Jan 17 18:54:35 109 PA - Fast Food, Fast Times, Fast Talk
From Chronicles
Jan 17 18:54:35 109 PA.
HAPPY BURGER
It's around ten at night, and Happy Burger is hopping. Partially because people are hungry, partially because children are attracted to colorful objects, and partially because it's a place to get in out of the weather, which is horrific. Hail, sleet, snow and regular rain are being whipped around by a strong wind. Even Gabriel, sitting off to the north side munching on some sloppy food is clearly buttoned down more than normal, with an extra inner jacket. Thankfully, his greatcoat and two jackets found room to be deposited on a fixed fiberglass seat next to him.
Of alla places ta get stuck in. Least Bella almost sorta kinda maybe blends in with some of the other people't hang out here. Not the li'l ones't like alla bright colors. But the ones ain't quite tough 'r old 'r rich enough ta sit inna bars. She's still off inna booth sittin by her lonesome. Sippin onna cup'a somethin.
Gabriel has been enjoying his meal in silence and good grace, despite the constant chaos. The whoosh of air as yet another family enters is enough to make him look up and take further not of the crowd. 'Look, it's Bella!' he thinks to himself. "Look, it's Bella!" he then yells across the room as he collects his own things, presumably to move to her location.
Bella was scowlin 'round her straw. Then there's yellin 't sounds kinda like her name. So she looks up. Now she's smirkin Gabe's way. Waits fer him ta come over if he's comin over. Then she can say "Heya" 'n not gotta yell.
Perhaps demanding that Bella crack a smile wider than a smirk - despite what she may be trying to conceal - Gabriel reaches the booth, sets all of his gear on the far end of his plastic bench seat, and places the food on the table before him. It was quite the juggling act to get all of that stuff across in one trip. After settling in and reaching for his soda, he leans forward and yells, "HI BELLA!"
Ok. That gets a blink. Maybe a li'l bitta smile too. "Hi good guy Gabe. Alla kiddies make ya go deaf?" She waggles her cup 'n straw out 'round at the chaos. "'R that just from gettin old?" Now she's grinnin.
"Hmm??" Gabriel takes his age to an extreme and feigns deafness for a moment, then breaks into his own wide smile. "It's nice to be around the kids, really. I like their noise." An odd statement possibly, but it sounds true. "What're you doing in here? Wait, let me guess... hankering for a salad? They're low calorie." Calories? What does he know from calories, hasn't anyone remembered the year he departed? No one cared about calories!
"Yeah. That's it." Bella nods. She's back ta smirkin too. "Came ta chew on leafs. How boutcha? Whatcha doin? Makin sure the burgers ain't still kickin."
Gabriel shrugs. "Ah, just conserving right now. I need some new equipment to replace what's worn, but I can barely afford to charge an eclip. In fact -" he points gently across the table "- at some shops, I *wouldn't* be able to afford it. That's how dry my wallet is. But I guess you don't have to worry about cash much, now do you?"
Bella perks a brow. "Yer broke? how'd ya do that? Figgered yer rich. 'R ya go 'n spend't all onna girl somewhere?" Grin again. Then shrug. 'N like creds bout 's much 's anybody."
"Nah," Gabriel waves off. "Not really sure how it happened, credits just drain. Even for hardy wilderness types like me. Donated a bunch of money to a friend who needed it. Being the good guy pays off in the soul, not the bank account." He smirks. "Now? I'm just hoping that some merchant comes along who needs an easy security detail to Laramy or something."
"Eh." Bella shrugs s'more. "Souls're overrated. Broke's still broke. Dead's still dead." She sucks up more drink. "Betcha find somethin. Always somebody need somethin done 'n pays creds fer it. Find all kindsa shit inna Dregs ya know."
"I'm sure. Probably not the kind that helps out nice people, or fights the bad guys without ripping off nice people. I wonder... if I could try to get a job at the Lady. Maybe security or something, if Donna doesn't recognize me." Gabriel looks across to his inside source. "How's the clone army growing?"
Bella shrugs a bunch more. "Dunno. Maybe ya can getta job there. But why'd ya wanna? Ain't really fightin'a bad guys right? Dunno much bout what's goin on there neither. Ain' been back since last time." She perks a brow. "Speakin bout that. Ya talkin ta ev'rybody else 'bout meetin up ta talk? Ain' seen nobody really. Not even the asshole."
The old fellow shakes his head. "No, I haven't seen just about anyone in a long time. Bunch of people went on a trip north, and I've basically been here in town working shifts at ProTech for some cash, fighting crime on the side. Learn what I can when I can, right?" He shrugs. "Sort of like everyone's decided that Kingsdale really is the shithole that I've been saying it is since I got here, and decided to head for greener pastures." Gabriel bites into his burger as he says his peace.
Bella snickers. "Gotta be better 'n somewhere. Whole lotta nothin 'round far's I know. Less ya jump in witha Coalies. Still ain't much. Don't look so bad ta me. 'N I'm inna Dregs most times."
"Why not move out?" Gabriel asks. "You could get a legitimate nighttime job. Security. Seamstress. Bricklaying. Whatever. Pay some bills, buy yourself nice things, get a little apartment. Move out of Kingsdale's anus and into her armpit. Or... pay for someone to build you the third little piggy's house outside the walls."
"Why?" Bella's back ta shruggin. "Don' need no li'l house. Don' wanna job. No job work kinda job anyways. Tried that once 'r twice. Didn' work."
Gabriel leans back for a bit. "So what, you just wander around town when it's not raining because there's nothing else to do? I know you're nothing like the others. You're not gonna team up with them and keep building a zombie army. I know you like the current arrangement, but I also know that you hate 'em more than most everyone else. Go out, get a job... separate yourself from the culture."
Bella laughs. "Didn' like that kinda crap when I's breathin. Sure's shit ain' gonna try 'n do s'more now." She shakes her head. "Not even ta be diff'rent. Can find alla creds I wanna when I wanna."
"Mug people? Turn tricks? Scavenge for recycling?" Gabriel offers a few options of possible ways that a girl with absolutely no apparent skill or talent may find as much money as she wants. "Waitress at the club? Shake it a little for the junkies who come in?"
"Maybe? Think I'd be gettin good tips fer shakin?" A grin 'n shrug. "Thinkin more like li'l merc stuff when I get bored. 'R just keepin'a change after dinner." Now Bella winks.
A shrug and a half smile. "Screw your way to the top? If I understand right, you're immune to getting the clap. Be a big hit as a camp follower." Gabriel slurps long from his soda and asks, "So, inside-girl. What's going on at the club these days? Y'know, other than what's in the news, because I can read that for myself."
Bella snorts. "Fack that. Don't work that easy. Most times." She points her cup at him. "'N told ya I ain't no inside nothin. Ain't been there fer weeks."
The man at the table frowns. "Damn. Well, good for you for staying away. I applaud you." Gabriel inclines his head in respect. "Can't be easy to avoid temptation."
"Whatcha mean?" Bella's curious. Brows pop up. "Temptin fer what? Drinks? Can get those anwhere. Way cheaper too."
"But not on tap," Gabriel explains. "All I meant."
Bella smirks. "Figgered ya'd like't better other way 'round. So. Still a buncha nothin on alla that huh?" She slurps up the last li'l bitsa her drink. Buncha air too. "Nothin new goin on? No big fancy new plans?"
Gabriel arches an eyebrow. "What's got you suddenly in a big hurry? Told ya no one's even around to do anything. But I'm thinking to go after the supply chain right now. Unless you have a better idea? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to get my hands around that woman's neck." He waggles a finger. "It's a metaphor, don't correct me."
"Just wonderin." Bella shrugs. "Ain't no big deal ta me. Fack. Maybe better off if ya don't go 'n stir up shit. But that's just me."
"Bullshit," Gabriel says immediately. Smiling. "You were all ready to go and shred the bitch while Jax hosed her down. Don't pretend like you don't care. C'mon, no one else is around to talk to, I'm bored. Keep me occupied while I finish the burger - you tell me the best way to hit the place, assuming that we could get what we wanted, within reason. Who do you want? What do you want? When?" He then silences himself by chewing on said burger.
Bella opens her mouth. Don't say nothin. Just scowls fer a bit. "Changed my mind. Girls do it lots ya know. Dunno if it's worth alla trouble now."
Gabriel looks across the table, clearly expressing disbelief but not drawing out the matter, either. Doesn't even continue to speak on the subject. "I think that everyone disappeared to hunt down that energy thing up north. Why didn't you go? City promised a shitload of credits, right?"
"Runnin out fer days inna middle'a nothin don't sound no fun ta me." Bella shakes her head. "Dunno nothin bout weird magicy 'r gizmo shit neither. Not my thing."
The person at the table who owns a bundle of Y-chromosomes points across the distance to his conversation partner. "What, your wallet's full? Thought you just said you kept yourself busy doing this kind of thing so that you didn't continually try to blow your brains out because you were bored. Since when has weird gizmo magicky shit put you off? Isn't *everything* around here weird and interesting? You know, more interesting than I am?" Gabriel attempts to use a flimsy paper napkin to wipe off his fingers. It doesn't go so well.
Bella eyes Gabe back. "Case ya ain't figgered't out I don' go out fer walks 'n rides inna sun. 'R rain. 'R shit like that. Last time I tried didn' work fer a damn." A shrug. "Easier ta just stick round 'ere. 'R go out by myself."
"Can't they just stick you in a box or something? I know you've been out with groups. Remember when we talked about showin' you how to use your itty bitty laser gun better?" Gabriel's interested now that Bella's arguments continue to wrap around on themselves.
"Sure. Could." Bella smirks. "If I let 'em. How 'bout you?" She perks a brow. Points a finger. "Ya just sit back? Pass out? Letta buncha people ya dunno carry ya round inna box? When all somebody's gotta do's open up ta take a peek 'n yer done? 'N ya can't do nothin bout it?"
With a smile Gabriel states the obvious. "Every operation is exactly like that, except for minor details. You head out with people you don't know, everyone paid on for the same job. Everyone's gotta sleep eventually. Maybe the guy you were playing cards with over dinner puts a gun to your head and pulls the trigger. Your sleeping isn't any more dangerous than my sleeping. Better in fact." Then he states the other obvious. "You hang, or at least you used to hang with Bart and Val. Must have had some kind of good arrangement where they wouldn't stick ya. Did that fall apart or something?"
Bella shrugs. "Bart's kinda stupid. Dunno if he even knows much bout me. Val 'n me ain't done much. Weren' no big hangin out 'r nothin." Smirkin gets bigger. "Only ones I figgered weren' gonna stick me with nothin was Seb, Jax, 'n ya. Kinda showed me wrong there."
Gabriel rolls his eyes so far that he can practically see the back of his skull. "I'll say this one more time. If you'd walked into my home wearing a Bella suit, nothing would have happened. But looking like an unknown canine predator actively dripping blood from its mouth? Yeah, sorry. Natural instincts from a billion years of evolution said, 'problem.' Jax, he's young and jumpy and stupid. Seb, I hardly know him." He then adds, "Or the little Eskimo that I guess he bangs. You want a softie cone?" He points up to the image of ice cream above the Happy Burger counter.
"Weren' just talkin bout ya ya know." Bella points again. "Think't was Jax't got all stabby. Kinda fuzzy though. Dunno what Seb's gonna do next time." She shakes her head. "Nope. No ice cream. Pint 'r two'd still be good."
"God, who knows what Seb'd do. Bet he's nearly half-crazy, or half-full of himself so much that it makes the other half of him crazy." Gabriel grabs his gear. "Want to swing from fast food to classy? I could hit up the Nightingale for a while, if that's the kind of pint you're looking for."
Bella's the one rollin her eyes now. "Think ya know what I'm talkin bout." Brow perks up. Pulls a grin up with it. "Still offerin?"
"Just making sure," Gabriel smiles. He starts to slide out of the uncomfortable bench seat, hesitating just a moment as an obese, tentacled D-Bee of some kind waddles past and toward the counter and gets in his way. "But when I said I was poor, I meant it. Two pints, but only one if you want the high-brow brew. Ready?" His feet finally make it to the outside floor.
"Who said it'd cost ya creds?" Bella grins a li'l more. When she's gettin up. "Ain' always gotta put out cash ta give a girl a drink." She winks 'n she's ready ta go.
It takes Gabriel a moment to put all of his gear back on. It's not that going the distance requires it, it's simply that carrying it would expose the parts not treated against water. The large greatcoat goes over top. He points to the door, waiting for the 'lady' to go first. Pushing if she doesn't move fast enough.
