| John Wayne Thursdays | ||
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| Summary: Why haven't people learned not to go to the UR on Thursdays? Who: George, Harley Quinn, Jack Hawksmoor, Rayne, Shirou, Skutters When: September 6th, 2019 Where: The Usual Restaurant       |
You walk into a very large restaurant with high ceilings that leave the rafters exposed. Fluorescent lamps hang from the ceiling, adding light to the floor and tables. Windows adorn the sides of the place, looking out onto the chaos that is Twisted. On some of the walls are paintings, photographs, and holograms of different movies, and a number of people who tend to visit the UR - caught as they're singing karaoke. The hardwood bar rests at the back of the restaurant, surface polished and shiny and all-together spotless (most of the time). Behind the bar are the various beverages that are serveed, and a giant mirror. There seem to be an inordinate amount of different drinks. A large stage rests in one of the corners of the restaurant, with an amazing sound system and a few microphones strung around it. Multiple round wooden tables are in the room, and a swing door leads into the kitchen. Another door leads to the dance club, and another to the gym. And of course, there's an exit. A large fireplace nestles in one of the walls, with a beautiful stone chimney that flows up and out. A long spiral staircase rests near the entrance to the kitchen, leading to a second-floor balcony that overlooks the UR itself. The lights up there are a bit dimmer than those down below. Another slow Thursday night in the Usual Restaurant. This is probably a good thing as certain blonde haired girl with blue and red tips comes slowly pushing open the door to look inside before entering. The only person here seems to be George, happy and content to be nursing a beer at one of the tables. With that lifting her spirits a little, Harley Quinn makes her appearance with a deep breath and a welcome sigh. "Heya Georgie!" She gets a curt wave back before making her way to the bar and finding a seat. She's not dressed as a clown at least. The Usual is reasonably quiet on a Thursday night. Just a little bit behind the woman comes a man in a vaguely rumpled suit and no shoes. This probably would be enough to not get him served most places, but this is the Usual. He's also moving to find a seat at the bar. Harleen is getting bored waiting on a server and starts spinning around on the stool. Even if it doesn't spin naturally. At least until the newcomer arrives and she gives him a cheerful wave. "Hey, you look new here!" She gestures to the nearest stool welcomingly but turns away again in case he shouldn't take her up on it. "HEY! SOME SERVICE WOULD BE NICE!" Jack Hawksmoor taps on the bar as he sits down. "He's in the back," he says as if he knows. The hyper woman gets a good part of his gaze, just in case. She seems nice, but he can practically feel the manic energy coming off of her. HEY NOW, she hasn't been manic in-oh, wait. Sorry. "Hmm?" Harley looks back and ah's, "Well, I figured as much. The little robo-bros aren't buzzin' around." She smiles a large pinball smile and offers her hand, "Harleen Quinzel. Nice ta meetcha." Obviously she's not going to use her OTHER name on her first night back. Jack Hawksmoor will shake hands. He doesn't grip like a man with anything to prove. Quite light, in fact, "Jack Hawksmoor." Not admitting to being a cop. It still feels weird anyway. Harleen nods approvingly, "I like Jack. Jack's a good name. Hawksmoor ain't bad either." With a frown she pushes herself up onto the bar and leans over with no regard to her backside to grab a pair of glasses from under the bartop. Holding one in each hand triumphantly, the woman pauses pondering just how she's going to twist back to her seat at this angle. She kicks one leg in the air a few times as she thinks, then shrugs, then goes head first off the bar into the floor behind it. In a well-practiced move she rolls onto her feet and poses heroically before sitting the empty glass in front of Jack. "What's yer poison?" She doesn't care if she's supposed to be back there or not, she's getting a drink, dammit. "I'm afraid I don't...indulge." Always an awkward moment, that. Thankfully, nobody's questioned it yet. He's expecting Rayne to ask very soon, though. Especially given his apparent immunity to the charms of the taco cart. The woman shrugs, pouring herself a drink and then leaping back over the bar in a single motion. "Y'know, I get that this place doesn't always charge, but you think they'd be..." She blinks and smacks the bartop. "It's THURSDAY!" She takes a drink and gestures towards the kitchen door. "John Wayne day." This is a normal thing, apparently. "I hate the TV in this city. I can't do those marathons every week." "John Wayne..." The man tails off, then he manages a bit of a laugh. "Are you saying the barkeep is addicted to John Wayne?" Rayne trudges into the Usual, grumbling as she often is. Overworked chief of police is overworked. "Need food," she declares as she makes her way towards the bar. With a comical shaking of her head, Harley holds up a finger while she takes a drink before getting around to answering. "Nah, that's when the little robo-guys stop working and hide in the back. I bet they got the barkeep tied up with 'em." Possibly literally in this case. Rayne walks in and gets a wave from the girl. "It's Thursday. Ya might have ta beat on the door." "I bet I could roust him out," Jack muses. "Or I could scare him off, one or the other." Little robo-guys hide in the back. So, what...he'll work it out later. So far it's just been Harley and Jack with the skutters watching westerns in the kitchen. George is here too, sipping a beer at one of the booths. Rayne blinks in confusion. "Wait, so... no food? Rayne go to 24*7 to get cheap take-out, then?" ...she's definitely had too long a day. Jack Hawksmoor sighs a bit. "Hold on." He eyes the bar suspiciously. "Shall we spook the barkeep? Or just go with Harleen's suggestion." And yes, he'll hop behind the bar. Lightly, easily. Shirou wanders in with a small sigh. Another day of his self appointed work has been managed. He actually doesn't feel like cooking for himself tonight so here he is....coming in on that line. "No food," he asks lostly. Harleen sweatdrops, "Look, how 'bout I play good waiter today an' I'll go get'cha somethin'. I've done the work thing here once 'er twice!" She grins as Jack starts going along for the game as well. "Hey, how 'bout you handle the drinks, I'll get the food. What'cha need tonight, toots?" Shirou gets a wave as well, "Welp, I'm gonna need to raid the closet for a uniform." Rayne groans and rubs her brows with the heels of her hands. "Ugh. No fair, you're making me think again. I don't wanna think right now! I just... wanted food." She mumbles something under her breath, then says, "Italian sausage." Jack Hawksmoor shakes his head. "I was actually going to try and rescue the barkeep from the robots." He steps over to the door and rests a hand on it, frowning. "Now, if he doesn't want to be rescued, then as long as all people want is beer..." Shirou says, "...I didn't want to cook for /myself/ tonight, but...it's always different if someone else wants to eat..." Rayne says, "Don't the skutters /work/ here? Er, sort of? I don't think they'd kidnap Steve... er... is it Steve tonight? I don't even know..." Harleen waited a second for Shirou to ask for food too, but he failed, so she's heading to the back. As soon as the kitchen door opens the sounds of shooting and screaming can be heard from the television. The door swings closed behind her. A few minutes later she comes out with Rayne's sausage on a tray and slides it up to her before stepping over to the closet and grabbing something at random. With another wave she darts into the women's bathroom to change. Shirou blinks a little and watches as Harleen manages that. "Or maybe I don't need to cook?" With her look completely changed, her hair in braided pigtails, and a white fuku with pink trim, Harleen looks more like the owner than she does herself when she reemerges. Although she's got roller-skates on. Where did she get those from? With her street clothes wrapped around her purse, she skates over to the bar and chucks them like a basketball onto the counter. Then she pushes up her glasses. Did we mention she wasn't wearing any before she went in the restroom? She pauses at the edge of the bar and taps her finger against her cheek as she thinks, then ducks down long enough to find an apron to wear over the skirt. Another moment of thinking later and she produces a ticket book and a pencil too. "Yahtzee!" She spins around and winks at Shirou. "What'cha think, Red? Am I cute or what?" She smiles happily and then yells out, "WHAT'CHA WANT!?!" Rayne looks down at the italian sausage, then looks up and says, "Uh, don't I get a bun?" Hey, at least she got a plate. Jack Hawksmoor sighs and shakes his head. "Excuse me." And he walks up to the door, puts his head through it...no, the door doesn't break. "HEY." Because Harleen is just going to give everyone naked sausage, it seems. Jack's going to find the backroom filled with the skutters dressed as cowboys and Indians... Again, save for one poor guy literally tied to a chair with two Indian skutters guarding him. They look very serious for robots without faces. At least all parties involved can easily see the TV. They all turn to look at Jack's head and the guy in the chair lets out a muffled yell. Then they all turn back to the TV and start ignoring him again. Shirou clears his throat and covers his face a little as Harleen asks that of him. "It looks nice, sure," he replies, notably averting his gaze so he doesn't look all that much. "I was going to ask for a meat and potato stew with rice...but if you'd rather I can take something that doesn't require much." Harleen pffft's at Shirou taking a moment to scribble blindly on the ticket book. She smacks herself loudly at Rayne. "Shoot! Buns!!" and then takes off for... the.... kitchen? "Heya, Jackieboy? What're ya doin'?" Shirou waves toward the others with that settled. He is still kind of distractedly peering in concern toward that door though. This seems a bit odder than the norm... Rayne faceplants onto the bar while she waits for the bun. Nope. Not going to get much conversation out of Rayne tonight. Given most of Jack's head is currently on the other side of the door, he doesn't answer Harleen. Instead, "Do you need rescuing or are you enjoying yourself?" There's no accounting for taste, after all. "I'm thinking the former..." Shirou takes a coushin from a chair and CAREFULLY tries to slide it between Rayne's head and the counter. Carefully, cause he's trying really hard not to touch her in the process. He keeps peering back toward Jack and that door to see if something's up though. Rayne lifts her head as Shirou attempts his cushion slipping. "I'm not unconscious, you know." Luckily the door to the kitchen is done more like saloon doors. Harley slowly pushes the second one open, staring at Jack as she does so. Tiptoeing past him, she grabs the buns, looks at the room, and shrugs. "Y'know, they're harmless if you don't tell them to work while the Duke is on." She walks up to Jack's head and offers it the bun, "Can ya take this ta the grumpy lady for me? Someone's gotta cook this meat." Jack Hawksmoor shakes his head, withdraws from the door and takes the bun. "Okay. But that guy doesn't seem to be having any fun." Harleen shrugs as she shoo's him off, "He'll be FINE. They always let them go at the end of the night. He can have my tips anyways." Not that she'll likely get any, but who knows. Shirou says, "Er, yes," Shiro replies to Rayne, "Are you going to be alright? You seem even more exahusted than usual." He peers toward Jack curiously, but leaves his question unasked for now." Jack Hawksmoor offers Rayne her bun. Which he managed to wrap in a napkin, so it's clean. Not that he doesn't wash his hands, but... Rayne sits more upright, then shakes her head. "Nah, nah, I'm fine." She takes the bun, puts the sausage into it, then starts munching. "Juft... you know how it gouff. Two ftempff forward, two ftempff back." The kitchen doors come kicking open as Harley speeds her way to Shirou with his meat and potatoes in a bowl with a spoon. Yes, yes. It's a stew. It's not literally a bowl of meat and potatoes. "Ta-daaaa!" She skates backwards towards Rayne to ask, "Anyone need anything else right now?" "Let me know if you need anything," Jack offers to Rayne. "You're working too hard, let me take some load." Delegation. It's good. He offers Harleen a wry grin. "I'm going to go check on some things." And with that, he slips out. Using the door. Shirou ahhs and sits somewhere near Rayne. "You know you can talk to me if you need me for things," he reminds. He'd wave after Jack before peering at his stew and giving a little bow of his head. "Thank you Harleen," he replies before politely setting into his food. Rayne pokes her sausage at Jack a moment too late. "/You/ are a rookie in the system. I'm not gonna delgate to you." She blinks, realizing he's already gone. "Bah." She then looks to Shirou and says, "Oh, you know how it goes. Get a recruit that seems to be just a beat cop. Turns out he's a complete gun freak that apparently thinks a gun is a remote control for life..." She sighs, shaking her head. "Apparently he found his train again or something, haven't heard from him in time for me to give him the chew-out." Harleen headtilts at the number of people asking Rayne if she needs help. The cop stuff peaks her interest, but she's definitely not going to bring THAT up. "Hey, I'm an outta work psychiatrist with two PHDs." Please don't ask me what they are right now. "If you can find a couch I'd be happy ta poke your brains with a stick?" Rayne groans. "Guys, stoppid. If I really needed help like that, I'd go see a profess..." She blinks, then looks at Harleen. "You are?" Shirou tries to choke back a snicker at that reaction. "Quin-san is a bit of a surprise all around." Harleen beams at the question, dropping her accent momentarily. "Doctor Harleen Quinzel at your service. I was employed at the Asylum before Luna took off and my job taking care of the kittens dried up." She shrugs, "I generally keep the other stuff back off Twisted, but I've been trying to stay on the up and up while I'm here!" You can watch as she puts everything together and draws back slightly from these two people who didn't realize she's a career criminal back in Gotham. "I-I mean, y-y'know. Figure of speech. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha..." Boy can she possibly make that sound any more forced? "I'm good! I swear! I need work and I'm over qua-li-fiiiiied." She's sobbing as she says that last part, her head dropping to the bar top. Rayne sweatdrops. Okay, this isn't behavior that would get Rayne to use her as a shrink. "Um... there there?" she says. Rayne, far from being without her own neurosese, pantomimes a patting motion without getting even close to actually touching Harleen. Shirou brow raises at the forced laughing and pats at Harleen's shoulder some at the sobbing. "I've never had trouble with you, so that's a good start," he states about being on the up and up, "Umm...are things with your 'babies' going ok?" Harleen sniffles, wiping her eyes with her arm, "I'm sorry. I just try to be really good when I'm here. Where I come from I don't get respect from anyone, this is the only place I can go where I'm treated like a human being." She gestures towards Shirou, "See what I mean? I like this kid. He's a good one." Sniffle. "They're doin' fine. The Gotham Zoo still won't let me buy them back, but they got kids now. It's cute. Ol' Bud and Lou settled down with another pair of hyenas." She smiles warmly again, "They make me so happy." Rayne blinks, looking between the two. "Well, uh... yeah. Glad you've, uh... not gotten my attention the wrong way?" She really feels lost here. "Glad to hear you are a happy grand mother then," Shirou says with a little smile. He offers a more apologetic looking smile toward Rayne. "She had some problems in Gotham and her pet hyenas were taken. Last I saw her she was trying to think of how to get the money to buy them back." Harleen nods her head, "Yeppers! They're momma's pride and joy." She skates over to her purse and comes back with pictures of them running around. Pay no attention to the picture of a clown she's covering with her thumb. "I'd do anything for my babies. That's why I gotta do my best when I'm here. One day I'll be able to bring them over and keep them hidden from all those crazies back home." Rayne blinks and looks at the pictures. "Uhhh... they're adorable." She glances between the two, then deadpans, "Except you'll have to protect them from all the crazies here." Shirou chuckles slightly, but has to nod in agreement. "There's some dangerous stuff out here," he states, "So be careful here too." Harley 'pshaw's, "Trust me, ain't no crazy like a Gotham crazy. Have ya seriously not been there? Guys dressed like a bat who runs around beating people up. Killer clowns, pilfering penguins, I mean it's bad enough they have ta put everyone in an asylum for the criminally insane!" She's put away the pictures at this point and waves her hands wildly, "And the Bat runs around with the police department with a bunch of little boys dressed like birdies! It's INSANE!" She looks upwards and sighs contentedly, "Still, it's got a certain charm all its own." Rayne blinks. "Wait, I think I've heard this one. Sounds like something that there were some movies of in my universe?" Shirou says, "...I think I know that guy in one of the other multiverses, but we haven't crossed paths all that much. I've spent more time with someone in a spider suit than someone in a bat suit..." Ruh-oh, is Harley in any of the Batman movies?!? She looks panicked a second but pushes on, "There's some weird overlap here and there, I'm sure. Multiverse and all that. Th-that doesn't make it fact, y'know. Some people just like to take artistic liberties!" Quick, Harl, change the subject! "S-so, like I was saying, I've got a PHD in psychology and another in neurological disorders. I've worked at two asylums helping patients. I'm also not a bad gymnast!" She can just feel her chances of finding reputable work slipping away again. Maybe she'd better get used to this uniform. "There's also alternate realities due to being in the multiverse, sometimes you don't even need artistic liberties," Shiro points out, "I've already been in the same multiversal plane as a different me before...two of them even." Harleen sweatdrops, is Shiro TRYING to rat her out as being a criminal? "Look! I don't have to take this! You're not putting me on trial here! I've been good! I've been decent! I cooked you both food! Fine! If you're gonna be like that, I'm going home." She grabs her stuff and skates to the kitchen door, "Sorry, mac! I didn't make anything tonight. You'll be fine, right?" Nothing but muffled pleading echoes back to her. "Yeah, yeah. We've all been there. If you can't hold your bladder for a marathon, maybe you shouldn't have gotten involved." She skates towards the front door this time, giving Shirou a look before rolling out the door. Yeah, that happened. Shirou would just blink lostly at the whole situation before finally going to go and help out 'Steve'. | |
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