2019-10-30 - Food & Snark

A diminuitive woman pushes her way through the door backwards, or whateveres easiest that means she doesn't have to pull her hands from her pockets. In an oversized hoodie, and what looks like leggings and boots beneath, Abitha peers from beneath her hood, hair streaming out to each side as she takes a look at the place. Though she does a great job at keeping her mouth and brows neutral, the widened look of her eyes tells the story of her mix of shock, disgust, and adoration of the decorations. Hands still in her pockets, and if unaccosted, she'd plunk herself down on a stool at the bar.

The grizzly is never empty - it's also never more than 'bustling' in terms of business, but it's always got a customer. Today there's a trio of teens bowed over some sort of magazine and discussing the contents in adamant whispers, a dead-eyed middle-aged woman clutching her coffee mug like a lifeline as she stares out the window, and an older gentleman carefully eating his plate of food while mumbling unintelligbly to herself. A mousy young girl in baggy clothes Velma would envy delivers food and cleans tables along with a gender-ambiguous blond. At the counter a purple-haired woman wearing black and blue striped leggings, heavy boots, and a high-waist knee-length voluminous black skirt with a long-sleeved shirt and a silver choker flips idly through a magazine. Her eyes are full smoky, her lips a plum color to match her nails, and she doesn't even look up when the bell rings to say there's a new customer, instead continuously flipping through her magazine. Nobody comes deliver a menu, or give a friendly hello. Rude.

That's fine with Abitha at least for a little while. Good lord, the people. She wasnt even that shy about examining each one for at least a second or two. But then again, she was here for a purpose. She starts carefully trying to pick out just what the hell seems to be going on in here, or at least seeing if someone else near her has a menu. Her vision was good. The little weirdo has a peeve about being ready to order when people come to greet her. Her phone comes out. Maybe a menu online? She dreads awkward human interaction, and does everything she can to avoid it, regardless of how strange it would look for her to fidget helplessly like she was.

Does anyone take pity on Abitha? No. There's no website for the Grizzly...however, her keen eyes might spot that scattered here and there on the tables are... bear silhouettes. Colorful bear silhouettes. Because those are menus. Shaped like a bear on all fours, the fold running along the spines. The menu has typical diner fare listed, about a sixth of it bear-pun related (shockingly few, considering the decor) and while laminated, the menus are...slightly sticky.

A teen at the table over there lifts up their head and looks up, raising a hand in a wave and calling out, "Yo! Can we get soda refills?" The mousy girl looks over, before scurrying towards the counter to fill that order. Dead-eyed woman continues to stare. Older gentleman gets up and slowly shakes his way to the next table to grab some extra sweetener. It takes forever. Gina? Purple-haired at the counter? Snickers at the story about how the love child of Freddie Mercury, who we know from the last issue has joined the KKK who are under the control of the Illuminati as a pawn, has betrayed them for his Grey Alien lover. Turn page. She finally glances up at the awkward Abitha, staring a moment before she asks, "You ordering something or just warming the stool?"

"Is the second thing an option, because I'm probably not great at it, but I'll, like, settle for a menu." It is almost instinctual for Abitha to crack back at Gina, a finely honed skill developed in the cancerous swamp of the internet. Her voice is flat and almost droning, like a living resurgence of a popular MTV cartoon. Abitha stands on the rung of the stool, as was probably needed with her size, so she can reach over one of her neighbors to grab a menu. "Is coffee beeeeaarable?" Her voice trails off halfway through the first syllable of the word. Her eyes snap from the menu, to Gina, a little horrified, the first crack of her facade. She hadn't meant to make such a horrible pun.

Gina looks at Abitha as she cracks jokes in that flat, droning voice, her own brows raising at the sass, but she just points, down the counter, to where one of those bear silhouettes are. "Menus are right over there. Help yourself." What, you expect Gina to do that? As for that bear pun... Gina's mouth gives a twitch, and she rolls her eyes, "It's the coffee you get if you want caffeine here. You can go to the cafe if you have roast specifications." She informs Abitha, and while her voice is mild, there's a sort of... insinuation to them. But it's difficult to grasp what the mood of that insinuation is. Is Gina offended? Mocking? defensive? Teasing? Who knows.

"Rad. That, then. I'm here for the drugs." She delivers it with such an easy, nonchalant tone, hoping to move past the painful memories of her last statement. Her eyes track sideways to any odd looks she was probably getting from other patrons at that statement, asking, "What?" In a monotonous yet challenging manner. She turns back to her menu, peering at it intently, "Breakfast, like, all of it. Which..." She starts quietly, half to herself as she reads, "Yeah, the platter with like all the breakfast." She says as she holds up the menu to point at the platter with the full run of bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes. "And a cup of the ground-up, burnt plant matter."

There's a moment where Abitha is studied, those dark eyes of Gina centered on her. Long enough that, if Abitha hasn't yet noticed Gina blazes in her other sense, she might notice it now, waiting and still and tucked away, and then Gina is reaching to take the menu with one hand, and Abitha's hand with the other, turning it to glance at the palm. A moment, two, before Gina lets out an amused huff, takes the menu, and just turns away towards the coffee, to pour a mug and set it down in front of Abitha. Casual as can be she also gestures down a ways, "Creamer and milk's that way." Sugar and salt are at every seat, after all, contained in a little box like every restaurant has. "You want harder shit, you need to look elsewhere." It's not even accusatory. It's said with the sort of bland dismissal that implies she has had this conversation several times. A day. "How do you want your eggs?"

The thing about this interaction was that Abitha knew Gina seemed... different to her, but she didn't honestly know why. Abitha is staring at the purple haired woman as this tension builds, the intensity of the look bordering on panic. Then Abitha's eyes avert, a strangely searching look on her face, as if trying to sort through something in her head. "Over easy." She mutters a thanks as she reaches to grab some sugar for the coffee, but doesn't really feel like getting up for the milk. It takes a bit, but she retorts, finally raising her eyes to Gina again, the monotony raising to awkward joke, "Don't impugn my chosen vice." Her eyes drop again and she hides behind the mug to sip.

Gina's attitude is... lackadaisical, almost. Careless and leisurely, once Gina let go of that hand. Is she any less suspicious for it? Not when she's still got that amused little upturn of one side of her mouth, that subtle air of amusement-- at Abitha's expense, perhaps? Or just at the situation? The coffee mug's stenciled bear paw has a rhinestone bracelet and shiny ring. The coffee is pretty good. It's not the best coffee, but it's certainly better than one might expect in a diner full of kitschy bears. It might even be fresh ground in the last day! As for the food, Gina proceeds to write up the order, sending it off to the kitchen, and she lazily responds, "I'm not saying your vice isn't valid, so. Not impugning. Just demeaning. Coffee's really more of a lifestyle choice than a vice. You're new in town." Gina says the latter as a statement...not a question.

"Oh, ok. Yeah, demean away." Abitha sips the sweetened coffee and watches Gina, not sure what to make of that interaction, and now maybe a bit confused she was getting conversation as well? Mug in both hands, elbows on the counter, she answers over the dark liquid, "Yeah, I guess I just opened the shop like a month ago, now?" She asks the question aloud, eyes wandering upward to do the math. "But you're not wrong. Why? You know everyone this town and I'm a stranger?"

"Not really a big town. Only a couple of diners in town, and the Grizzly's been around for a while, but you looked shocked -- and you don't look familiar. " Gina sums up conjecture, moving to pour a cup of coffee... and then add to a blender. Along with scoops of chocolate ice cream, coconut, some frozen cherries, a few other things. "Might've left town for a while, but I still know what a local feels like. You're not." Another little twitch of her lips, suppressing a smile, as she starts up the blender, pulsing before she pours the creation into a tall glass, adding a straw and enjoying her black forest milkshake. "Enjoying the town so far?" So mild, that question.

Abitha watches with rapt attention at Gina's process, seeing the ingredients, squinting at the result. She seems easily distracted, "Can I order one of those, too?" She then has to replay the question in her head again to try to answer it, looking thoughtful, "Are you related to Angela Lansbury? 'Cause like, you read me like a book." She taps the side of her coffee mug idly while looking jealously from her own cup to the cafe quality drink Gina had just made fun of earlier, "It's alright. Little slow, but that means less people. I'm ok with that. I spend most of my time online anyhow. What's your take on it..." She peers at Gina for a moment, trying to pick out something about her, but settling on, "Elphaba?"

"Elpha-what? Sorry, not my favorite Disney princess. Or queen, whatever she qualifies as." Gina says, looking... quite serious as she says it, sipping her milkshake again, slooooow. She keeps up the straight face as she adds, "Kind of a crappy story, having a bunch of ice powers and deciding not to take advantage of it. Plus, it was such a cop-out not just freezing the asshole prince and the visiting assholes so they'd shut up and let her rule in peace. Kind of feel like she could've made a killing in the ice industry. Tourism would've rocked." Maybe just messing with Abitha, at this point...maybe? But the argument is so reasonable, her expression seems so sincere-- except for that little smile-- but maybe she's just feeling sheepish? Gina doesn't make it easy for people.

But she shrugs after, setting down her milkshake and repeating the process - apparently Abitha is getting her milkshake. Woo! "Not really that impressive. Just connecting the dots. "

At this point, Abitha was slowly breaking into a stupid grin, clearly enjoying the conversation offshoot, even chiming in, "I bet the skiing would have been amazing. Also, friend, then evil was such a tired trope Disney has been getting on for a long time. Do you think they worry about the message to people with depression just being like 'Let it go?'" She sips the last of the inferior coffee and sets it further across the table so she can wait for the drink Gina was probably going to make, then drink herself to spite Abitha. "Pretty tone deaf of them for a movie, am I right?" Elbows on the bar, she crosses her legs at the ankles and lets her feet swing lightly.

Gina-- defying expectations instead of gravity! The milkshake is poured, even topped with a cherry, and set down perfunctorily before Abitha-- just as there is a ding! and her full platter of food is also ready, collected, and set in front of her. The pancakes look golden and fluffy and soft, the bacon crisp, the sausage juicy and plump, the eggs perfectly over easy. There's a little teeny dish of whipped butter and a larger one of real maple syrup. It tastes pretty amazing, especially considering the price. "No. Not really. Learning to let go does mean ending up in your own personal palace of shit you love." Gina says with a small shrug, returning to her milkshake. "What's your shop for?"

Abitha tests the milkshake first, her face almost immediately scrunching, a short sound of enjoyment escaping her as her eyes flutter to the ceiling. The following look at Gina is a quick down-then-up look, an appreciative measure of the woman. Abitha doesn't quite dig into the breakfast as fast, though she seems to enjoy it just as much, speaking through an only -slightly- full mouth, "What fucking ursine sorcery are you performing back there?" she asks, a compliment of sorts, the volume the girl talked a display of the fact she was enjoying the conversation, "Video games. All kinds. You play at all?"

"It's not sorcery. The secret ingredient is the passionate love in my heart." Gina says, with a completely straight face. Solemn, even! "I can't contain it, so I carved it into the heart of every bear here to bind it, and the cook training to work here involves tattooing it on the cooks so that they feel the love too, and can add it to the food." Gina's grin after she says this is an amused, dark thing, however, before she grabs her own milkshake and has another sip. "No. I don't. Never grew up with it, couldn't get into it as an adult. Except for crappy phone games to pass the time when I work."

Abitha literally can't. The deadpan delivery of comedy gold has her almost spitting out the piece of bacon she had just taken a bite of. The back of her hand is held to her stuffed mouth as she lets out a cackle of amusement. "Ok, shit, I was not expecting that." She chews a few more times and swallows, "Please don't make me choke on this food, I don't wanna go that way." Considering Gina's words with a tip back and forth of her head, Abitha offers while eagerly shoveling another bite into her mouth, "Even mobile gaming is gaming. Biggest market, honestly."

Gina allows herself one little smirk, before she has more of her milkshake and warns lightly, as serious as before, "Careful. Laugh at love too many times and it'll get it's revenge." Gina warns after, lazily, before she pushes away from the counter, grabbing her trashy fiction conspiracy magazine. "Welcome to Gray Harbor. You'll have to be careful. There are a lot more dark, quiet corners in this town than you might be used to. A lot of gleam and glitter means a lot of shade and silence." A lazy wave, before Gina simply... heads to the back. Simple as that.

"Are you like a poet or something?" Abitha calls after her, "Wait, how are we gonna be best friends if you leave?" She smirks a bit, still stabbing at her food and eating quietly. Again, Abitha gives a sideways glance and a "What? I have abandonment issues." to a weird look she probably got for yelling after Gina, shrugging. She doesn't make much more hassle for anyone, and she does at least a decent job emptying the plate, though it does take her awhile. She'd play around on her phone for a little bit, take an ironic selfie to showcase the decorations, finish her milkshake and drop some cash on the counter, the change about a 25% tip. Then she'd amble on back to the Pad.