a moment the Elemental is going to be giving hugs to Hailey. "Hi Hailey!" she says cheerfully to the person she hasn't met yet. "I've heard all about you from V. You like my shirt?"
She lifts her hands up and flexes to demonstrate. For the people who see her mien she still just looks fluffy. For everyone else, she's ripped for someone with her build, in the wiry functional strength sort of way rather than the hypertrophic bodybuilder sort of way.
Hailey rocks on her heels, eyes bouncing from V to June. "I do! I love funny shirts. It's so nice to meet you! I saw your name on the board and V says such nice things about you!"
She holds her arms out for hugs, a clear invitation for anyone that would like one.
"Isn't Tommy great? They had this whole big booth already when I came in."
"That is a fabulous shirt, yes." Asbolus said with a chuckle, scooting over to let the others join them in the booth without too much fuss. "Most of my wardrobe is relatively plain, I will admit. Old habits dying hard there, I suppose."
"Isn't it nice to have a collection of your favorite people around?" V prompts Tommy, smirking faintly with the faint reference to upcoming parties.
"Wh- NONE of them? But they're the most thievable breakfast food after sausage links!" She protests at June's declaration. Then she's grinning wide at her powerful little wife flexing for the whole room... to various degrees of efficacy!
She pulls June over to Hailey for hugs, rather than leave either unhugged, snugging both with a grunted squeal. "Mmh! Tommy IS great- I'd ask how they knew to prepare, but. Wizard! And don't feel bad, Asbolus. My wardrobe is PITIFULLY boring, too! All the better for being marginally less noticeable!"
"Wizard," was an agreed upon term, though their blush was full across Bones' face as he was complimented by friends.
"Yes... people. Good. Fun, and all so pretty and handsome."
June doesn't seem to have any protest to being shuffled directly into Hailey's arms for a group hug, this seems to be just fine with her, and she hugs V and Hailey alike. "I wouldn't say your whole wardrobe is boring," she says, partly muffled by the hugging that's going on. "You have some dresses you look hella hot in. I'm glad you all like the shirt, though. It's one of my favorites. I've had to replace it a couple of times now."
"All I'm hearing is that I need to shop for more people while I'm out." Hailey says with a giggle as she is hugged from two sides. "Yeah, and the handmade things aren't boring at all, Vorpal. That's really cool."
She eyes the booth, not sure where she should sit. Then she very impishly decides to make it not her problem and slides in next to Asbolus.
Was that a hint of red in Asbolus' features at being called handsome? No, never.
"I do have some nicer outfits for work and whatnot, but for my day to day I tend to find something simple to be sufficient."
Right about then, the large spread of pancakes, breakfast meats, and scrambles are delivered. Maddy's staff is magic.
Bones sat back and waited to see what everyone took before making themself a plate. As he got his plates, many of them somehow got moved closer to V and June.
"I'd argue I'm more on the "exotic" scale than pretty or handsome, personally!" Jackie intones, beaming at June and Hailey's compliments as she slid into the booth alongside June,squinting faintly at the impish blonde across the table.
"Beautiful in the way that a Lioness is beautiful as she stalks her prey?"
June seats herself next to V and looks around the table at everyone else. "I was only expecting to end up with one other person at our table, but I'm definitely not complaining. That's some of the fun of this place, isn't it? You never know who you're going to run into. I haven't seen you in a while, Tommy. How have you been?"
Hailey scoops herself up some eggs and a few sausages. She giggles at the squint even as she pretends not to see it.
"Accent pieces then, got it." She asides to Asbolus. "I can work with that!"
"Yeah, what are you up to today, Tommy?"
"It is fun here, isn't it June?! Did Vorpal tell you Maddy turned into a koala bear for me?? Evan said he'd have to punch one of we went to Australia, so she said 'well, wait a second' and stripped right at the booth!! Then she let me snuggle her for the longest time! I was so happy all night."
Asbolus looked over the spread and claimed two of the pancakes and some of the non-meat scrambles, asking a passing server for a cup of tea before turning his attention back to the table. "I can certainly reach out the next time I need to freshen up my wardrobe." He said to Hailey with a smile, chuckling as she spoke of her ursine adventures. "I do love coming here for that reason. Being able to connect with the wider community has been a blessing."
"I've been very good. I just got a paper that I wrote accepted into a journal. It's a bit controversial, in topic, but the research is sound. I had to do a lot of talking head shows this morning," a sigh, shaking his head, "I'm not the next Ancient Aliens guy, but it's close right now. Hopefully it helps nudge a few souls closer to Awakening."
"I saw that in the news. Is that all it takes? A few credible stories about the fantastic to tip the scales?" Jackie doesn't know any better!
"It's also nice to be someplace that tends to reassure people they're safe. I've heard I'm developing a reputation and I imagine it'd be trickier to socialize if people were concerned I might have taken exception to some of their recent actions," Jackie says levelly.
"The more the merrier, I think. Though there's definitely a limit. There's probably some sort of equation where the increased density of a socializing group reduces the social halflife correspondingly, I think..."
June takes a second to catch up with this particular story, and then just laughs when she does. "Maddy stripped, here, in the diner, and then turned into a koala for you? That's... something. I did not hear that story from Jackie, but I'm kind of sad I missed it. I've never actually seen a koala in person. I've never been to Australia, and I don't go to zoos. What was the paper about, Tommy?"
"You should! I love shopping for other people. It's one of my favorite things to do." She's probably going to get him something whether he calls or not, judging by the way she looks furtively looks him up and down.
"Oh my gosh, Tommy! You're so smart! I love that aliens guy. He's so funny, but with such conviction. Kills me."
Hailey raises an eyebrow at V, not sure exactly what she's talking about. Then it raises even further as she tries to make an equation out of a social situation. "... what?"
"She did!! She's so nice! And she has a deer.. stag. Hmm. A huge guy with antlers that just stayed outside in the fog to wait for her. Aww, I'm sorry. Maybe if you see her she would do it again! She was so happy to do it and she loves snuggles."
"Think I saw that report as well." Asbolus added, nodding to the server when his tea was delivered and taking a moment to doctor it before having a sip. "My brother mentioned it making quite the stir in the UPenn history department."
Vorpal's comment earned a curious look as well, although he let Hailey's question on the matter do the talking for him.
"Oh, you didn't hear it from me because I wasn't here. As nice as it would be to see Maddy naked, it's not an experience I've gotten to enjoy, myself," Jackie clears up.
"Oh. Social halflife. Every friend group has a time limit before people start peeling off. It's like how every radioactive molecule has a time frame that it takes to shed half its radiation. I think the more people are present, the shorter that timeframe gets, that's all."
"Hailey is a great shopper. She helped pick out this suit and tie. And a few other outfits," a smile from Tommy
"Thank you. I can be smart but I'm not always the wisest," a bob of the head, "And there is some sort of sociological equation, but it's something that never interested me so I can't recall it."
"My paper? It was about the comparisons of the various pyramidic cultures across the world. South America, Africa, South-East Asia, they all are very similar, and I just posited that there are connections to them, that perhaps there was some sort of symbolic link. Maybe even some sort of divine or celestial ladder that brought those ideas down..." a chuckle, "It's the Awakened truth written in a way to be accepted by mundane archaeology."
"ANd yes... that stir is why I have been on various phone calls for six hours."
"I... wouldn't be surprised if she was willing to do it again, but I'm not sure if I'd want to ask after you told me that she got naked for it." June laughs at the idea, because that seems awfully forward. "Somehow it would just feel like that's what I was asking for, rather than the koala bit."
June kind of blinks at Tommy's description of the paper and then shakes her head. "Yeah, I got like the first half of that, and then you lost me."
"I didn't mean to see her naked so it doesn't count!" The little Spring insists. "She had to take her clothes off to be a koala, duh."
"Radio.. more people makes you want to leave faster? Is that what you mean?"
"I'm not very smart, but people keep saying I'm wise. I don't think that's true, but.. what do I.. know." She frowns over her smile at the unintentional joke. "Darn it."
"Oh, well.. I'm sure she'd know if you were being sneaky. Probably she wouldn't mind if you just wanted to see her naked anyway. She was right in the middle of the diner. But yeah, I guess it would feel weird to me too if I'd have known she had to do it like that. I probably wouldn't have asked. Evan's eyes almost popped out of his head." She laughs about that and takes a few bites of her eggs.
Asbolus listened intently as Bones explained the paper, eyebrow quirking up. "I see...hopefully it has the impact that you desire."
He let the topic of Maddy stripping lie with the others at the table, focusing on his meal for a bit.
"Exactly. More people means people wanna leave sooner! That's my theory," Jackie confirms for Hailey. "And she's got zero shame. If you're friends and you asked, she'd probably show off if there wasn't anyone around to bother! Or maybe she'd just make it so nobody else saw. I dunno what Wizard Stripping Customs entail."
"Any or all. Some are still uptight pricks. But if it wasn't for legal needs, and modesty, I don't think I'd wear clothes anymore."
Hailey blushes and starts eating with more intent.
"I bet they did," June tells Hailey with a laugh. "I guess you're right that she's probably not worried about it if she just took her clothes off right here, though." She shakes her head and smiles at everyone. "Honestly, I'm not particularly shy either, but I don't think I'd just throw my clothes off right here. Then again, it's her place. She can kind of set the rules, you know?"
"Not like the health inspectors can come complain."
"To each their own on that front." Asbolus commented, also quite focused on his meal.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start a conversation that would embarrass you." She says very quietly to Asbolus.
"Have you all had one of Tio Bianco's cheesesteaks? He has a food truck and he's teaching me how to cook!! They're so good, even if they have cheese from a can on them. He has other cheese too though."
"I have not had his cheesesteaks yet. I don't even know who he is."
"I haven't either," June says with a shake of her head. "If you recommend them, then I'll have to check them out. I wonder if they'd pass the Teagan Test, though. Usually he says cheesesteaks should come from the dirtiest, grungiest corner bodega you can find. I've seen some food trucks that are pretty close."
"No harm no foul." He replied quietly to the Fairest, giving her a reassuring smile. "I haven't, but I'm also vegetarian so they're not really my thing. I've been meaning to meet with him at some point, though, Winter to Winter and all that."
"Ah. He's one of the Lost. I understand. As to vegetarian, I love a mushroom cheesesteak."
"It wasn't.. I mean it was kinda dirty." Hailey lies, trying to be helpful.
"He has a veggie one! Evan is a vegetarian too and that's what he got. If you like veggies."
"Is that really a cheesesteak, though? I'm not saying it isn't delicious, and I'm not saying it's not worth trying. It's just not steak. A cheeseshroom, maybe?" June shrugs and looks like she's spending the next few moments trying to come up with other names, and then stops bothering. "What kinds of veggies are on the veggie one?"
"Oh, um. Onion, mushroom, and green peppers."
"May have to try one, then." Asbolus nodded, making a mental note.
"You are all welcome to read it," he pulls out a folded up copy of his article from his satchel and set it in the middle of the table as he starts to eat again, "I have plenty of copies... "
"You are all amazing. I love that we're such a unique group together."
"That sounds good, too. Hmm. I'll have to get the actual cheesesteak the first time I visit, though." June's expression brightens up when she gets an idea. "You want to go together some time, Hailey?" sh suggests. "Or anyone else, really?" she adds with a look around the table.
"Hm. I could definitely tag along, but you wouldn't catch ME paying for a sandwich there. Or anywhere else."
'I'd love to!!" Hailey answers quickly.
"Um.." Hailey looks at the article on the table, not wanting to say why she doesn't snatch a copy immediately.
"I'd love to go eat there sometime as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for the truck."
To Hailey, "It's okay, you don't need to grab it to read it. It's academic and dry, just really full of words to make it about the interconnected nature of the cultures."
Asbolus claimed one of the copies for himself, if only out of sheer curiosity. "I'd be up for that. Always interested in checking out new places."
June doesn't seem to be in a big hurry to grab one either, but not because she's turning her nose up at it. She might grab one later, ont he way out, or something. Now's just not the time for reading!
"I'm pretty sure I could make you pay for sandwiches," she says to V with a grin. "For example, if I made extremely cute faces at you and asked you to buy me one, I bet I could get you to do it. Or if you stole one for me, and I made you pay for it later." She brings her hands up and wiggles her fingers, and the claws at their tips, menacingly as her grin shows off sharp teeth.
"Oh, I'll buy!! It's okay. It was my suggestion to start with. Not for Vorpal though, since she doesn't seem to like the place."
"Well, I am really interested, Tommy. But I'm really sure it would give me a headache. Maybe Saya would read it to me though." She explains, sheepishly taking a copy.
"... okay, you've got me there. I MEANT to say I wouldn't be buying MYSELF a sandwich, but that's entirely accurate, June. Touché," Jackie allows. That might be a better hint that it has more to do with her frailty than any sort of cheesesteak prejudice.
"I'm sure she will- and if she doesn't, I will. No need to fret, Hailey~" Jackie reassures the little blonde.
"Thank you."
They continued to eat, scooping more stuff on top of his plate, and pushing the plates around more, ending up with a different set around Vorpal and June.
"You know, I bet there's a phone app for that. To like, take a picture of a document and have it read it out to you with text-to-peech?" June suggests, having a sudden idea (for once). "I have no idea for sure, but I bet Glitch would know."
"Ooo. yes. That's a good one, accessibility options and stuff have that. "
"Oh!! Like, for blind people! I bet there is. Oh my gosh." Hailey fishes her phone out, only to be distracted by a notification. Then she's scrolling, ignoring food and the reason she got her phone out in the first place.
Jackie grins to herself as Hailey discovers a door to independence, and settles back in her seat. And if bits and pieces of this food or that disappear, surely it has nothing to do with her.
Asbolus had remained quiet, polishing off his meal and enjoying the conversation along with his tea. "Don't forget to check for the app." he stage-whispered to Hailey, smiling a touch.
"Oh!" The little thing blinks with a nod and starts to seach for that instead. "Thank you." She stage whispers right back.
June watches Hailey with a soft laugh and a look at Jackie, remembering when she used to be a lot more absent minded than she is now. Finding something familiar in it. Then she leans over against the Elemental. "If you find one I'll consider that my good deed for the day."
Jackie shifts to welcome the little panda against her side as she leans, nodding in solidarity. "Good deed for the day, indeed."
Bones leaned over and touched Hailey's phone, while whispering, "I've got you, don't worry," and smiled, "I'll help you remember."
And then to June, "So, still fighting fires?"
Hailey blinks, looking up at Bones. "Oh, thank you! Okay." She nods and takes that as a sign to put her phone away so she isn't being rude.
"Welcome." He replied with a smirk, settling back into his seat as he looked towards June for her answer.
"you got it bestie."
"I'm gonna read so much now! I'll catch up in no time. Um.. So to the food truck! Maybe tomorrow for lunch?"
"He's sooo nice, too. He's gonna teach me how to make eggplant parmesan so I can make it for Evan. Oh! And you're a vegetarian too, Asbolus. Maybe you could come for dinner too! Eggplant and spaget. Whatever that is. With sauce. He said so."
"So, is anything new?"
"Are you sure he said sauce? Not gravy?"
A chuckle.
"Perhaps. My culinary skills aren't as developed as they could be, I'll admit. Only having a battery powered hotplate for a year or so after getting back did a number on them, although I have been making efforts to improve since." He said with a chuckle, sipping his tea.
Hailey scrunches an eye to think back. "No. Um.. he might have said gravy. But I thought the eggplant thing has sauce?"
"Tomorrow sounds good. I have the day off, still." June has nothing to add about gravy vs sauce, so she stays out of that one.
"Gravy is the New York way of saying sauce, and spaghett is Spaghetti. Just their attempt at being unique."
"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Grew up in the Bronx."
"Ohhh. I was hoping that's what he meant, since that's how the chef back at the Lodge made it. But I wasn't going to say anything since he's doing me the favor. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen before, so you're still beating me." She tells Asbolus. "The chef would leave me out apples and cornflakes though after he caught me sneaking. He's great." She eats a sausage joyfully, teeth snapping down into it.
"My mother is a solid cook," Asbolus added, "and I had to fend for myself while at university so I know the basics, at least."
"Oh," June realizes she missed the question from bones. "Yep, still fighting fires. At least for now. We'll see if that ends up being a long term thing, though. I never know when my priorities might change." She leans her head against Jackie as she says all this. "Now I'm kind of hungry for spaghetti and meatballs..."
"I understand that. know a lot of folx that are finishing up their day jobs, so they can focus on families, or whatever society tehy belong to now."
Hailey doesn't comment on her own mother. "Do you get to drive the big truck?"
"Don't get me started on the trucks," June says with a slight frown. "One of the things I've come to hate about the job, and wish everyone wasn't so stubborn about."
That caused bones' eyebrows to rise, and the curious Obrimos thought about asking for more details, and then decided to keep June at their word and not get her started.
Hailey quite literally bites her tongue to keep from asking the obvious question since June asked not to ger her started. Instead, she sighs at her plate and pushes it toward V just enough to make theft easy. "Okay."
"Sorry to hear it's been an issue for you." Asbolus offered, letting the obvious question lie as the others did.
June looks around the table and apologizes, "sorry. I do get to drive the big trucks, and little kid June thinks it's the coolest thing ever. To make a really long story short, though, they're major safety hazards and also require our streets to be major safety hazards in order to be able to acommodate the big trucks. Smaller trucks are just as effective, people just don't want to give up the big ones. The more I learn about it the grumpier it makes me." She grins at everyone and shrugs. "Aside from that, they are cool." (edited)
"And see? No one had to ask."
"Ohh. Gosh, I never would have thought of that. They are very big, huh." Hailey frowns, considering.
"Yeah, it's just a matter of crew and supplies and... there could easily be a 25% reduction of mass, if rearranged..." the math brain started again.
"The trucks in Europe or Japan carry the same supplies we do, the same length of ladder, but on a much smaller truck," June continues. She said don't get her started, but she started herself. She also stops herself. "Sorry," she says. "I can go off for a while. I'm Summer, after all. I get angry about stuff."
The Fairest giggles. "Evan can too. It's cute. That does seem like a silly problem to still have when other countries do it better."
"Thank you for informing us. More knowledge is always better."
"Nothing wrong with being passionate about things." Asbolus said with a nod, smiling a touch.
"Do you really have to save kittens from trees? Or is that made up?"
"We do! Only something like 4% of the calls we go out to are actually fires," June admits with an amused little smile. "Which is fine, because I'm happy if things aren't burning down very much. If it was 0% and I needed a new job, that would be great, honestly! Kittens up trees aren't terribly common, but it happens."
"I'm betting that medical emergencies and accidents and the stuff like that are the most frequent? I know I've also seen the marshalls w alk around checking fire codes too."
"Ohh. Yeah, that would be a good reason to be out of a job. That's sweet of you, June."
As the meal finished up, he used telekinesis to move the plates and such towards the servers so they wouldn't have to carry it all.
Asbolus eyed the floating plates, chuckling to himself. "Handy trick, that."
"It can be, for sure."
"Thank you, Tommy."
"Hey, I'm happy to help. I didn't want them to bring it all back in, after they brought it all out."
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