2019-10-12 - Fast Food, Fast Friends

It's another Saturday night and he ain't got nobody. He got some money 'cause he just got paid. Oh how he wishes he had someone to talk to. He's in an awful way. ... Or, well, not really awful. But Tyrone likes to hang out at the Firehouse burger joint on the weekends because he definitely doesn't have a bunch on his social card right now, what with being crippled and being an outsider and generally not getting out much. But he's making a concerted effort! Whicch is why he's currently parked at a table near the line, smiling and nodding to people as they come in to order. At least he's trying to be friendly! Still, having a guy in a wheelchair smile and nod at you doesn't seem to be having the desired effect, as he's still sitting there, eating his burger by his lonesome. Nevermind that he's wearing a US Marines Veteran hat and a Semper Fi t-shirt.

Look, even Kevin doesn't wear cheesy t-shirts when he's out... oh who are we kidding, he totally does. Thankfully he's toned it down to just the oh-so-'80s Flynn's Arcade logo on a dark t-shirt. It goes well with pale jeans and a relatively light jacket that he probably will be regretting as it gets colder. But as he enters the Firehouse, he's half-turned, holding the door open for Magnolia behind him, "So you've got a Feat to pick up for this level. You've got lots of things to pick from, too, depending on whether you want to focus on ranged or melee." As he turns back toward the restaurant as a whole, he spots Tyrone easily enough, frowning a moment as he places the other man, then brightens, "Right! Hey, Tyrone, right? From the gym." He points to himself, "Kevin." He's another pasty guy in glasses, he doesn't stand out that much in Gray Harbor.

Magnolia has that tolerant, but not all-that-tolerant expression on her face of someone who is wanting to be that supportive girlfriend who can get behind her boyfriend's interests while also being way out of her league in the nerd department. She's got her hands in the pockets of her light Autumn green jacket, and a simple t-shirt with Kermit the Frog beneath and arching rainbow paired with denim and rain boots. "Do you know how much I hate the idea of having lots of things to pick from, because that means I have to fret even more over my choices?" Then Kevin is recognizing someone, and Magnolia can almost do the same if her mind wasn't overloaded with D&D. Or was it Pathfinder? Eh, same difference.

Looking up from his burger, Tyrone nods and smiles at Kevin. "Hey, Kevin. ... from the gym," he responds, the light of recognition not present on his face. "Don't know that I've seen you around there lately," he adds. Which is his super smooth way of trying to dig more information out of Kevin without giving up the ghost.

Kevin wants to share, clearly. If Magnolia only knew that he was holding back. "Don't worry. I'll totally help narrow it down so that you can make the last couple of of choices, babe." He stops near Tyrone's table a moment, "Tyrone, this is Magnolia. Lia, this is Tyrone. He knows Easton too." His brows furrow in thought for a moment, "Served together, right? Magnolia's a fantastic private eye. Serious chops." His lips twist a little, "We caught a nasty bug and only just got over it a couple days ago. It was going around, and totally brutal."

"I'm just making you build my character sheet." Magnolia's tone is flat and serious. Then she looks over toward Kevin as he makes introductions, and then she smiles toward Tyrone with an upnod, hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket. "Nice to meet you." When Kevin does all the appropriate context-introductions, the blonde smirks. "Your debutant mentor will be very proud of you, Kevin. That introduction was spot on." Then she nods with Kevin's words on the flu. "It's shit. Don't catch it."

"Actually, I just got done being sick earlier this week, so. And you're right, it was the pits." Being still incredibly new with the Veil and all things glimmer related, he doesn't seem to 'notice' anybody else's shine. ... or however it manifests, either way he doesn't notice it. "And yeah, Easton was my commanding officer in the Marines." Tyrone raises his hand momentarily as he considers Magnolia, but he notices her hands being tucked away, so he doesn't try to force her to shake or anything. "It's nice to meet you, too," he adds, offering her a smile instead.

Working requires food, and Charlie has been burning the candle at both ends recently. When she comes through the door she's got her badge hanging from a chain around her neck, a stack of files under one arm, a laptop with them, a pen tucked behind her ear, and a phone against it. "Yeah, I'm sorry...I'm going to be late tongiht." Again. Whoever is on the other end of the phone is not happy about it.

Kevin nods sharply at the paired descriptions of the sickness, "Literally," he pauses, then points to Magnolia, then over to Tyrone, "And figuratively." He nods as the veteran Marine offers up the additional information, "Right." Looking back to Magnolia, he volleys back cheerfully, "No, she was furious that even the big floofy dress couldn't hide my knobby knees. And after I shaved them, too." He's almost certainly joking, of course, but there doesn't seem to be any shame at the idea, "And I totally can level up your character, but it's way better if you know what she can do." The badge around Charlie's next catches his attention, and he straightens up a little, peering behind Magnolia's head. Super-busy police officers mean theoretically more interesting stories for him.

Magnolia knows that voice, and perhaps that excuse. She gives Tyrone her attention, nodding when he gives extra information about how he's connected to Easton. Like a good PI, she's got that immediately all filed away -- in fact, she's pretty sure she's heard that before. "Easton's a good guy." Look at her not even responding to the whole dress and shaving thing. She's pivoting slightly while keeping her attention on Kevin and Tyrone, and she spots her. Her eyes narrow slightly, and her stance changes slightly. "Hey! Chaz! You're outside your jurisdiction."

Glancing up at Kevin, Tyrone arches an eyebrow. "You shaved ... your knees?" he asks, incredulous. The talk of leveling up a character seems to confuse him for a second, but then everyone's attention is drawn by the police officer making her way into the burger joint and Tyrone follows right along. Magnolia's question surprises him though, and he asks her, "Is Grey Harbor big enough to have more than one jurisdiction?"

"Maggie-Moo." Charlie calls in return, then pauses, "Yes...Aunt Maggie, yeah. I'll tell her you said hi...Now, baby, you've got to go to bed. I'll be home as soon as I can." She finally gets on the phone so that she can head in Mangolia's direction, tucking her phone into the pocket of her members only jacket, "Look, I've got to eat, too."

It's as good a place as any for food and a burger sure sounded good about now. Especially the build your own burger she liked. When Lyric walks she sort of bounces if she's in a good mood. She must be in a good mood! Coming in right after the badged person, she bounces over towards the bar place where the television is she looks about to sit down, but she quickly changes her mind when she notices a familiar face. "Hi Tyrone!" It had been a little while since she'd seen him and she really doesn't want to interrupt, but she does wave like she'd just rediscovered her best friend. The others get a friendly smile but she looks a little more sheepish around them.

Kevin looks a little disappointed when Magnolia doesn't rise to the bait, although (of course) she knows the police officer, so that's a bonus. But there's Tyrone taking the bait, and he laughs readily, "I mean, not really, but if I had gone to a debutante ball, I would absolutely have shaved my legs. And I would have made the knobby knees work." He blinks a little at the name given for Magnolia, and he laughs, "Maggie-Moo? I'm totally using that, Lia." Investigative reporter that he is, he connects dots, "Momma-friend? One of Lark's classmates?" He offers his hand out to Charlie, "Kevin." And there's Lyric, and he looks over, then offers a flash of a grin, letting her greet Tyrone before tossing another name at her.

Magnolia glances to Kevin, and there's a literal heartbeat of pause before she offers, almost too quietly, "Her mom was my dad's partner." And that is a mysterious part of Magnolia's past she doesn't talk about. At all. She will talk more about her abusive ex-husband than what happened to her dad. Then she grins at Charlie, and gives Kevin's arm a squeeze before she steps toward her friend. "Well, since you're throwing the 'starving cop' card at me, I guess I'll let you get something to eat." She ignores Kevin's inquiry after the nickname, and instead hugs Charlie when she gets close. Then she tugs her into the fold of new and old friends, and she gestures, "Charlie, this is Kevin, and Tyrone, and... someone I don't know yet but is about to introduce herself so I don't look like a total idiot, just mostly an idiot." She grins to Lyric. "I'm Magnolia."

Kevin gets another look, and then a roll of the eyes. "Ugh," Tyrone verbalizes. Don't worry, Will Ferrell gets the same treatment for his "attempts" at comedy. As Charlie approaches, Tyrone looks between the two women who are obviously familiar with themselves and grimaces. He obviously missed the joke. Thankfully, it wasn't pointed out, so maybe nobody noticed! And look, there's Lyric! "Lyric, hey!" Tyrone says, instantly smiling and looking quite happy to see her. He waves her over, both so she can join him and also so he won't be the only person who doesn't know anybody else. But, since Magnolia already opened the door for her to introduce herself, he doesn't jump in front of her, though he does unlock his wheelchair and move to actually pull out a chair for her to sit in. Which, while kind, may be a little pre-emptive since she hasn't gone to order her food yet. But at least he's enthusiastic!

"Hey." Charlie greets everyone as they are introduced after returning the hug with one arm, then she moves to take the offered hand from Kevin, "Detective Charlie Morgan." She doesn't seem to be bothered by the habitual addition of Detective to her name, like it is some kind of new first name. "Big case, you know how it goes. Always working."

Once she gets closer, after being invited, Lyric leans in to hug Tyrone, a grin for him before she straightens and has a seat in the chair he pulls out. One of the waitresses may bring a menu over and stuff, so she doesn't mind sitting. "Thank you," she tells him happily. Towards the other three, the smile remains, "Hi Magnolia, that name is really pretty. Detective Charlie," nodding to commit it to memory too. I'm Lyric Bates. A townie," she always says that, since she was born and raised here. "Are you all Tyrone's friends? I remember when he was brand new to the town. He's made good friend."

"Well, Detective," Look, Kevin is just rolling with it, after catching Magnolia's glance and nodding slowly like he's been given something valuable, "glad to see that we're well-protected, but why don't you join us and take a load off?" After the distinctly non-crush-attempting handshake, he gestures to the table alongside Tyrone and Lyric, apparently having decided to take that one. Thankfully, he's used to people eyerolling and silently staring at his 'jokes,' so he just goes running straight past, turning to Lyric and offering out his hand as well, "Lyric. Kevin, but Magnolia already told you that." He gestures over to the other women and himself as well, "Seems like a whole lot of townies. But then again, someone would have to be crazy to come here by choice, right?" He flashes a grin at Tyrone at that, then moves over to pull out a chair for Magnolia, "Tyrone and I met like... once? But I'm easy like that."

"You always have a big case, so you're always working." Then Magnolia is sinking into a seat to join the group, and she folds her arms in front of her, resting them on the table. There should be food involved, but she's being social. Lyric's compliment on her name actually catches her off-guard, and she blinks a bit before she starts to smile with a quirk. "Um, thanks. Nice to meet you, Lyric." Then she glances over toward Charlie. "You good being dragged into a social event? Or is Georgie waiting for you?"

Wrapping one arm around Lyric and trying very hard NOT to press his face into her boobs (which is actually a very pressing concern when trying to hug endowed women, he'll have you know!), Tyrone then 'helps' her into the seat before moving back to his original parking spot. He grimaces at the comment about people being friends already, but Kevin fields it amicably. Except for the fact that Tyrone immediately smirks and adds a quick, "That's what she said," to it. He then gives a little more explanation for Lyric's behalf. "This is actually the first time I've spoken to most of them. But, I am /trying/ to make more friends, so it's at least a start." As Charlie and Magnolia sit down and Charlie's dependent is brought into focus again, he shrugs. "She can't eat and write at the same time. And maybe the break will lead to a break THROUGH on her case!" He then grins and looks between the rest of the people at the table for a reaction to his pun. Because everybody loves a good pun, right? Even if the only good pun is no pun at all.

"That's because there is always a big case." Charlie points out as she takes a seat, setting the laptop and files down on the table in front of her, then she shakes her head at Magnolia's question, "I'll stick around for a little while, but I can't stick around long. Got a few things I need to be doing in the morning."

"Nice to meet you too." Lyric tells Magnolia then slips her hand to Kevin, "It's great to meet you, Kevin." A smile given to him. "It's because townies rarely ever leave. There's a whole lot of us." Settling in her seat with his help, she smiles her thanks. "Well it's a great way to make friends." Tyrone's pun earns him a return on his investment. "You're punny, Tyrone." Everyone groan. It's fine. She does reach for a menu when they are delivered to them all. "I think I already know what I want," but she doesn't order, she waits on others.

Kevin grimaces at Tyrone's joke, but only because, "Well dang, I should have worn that shirt. But that's also what he," he points to himself, "said." He nods to Magnolia, settling into a seat beside her, then nods to Charlie, "Yeah. I mean, it's Gray Harbor, right?" Shrugging a little helplessly, "Since the paper won't let me print anything about any seriously major cases, is there anything the Fifth Estate," fancy-pants, "can do to help out, Detective? All totally off-the-record, of course." Kevin groans on cue, although whether it's from Tyrone's original joke or Lyric's follow-up isn't entirely clear.

"Always," Magnolia says wryly to Charlie. "Because this city never sleeps." Right? Or perhaps it always sleeps because of Dreams. But then she's settling her weight back into the table, ands he takes in a breath as she considers those around the table now that they've all gravitated together. She glances back to Charlie. "The PI work is slow, so if GHPD is looking for some lovely consultants, let me know." There's a quiet, 'And I'm desperate for cash,' in that, too. She nudges her knee to Kevin's briefly as he goes for the 'off-the-record' bit. She glances toward the punning, and she snorts. "We're all walking memes."

Tyrone snickers at Lyric's comment and holds up a fist for bumping. Aaaaaand then Magnolia just steps right into it. "Not ALL of us," he quips, giving Mags a pointed stare and leaving it hanging there for a second before he grins. Ahh, cripple jokes. "Man, I wish I could get in on any of that. I mean, not like I was an MP or anything in the Corps, but ... I really am not looking forward to trying to adjust back to civilian life, now." He sighs at the admission, his shoulders slumping a little. Obviously, he's never seen the old Ironsides TV show. "How's your job going, Lyric?" Because her job won't remind him of the military nearly as much.

"Actually..." Charlie starts, then her phone erupts in an annoyingly loud ringtone, and she reaches for it, checking the number. "I've got to take this." She apologizes, getting to her feet to answer it, "Mags, meet me for lunch tomorrow, we can talk about some stuff, yeah?" She then nods to the rest, "Nice to meet you guys."

"Ugh, Tyrone. You're just terrible." Lyric fistbumps him anyway, cause she's not going to leave him hanging. She looks over her menu some before telling the waitress what she wants to order. "I want the build your own burger. One meat patty, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mustard, mayo, an egg, over medium, bacon and slaw." So the girl likes to eat. But she walks everywhere. "Nope no fries. Maybe a basket o'rings for everyone to share." Making many assumptions on folks liking onion rings. "Two bottles of squirt ketchup." Tada! Order placed. "Oh and a bottle of water." That was easy. When the Detective looks to be leaving, she waves, "It was great meeting you." Though she looks back to Tyrone. "I like my work, because I get to listen to music all the time."

Kevin glances over to Magnolia at the knee-nudging, "Look, I said off the record just to make sure that the Detective -- Charlie -- knew I wasn't story-fishing." He gives her a wave, waits a tick, then looks over to Magnolia, "aaaaaand now I've scared her off. I'm good at that." He frowns a moment, then shakes it off, his brows rising slightly as Tyrone leaves it hanging whether he's offended or... oh good, it's a joke, and he chuckles, shrugging a little helplessly, "The PI licensing exam is actually a little brutal," not that he's been looking into it or anything like that. "But I'm sure it's doable with some studying." He nods at Lyric's order, looking up to the waitress, "I'll take the California burger, with Swiss, add bacon." Mmmm, avocado. "Side salad, not fries." Look, he works out a lot, but not enough for fries, especially not if he's having a bacon-cheese-avocado burger.

"Uh huh." Magnolia smirks. Then she's realizing that they are all ordering, and she plucks up a menu quickly. "Charlie's always moving. Life of a cop. Dad never slowed down either." Her throat tightens briefly, and then she looks up at the waitress. "I'm going to take the mushroom Swiss, double the fungus, and sweet potato fries, and a Oreo milkshake, and we should get ours," she gestures between her and Kevin, "to go because Kevin's forgetting that we have work to do, too."

There's more snickering and Tyrone actually says, "Teeheehee," as Lyric chides him. But, then the number of friends at the table starts dwindling and he blinks a little. "Aww, come on, I wasn't offended, guys. I always make jokes about not being able to walk," he says, looking between the remainders at the table. Was it something he said?

"I like avocados. But not the fried ones. That's really kind of gross." Hearing that the others are taking their food to go, Lyric smiles at the two of them. "Maybe I'll see you both again sometime. Thanks for letting me crash the party." Looking at Tyrone she laughs, "You're gonna be the only one without food."

"Ooh, milkshake! Yes. Chocolate please," Kevin puts in, then shrugs at Tyrone, "Yeah, but you get to make those jokes. I'm pretty sure I'm an asshole if I do it on purpose." He's still grinning through, even as he looks back to Magnolia, nodding, "Yeah. Right. We do have to go. The project." If he had waggled his eyebrows or put the right emphasis there, it could have been totally lecherous, but he keeps to the light grin, whipping his head over to Lyric and blinking behind his glasses, "Wait. It comes in fried?" He even tries the hobbit accent -- it's pretty bad. Shaking that off, he shrugs, "That sounds awesome, but I'll take your word for it."

Magnolia rolls her eyes at Kevin's brow-waggling. "Perv." Then she is shaking her head at Tyrone. "No. He has a deadline, and I have like twenty missing ring cases tomorrow, which means that I gotta go stuff my face and then work. You're cool." She pushes herself up off Kevin's shoulder. "I'll go pay for the food, Kevin. You try not to get distracted." By anything. Then she grins toward Lyric and nods. "I'm pretty sure. We're always hanging around."

When Lyric points out that he won't have any food, Tyrone looks down at his now-empty plate and back up at Lyric. "Well ... I mean ... it's still in my belly?" he offers. So he's not /technically/ without food. Just not food to eat. He then turns and listens to Kevin and Mag's assurance that his sense of humor isn't running them off. "Oh. Okay. Well, good luck on your 'projects,'" he tells them, using air-finger-quotes and a smirk to imply he totally meant the more lecherous variety. He then turns to Lyric and raises an eyebrow. "You're not gonna run off and leave, too, are you?"

"I'm not going to eat alone in front of you, you're the only one without food," Lyric reiterates with a grin. "Will you at least eat some onion rings?" She looks to the others and smiles. "Enjoy your dinners and all."

Kevin chuckles at Magnolia's eye-rolling, then nods his agreement with Magnolia's reassurances that there's no hanky-panky involved in their projects -- except for the cheating spouse Magnolia has to track down. He doesn't even shift when she pushes up off his shoulder, but then again, she's tiny. He also doesn't protest her paying, "I'll be right there." Because he has to lean over and offer out a fist-bump to Tyrone at the air-quotes, then upnods as he stands up to follow Magnolia, "Nice to meet you, Lyric, good to see you again, Tyrone. Enjoy." And then he's off too.

And then there were two. "See ya, Kevin. You to, Magnolia. Nice to meet y'all," Tyrone calls out, after returning Kevin's fistbump. And then he turns back to Lyric and smiles. "Well, I mean, I'm not gonna say /no/. You ever catch me turning down free food, you better call the doctor," he jokes, grinning. And then his head cants to the side as a memory strikes him. "Heh. /First/ time we met? I was buying you food and you were struggling to figure out what to do. Everything's a circle, huh?"

The drink she ordered is delivered and Lyric slides a straw into the glass of water to sip on it as she waits for the food to be delivered. "See you later Magnolia and Kevin." A friendly wave toward them as the food does arrive. Must have all been cooked together and she takes a knife and starts cutting into her thick, juicy burger, and slices a ketchup bottle closer to her. For the onion rings of course. The basket is placed between her and Tyrone. "I remember. I make pretty okay money now."

"Hey, good for you. I'm really super happy for you," Tyrone says, smiling at her. "You're DJing, right? At the ... strip club? That's what the little birdies tell me, anyway." Pretty much as soon as the onion rings are placed on the table, Tyrone helps himself to one, squeezing it into an onion fry and then popping the whole thing into his mouth and chewing.

"Yes, I play music. It's a DJ Booth with songs, not turntables or anything like that. I don't mix or anything but I have so much fun. It;s like a club there, the people who work there and all are all kinda close and the dancers are super nice. You should come some night when I am at work." Lyric eats the onion ring different. She lifts one and squeezes ketchup on part of it, eats that part, and does it again, all the way around until its gone.

Tyrone makes a face and shrugs his shoulders, then shakes his head as he considers it. "I just ... it's awkward enough when I go to a regular dance club. I feel like, if I go to a strip club, it's gonna be a big spectacle. And that's the last thing I want. Plus, all anybody who sees me there is gonna think is, 'can he even get it up?' or 'can't he get a real girlfriend' or stuff like that. I feel like it would just be super awkward," he explains, making another face when he finishes.

"You could come over and hang out with me in the DJ Booth. And they have lap dances. Mae is amazing. So is Roxy and Dahlia and Cam. All of the dancers are so sweet. Go on a less crowded night and we could hang out at the booth though." Lyric offers with a smile for him.

Tyrone just facepalms and shakes his head, chuckling. "A lap dance would be even worse. Besides. I'm really not interested in investing money in something I won't see any return out of. I mean, I know everybody pictures us marines as dogs in heat and stuff, but .... I'm not gonna pay just to have somebody rub they titties all up in my face and not let me actually get to enjoy 'em, ya know?" He smiles, though. "I do appreciate the offer. And I really would love to spend some more time with you ...," he says, trailing off at the end as he cansts a furtive glance in her direction.

Lyric could take no for an answer and she nods at his response. "It's not a place for everyone, but I have fun there. I like my work." With her burger now cut into quarters, she picks up one to start eating it, obviously enjoying her food.

No bite. Tyrone shrugs a little and reels his line back in. "Hey, I'm not knocking it at all. And it's good to get paid to do something you like to do, so double awesome," he agrees. He looks at her again, sideways, then takes a deep breath. "Hey, can I ask you kind of a weird question?"

Lyric finishes a quarter and an onion ring followed by a drink of her water. "A weird question?" Curiosity reigns supreme and she places her water down to give him her attention, "Course!"

"So ... before I caught that stupid flu that's been going around, I had this really weird ... /experience/, let's call it," Tyrone starts. "I was at the gym, lifting with Easton, when I tipped myself over and hit my head on a bar and I musta knocked myself out, except ... I didn't go out. Instead, I wound up in what looked like a halfway destroyed Grey Harbor. And there was this dragon. And this elf chick. And the craziest thing was that Easton was there. And not just, like, in my dream, but really THERE. ... have you ever seen anything like that?"

Lyric pauses in eating and gives him her full attention. Her smile brightens though when she hears the question and she bobs her head. "I told you when we met that you were shiny. You can see it in other people if you try, if you have it." Trying to imagine what he saw there, she nods again. "You went through the veil into the dream world. The Gray Harbor of the other side. Where things aren't the same. I know how to go there. But sometimes it's hard to find the way out for me."

Tyrone blinks several times in surprise. "The veil? The other side? Like, death or something?" he asks, so surprised that he doesn't finish the onion ring in his hand.

"No, not like death, just different. But if you get hurt there, you get just as hurt here too. It's not like Sirius Black goes in, in the Harry Potter book. But we can go in and out depending on what we can do best." Lyric attempts to be helpful. "We can talk more about it later away from here."