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Scene is set on October 9th, 2024
Hailey assumes everyone that agreed to lunch will be there with bells on. Due to that, she shows up to the food truck an hour early in her excitement to wait through the line. She wants to let her very favorite Uncle know that some Lost and a Mage are coming so he isn't caught off guard. The happy Fairest is in jeans and a tied off T-shirt again, ready to help if needed.
Asbolus was there promptly, as was his wont, scanning the gathered patrons to try and spot the young Fairest who had arranged this little meet-up. The Darkling was dressed casually in jeans and a black t-shirt, working his way through the crowd with a practiced grace.
Bones was there ahead of time, waiting for Hailey, this time in femme form. She wore the snow white and blue flowered dress that she often did.
As people approached, she would wave and note them with grins.
Jackie wasn't one to keep her People waiting, and she's there on time, a peasant dress on beneath her everpresent leather longcoat.
"ORDER UP! Two whiz, wit', one Italian beef, two Diet Cokes, and a bottled water. Here you go, fellas, enjoy." Bianco hands off the order to three biz-casual tech bros, then jumps right to the next. "NEXT UP! One pizza steak, wit'out, one veggie, two bottled waters. Okay, let's see...." He looks out over the line and catches sight of the Fairest. Oh look, she brought friends! "Heya! Hey, Good to see you, Hailey!"
June is wearing jeans today, and a PFD t-shirt, when she arrives with Jackie. Her hair is loose today, there's a smile on her face, and she's ready to fill that face with cheesesteaks. "Don't let me forget to order the extra one to bring back for Teagan," she tells Jackie.
Hailey greets her friends warmly, holding some of her bottled up excitement back so as not to draw attention.
When Bianco notices her, she waves broadly. "Look, I brought some people!!" Even though it's very obvious, she needed to tell him.
"He's excited, see? And look see the uh.. wooter.. ices? Those are like Icees, kinda. Evan liked those a lot." She explains, again unnecessarily. "I'm so happy you could all make it!"
"Happy to be here." Asbolus replied with a smile, giving a nod to the other Lost and Awakened as they came together at the truck. "Nice set up you have, Bianco." he added, looking over the menu for the vegetarian options.
The Mage stayed to the back, letting the Lost owner get associated with the Lost customers, before having to face the Mage, just in case they had trouble. She carried a blue purse that matched the blue of her dress, and she pulled her wallet while they waited.
"I'm Tommy, Hailey's my bestie."
"Hey, how you doin', everyone?" Bianco looks... harried all of the sudden. It's not that he's not used to lunch rushes, or feeding people that he knows or will know, it's just that... it's a lot more than he planned for.
Like, a LOT more.
"Do you want some help?" Hailey asked. "I can come help!"
"Oh, that's me! I'm a people!" June says, raising a (to Bianco) extremely fluffy arm to wave a clawed hand. "This seems like a popular place, which either a good sign or a bad sign here in Philly. It depends on busy with tourists or busy with locals, doesn't it?" She's smiling, so the comments are probably good natured.
Catching that sudden harried look Asbolus gave the Wizened a reassuring look, combined with a 'you alright?' in that slightly arched eyebrow. "Doing well, and the same for you, I hope."
Bianco's eyes close for just a moment; he takes a beat to breathe in (2, 3, 4), hold it (2, 3, 4, 5), and release it (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), before turning back to the crowd of familiar and not-so-familiar faces.
To Asbolus, an obvious kindred spirit: "Yeah, chief, I'm good now, you get it."
To everyone else in Hailey's crew: "SO, give me another minute to finish up this order... HEY, BRO! No one's cutting the line, keep your pants on! ... Let me finish this order then you're next."
Hailey's smile becomes slightly strained as she watches him work to keep himself from panicking. "Oh no." She murmurs and shuffles from foot to foot.
Tommy continued hanging in the back, not wanting to traumatize the man. Too many bad first experiences with the Lost, along with her own studies into the situation.
June has a moment of pausing to watch Bianco, waiting to see if she's going to need to spring into action, and then things end up shaking out alright and she smiles a reassuring (and entirely too adorable, because she can't help it) smile at him. "Yep, take your time. We're just more customers, don't sweat it."
"Exactly." Asbolus nodded in agreement with June, letting the other customers before them finish their orders without any fuss.
"Thanks!" Bianco calls out as he wraps up two more sandwiches in wax paper, deposits them in a paper bag and hands that over to the waiting couple from earlier. "Thanks for waiting, guys, have a good one, tell your friends about us!" He calls over them.
Okay. And... a beat. We're good. We're good. We're good.
"FRIENDS! Hi, thanks for waiting." Bianco realized he still has his customer service by-way-of New Jersey voice on and seems to mentally switch gears. "I think we're in a lull for now. Glad you all could come out," he adds with a wink to Hailey. "Sorry about that.. from earlier. We're good. Let me know if you have questions or whatever."
"No, I'm sorry. I should have let you know earlier. I tried, but I didn't wanna cut in front of people." Hailey tries to assure him. "Um. But this is June and Vorpal and Asbolus, and... Where'd Tommy go. Oh, and that is Tommy! In case you haven't met them. I was talking about your place yesterday and they all wanted to try it." She explains.
They waved from a distance, hearing the conversation without trouble. Bones approached slowly, giving plenty of time for the adjustment period.
"We all met up at Maddy's Wafflehouse."
"All good," June says with an unconcerned shrug of her shoulders. "I expect to wait if I go to a popular place during the lunch rush. Smells great, though. I don't think I have any questions, I just know what I want."
"No problem, you can funnel your orders through Hailey or whoever, or you can just shout 'em out and I'll get em started." Bianco indicated the menu on the side of the truck. "If yous don't know, the menu's up to date, no 86s, and.... oh! I'm trying out a seasonal ice flavor. We still got lemon, cherry, and strawberry, but I also have... whatsit... right... mango. Still working on pumpkin spice and candied apple. Not sure how that's going to go. ANYWAY. What can I start for yous?" (edited)
"I'll take a veggie wit wiz," a rather amusing phrase to hear in a British accent, no doubt, "and a mango ice, please."
Hailey waits to see if anyone is giving her their order as she can probably only keep one at a time straight in her head.
"Cheesesteak with prov."
"Everything smells amazing, but I'm fine. No need to order anything for me," V insists calmly, sticking near June and Hailey, one hand delicately rested on each.
"order Teagan's, Vee." Bones added.
V opens her mouth to reply, pauses. Blinks. "... what DOES Teagan like? Cheesesteak wit, whiz, i think. I can always take it home if he doesn't pop in." She looks extremely amused.
Hailey nods. "Um, a water please and an Italian beef. And a cheesesteak wit whiz." She orders, mimicking the others as best she can. "Oh and a lemon ice."
"You gonna get sweet peppers or giardanera with your beef, Hailey?"
"Okay, so, so far, I got: 2 steaks, wit', wiz, one steak, wit, prov., one veggie wit, wiz, one Italian beef... excellent choice, there, Hailey,,, a mango ice and a lemon ice. Grab your drinks out the front." Bianco rattles off the orders with practiced precision, then turns to June. "Let me know what you want when you're ready, k?" Then to the greater group. "Separate or together? Fight amongst yourselves." And then he dives in.
"I'll get it." Hailey offers, but in a tone that is more insistent than her usual one.
"I'm going to get three steaks, prov," June says, ordering a huge amount of food for a woman that's not even five feet tall. "I guess it's all together. Maybe I should have ordered six of them." She grins. "Kidding. Kidding. Just the three."
Asbolus looked ready to pay for his own meal, but smiled and let Hailey take point with her insistence. "I'll owe you one, then."
Bianco nods at June, shouting to no one in particular, "Three more steaks, prov, that's four all day!"
While idle, Jackie is quite passively affectionate, bending to kiss the top of June or Hailey's head every so often, squeezing shoulders when Hailey seems anxious, sharing grins with June- she has a very Happy To Be Here vibe.
However, by the time that Hailey moves to pay, the payment system already shows payment processing from tommy's card....there isn't a card in sight right now.
Hailey grabs her water from the front and goes to pay, frowning over her smile. "I didn't put it in yet."
June seems pretty happy to be here too, honestly. That shouldn't be a surprise to anybody who knows June, though. "Three hundred percent increase! Hah!" she declares. "Thanks for getting lunch, whoever ended up actually paying. I was going to offer, but I was clearly beat to the punch."
Asbolus spared Tommy a brief glance, along with a small smirk. "The wonders of technology."
"Yes, indeed, wonders of technology," an innocent (but clearly seen through) expression was on her face.
"Thanks, Chef."
Hailey tries again with her card before seeing what the problem is. "Oh. Someone already.." her eyes narrow slightly. "Ok. Thank you, then."
Clickity-clack go Bianco's metal spatulas (he... he IS using spatulas, right? Of course he is) as he works the grill, keeping meat filling separate from veggie filling, toasting buns, melting cheese. And the smells, they just keep getting better. Bianco hums some song or another as he works, keeping everything going before he pulls back and admires his work. "Okay, two ices, coming up."
June hangs out waiting, rocking onto toes and heels, looking patient, but also like someone who is used to being active all the time. Except when she's napping. Or snuggling. Or sleeping. Or snoozing. Or cuddling. Or dozing.
While watching Bianco at work was fascinating in its own way, the scent of cooking meat wafting around eventually led Asbolus to step over to the side, both to get out of the path and to give new customers space at the counter to put in their own orders.
Jackie tugs Hailey back into a hug next to June. "Thank you for helping to organize everyone's orders, love. That was very sweet and very helpful," she murmurs, trying to bolster Hailey against her bad feels.
She moved towards Asbolus and rested a hand on him, in support of his reaction, and then to Hailey, "It was me, sweetie, I took care of it."
Hailey moves easily and hugs Jackie back. "Thank you."
When Tommy tells her she was the one who paid, Hailey raises a fist and mock snarls. "Oh, youuuu. Thank you. But I'm paying for your party and I won't take no for an answer." Her attempt at intimidation, besides being laughable on its own, fails utterly. The little elf probably couldn't scare a rabbit. She's mostly teasing anyway, money isn't real except when you don't have any.
Asbolus smiled softly to Tommy as she came over, mouthing a quiet "thank you" before looking to the others. "A party? What's the occasion?"
Tommy melted and she smiled broadly, little hearts in her eyes (figuratively), at Hailey.
"Okay, one mango ice and one lemon ice. You want lids for those or are you eating them now?" Bianco leans out the window with two cups of the ices. He adds to Asbolus, "tell me how you like that one, not a big seller yet for some reason." (edited)
June leans against Jackie and stops fidgeting like she had been. "Birthday party?" she asks, suddenly curious. "When's your birthday, Tommy? Are you doing anything exciting, aside from the party?"
"This weekend, the 12th," shyly replied Tommy
"Yeah! At the Green Room. They haven't had one for a long time. It'll be fun! You can come if you want! I just have to talk to Jeremiah."
"Ah! Happy early birthday, then." The Darkling replied with a warm smile. "I'll have to see if I can stop by."
"I, it's okay if you're busy, I mean, it's not ... I mean Hailey and Saya and Jay and others are working hard on it, but it won't offend me if others are busy, and stuff," their face was beet red.
"OKAY, ORDER UP!" While birthday party plans were being made, Bianco studied the blade finished up the sandwiches, wrapped them up, marked up which were which, bagged all the orders separately. Amazing work, chef! "Here you go, these are yours, careful there, this one's for you, and..." he claps his hands once. "That's all there is!" He looks out behind the crowd of Maddy's regulars and, seeing no one else in line, put out his "Be Back in a Bit" sign. "Time for a well deserved smoke break."
"Oh, that could be fun." June starts to get excited, and then she remembers something and that excitement reverses course. "Except I'm working that day, unfortunately. Food's up!" She gives a little squeeze to Jackie and slips away to grab her bag of three sandwiches. "Thanks!" she says to Bianco
"I make time for friends, no question of that." Asbolus said with a smile, taking the bagged sandwich and the mango ice from Bianco with a 'thank you' and looking for a place to sit. "This looks magnificent," he added to the chef as he moved to get out from behind the counter for a while.
Hailey gets her order and parks her butt on a curb near where she knows Bianco will come out of the truck to smoke. "You better not eat my Italian beef, V. I got it for me, see?" She insists, taking a small bite of it before setting it down in the wrapper next to her. "Or this lemon ice." This she eyes with intense trepidation before forcing herself to take a sip. She winces slightly and sits that down too. "That's all mine." She insists feebly as she hurries to open her water.
"Oh... well... thank you," she blushed more, eating the steak and cheese, moaning slightly at the taste.
June goes to sit down on the curb too, and takes out one of the sandwiches to prepare to dig in. "This smells so good," she says. "I'm suddenly ravenous. You're absolutely not allowed to take my extra sandwiches either, Jackie. One of them is for me, and one of them is for Teagan." Having said what she has to, she takes a bite and clearly enjoys it. Mmm, cheesesteak.
"You're too kind," Bianco says as he exits the truck, cigarette already in his mouth. He lights up and takes that first drag, turning away to exhale through his nose and away from anyone eating close by. "Hey, Hailey, I'm sorry about earlier. I can get... a little keyed up sometimes when shit happens that I don't expect. I really love that you brought your friends to the truck. And it sounds like they like the food, too." He laughs, "So, you know, bonus!"
"Of course, of course. I wouldn't dream of stealing from you two~"
Jackie melts down to the curb with June and Hailey and snags that Italian beef and the Ice as well, dragging them discretely away before she feels obligated to eat more for appearances sake.
Hailey, having taken a gulp of her water to wash away the offending sweetness, smiles up at Bianco. "No, no. I should have known better and called you last night or something. I will next time! Sorry. But yeah! I told them all how good it was and nice you are so they were just so excited to come out. See, he's my very favorite Uncle ever! And I have nine of them."
The cigarette smoke made Asbolus' nose wrinkle for a moment but it passed soon enough, taking a bite of his sandwich and nodding with approval. "'s very good." He added after finishing the bite, having more manners than to speak with his mouth full. "Most places I've come across skimp on their vegetarian options, so it's nice to see someone put the effort in."
"Pleasure to meet you Tio Bianco, I am Tommy Shanks. You could say I'm a bit of a Magician."
Bianco turns to Tommy and waves with a quick "How you doin" for good measure. "Hey, I'm glad you like it," Bianco answers Absolus. "I mean, it's worth it to me to offer vegetarian options, I can get more customers that way." He chuckles. "I mean it's not like I have that, what's it, impossible beef or whatever. I just like using real veggies, is all." Another drag, another exhale away from the water. "Thinking about whether or not I should add gluten-free rolls, too. They can be a little pricey though."
"... why do I feel like there was a baker that I know. I know a baker somewhere..." she hums a bit, trying to recall, "Oh! I remember now. Jay hass a friend who bakes a lot."
"You do have to be careful when it comes to cross contamination," June pipes up from where she has been shoving sandwich in her facehole. "A lot of the people who would need a gluten free bun might not be able to safely eat it, otherwise."
Asbolus nodded along, focusing on his meal for the moment as he enjoyed the conversation.
"SHIT, I didn't even think about that." Bianco looks over at June. "I guess that makes sense though. Thanks for letting me know."
Hailey has no idea about any of that, happily eating her sandwich. She seems to like the canned cheese when she doesn't see it coming from said can, bouncing back and forth as she chews.
She stepped up from behind Hailey once done with the food and hugged her, "Hey bestie, thanks ofr the great lunch idea."
Jackie politely "holds" the Italian beef and ice. They just coincidentally disappear bit by bit.
"You're welcome!! Thanks for coming. It's important to support local businesses or we'll get overrun by Chick-fil-A and Olive Gardens."
"Here here." Asbolus chimed in, lifting the mango ice cup to Bianco as a toast of sorts. "Very good, by the way. The fruit flavor comes through well."
"Fuck Chick-fil-A, that's for sure," said the former Texan, "And yes, local is best!"
Jackie makes a face at that. "I'd sooner reduce my diet to congee and tap water than give Chik-Fil-A my money."
Hailey beams at their agreement.
"So meet anyone new Hailey Bailey?" one more squeeze before relaxing the hug and moving to look betwee nthe others gathered. Even among a large group of Lost, he felt at home. And strangely he didn't even need to see their Mien, so satisfied was he with the company.
Plus, the more he learned, the less she wanted to do that except in private with those close to them.
"We're acquainted," Jackie jokes, like she hasn't been draped all over the little blonde (and June!) since arriving.
A laugh, "Well yeah, we all met each other yesterday, if not prior..." a grin, "but I was wondering, if the Best Bestie in the land of Besties had met any cool new folx." And she meandered through the crowd, picking up any messes.
"Hmmm. Well, yes. I met a guy named.. oh. Guy. And a Roger. And um... Oh, Zilla!! She just moved here." Hailey lets go of the hug and starts to slide down into V's lap but moves off at the last second to sit on the ground nearby instead.
"Tease~" Jackie murmurs playfully.
"Hailey, how do you make everyone around you cuter, even people who are already cute?"
"I like Guy, and I don't think I've met a Zilla.... And roger, I know the name but he and I are always somewhere else it seems."
Asbolus smiled a touch at the moments of closeness between the others gathered, polishing off the water ice at a smooth enough pace to fend off possible brain freeze. "Zilla doesn't ring a bell for me either, will have to amend that."
"She just came from New York!"
"And I'm not sure I know what you mean, Tommy."
"I lived in New York for a while, and generally I had a pretty bad time there, but she was one of the people I really liked. I'm really glad she's here now! Or back, I guess, since she said she's from Philly originally," June says to provide a little bit more info for people. "You should all try to meet her if you can. And if you need a lawyer for some reason, she's really good."
Bianco, off in his little world smoking and just listening to the good friends have delightful conversations, suddenly comes back to earth when June mentions Zilla. "Wait, do you think you can arrange a meeting with me and her? I might wanna talk to her about some stuff with my kid and all that. If it should come to that or whatever."
"I already think Vee is suuuuper cute and fun already. Then when you are with them, I think their even cuter!"
"Ohh!" Hailey glances at V before answering further to make sure she isn't uncomfortable.
"I've been a few times, but all before my time away, as it were. Haven't heard many good things about the current management there, though."
"You have a kid?" Hailey asked.
"Yeah, Zoey. Well..." Bianco takes another drag and waves his free hand side-to-side as his exhales. "It's complicated. I was married and we had a baby before I was taken to the other side, you know?" He scowls a bit. "Then, uh," he looks around to make sure it's just Those In The Know at the truck before he says this next part, keeping his voice low just in case. "My Keeper, they replaced me here with a Fetch, you know, so my wife and kid, Zoey, she's 11 now, my wife and kid, they don't know any different." He finishes his cigarette and stomps it out on the ground. "So, uh, there's that."
Hailey's eyes widen in horror and she is on her feet and going in for a hug. "Oh no!! Oh no! What.. that's awful. I'm so sorry!"
June echoes Hailey's, "Oh no!" She doesn't jump up, but she does seem concerned. "That sounds like such a difficult situation, and from what I know of Zilla, if you go to her and tell her what your earnest desires are for this situation, she'll move heaven and Earth for you. Please, go talk to her."
"That is a rough situation." Asbolus said with a frown, giving the Wizened a sympathetic look. "I hope you're able to get something sorted."
Her face dropped, mortified at the thought, having heard of fetches, but to be confronted like this was something else.
She, though, kept her yap shut, because she was the only non-Lost here and no toe stepping today.
"Yeah, I wanna that, too. There's just... all kinds of shit in the way." Bianco opens his cigarette pack, sees it's empty, and pockets it again. "Like, I actually look a lot older than I am? So, I'm more like, you know, a long lost great-uncle or something. But the Fetch, Tommy, his name is Tommy, he's actually the right age, or, fuck, the age that I would be? Should be?" His voice breaks in a very uncharacteristic way, given how loud and brash the sandwich chef can be, and he just stands there. When Hailey comes in for the hug, he doesn't protest and simply accepts it. "Thanks," he murmurs, his voice soft and sad and choked with at least three other emotions.
Hailey cuddles in close, rubbing his back as she rests her cheek on his shoulder. "We'll get it figured out." She clearly doesn't mean she and Bianco, but we as a whole.
"I'm sure that something can be worked out," June says, understanding well enough, nodding her head. "I had to deal with some of my own shit along these lines, when I came back. We figured it out. We'll figure this out, in some way."
"Indeed, and we're all here for you in the meantime." Asbolus added.
"That's right!" Hailey agrees as she lets go of the hug, still hovering to make sure he's okay.
"Do you want some help cleaning up between rushes? I wore jeans!!" Hailey tries changing the subject to see if it helps Bianco not be as sad.
"I would also be happy to help. And also, if it helps, you can call be Bones. Bit of a nickname, that way you don't need to say that other name."
"I won't say no, Hailey," Bianco responds happily. "Anyone who wants to help, jump in!"
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