2014.02.07 - Cubans in Mutant Town

OOC Note - Related Logs: 2014.02.02 - Dark Eternity, 2014.02.03 - Horror Show in Hell's Kitchen
Early afternoon in Mutant Town. Gabriel has lead Lunair down the street towards a rinky-dinky establishment that barely deserves the name of being a restaurant. The sign above the door says, "Lucinda's" in worn out letters that once upon a time were bright blue but the elements and time have faded the colors so now they are a barely readable baby blue.
"Let me tell you, this place make /the best/ Cuban sandwiches ever. And like any place that makes good Cuban sandwiches its run by a little old Puerto Rican lady."
Gabriel holds the door open for Lunair then follows her into the tiny restaurant. The same restaurant Phantasma will arrive at if she follows the instruction on the note Gabriel left taped to the door of her cinema.
Lunair is following Gabriel! She's in her winter coat, looking a bit surprised. She glances around. "I see!" She smiles. She seems to trust Gabriel immensely so far. She pauses. "I guess that's true," Who knows the food better than little old ladies? No one, that's who. Like the Batman of the kitchen or something. Regardless, Lunair seems a little off but pretty much happy. She pauses. "Thank you!" And steps inside as Gabriel holds the door open.
She is unaware that Phantasma may be arriving shortly. "What do you recommend?" She asks Gabriel.
Some random person gets up after a long meal to leave, opening the door and suddenly shivering violently as though from a draft. Doing up their coat tight, they step out into the January air and brave the cold... but.. it wasn't THAT cold out... was it?
There's a feeling in the room, that feeling of being watched, of something hidden being around, but for now there doesn't seem to be anyone to match those suspicions. A few people shiver suddenly, one person stops half way through taking a bite of their sandwich to look around startled, a third suddenly turns around as though someone had spoken to them. That's... not normal?
Gabriel goes up to the counter, a small glass affair that has multiple tin containers full of typical Puerto Rican food being kept warm under heat lamps. He's about to order when he freezes in reaction to Lunair's question. Turning his head sloooooooowly he pins her with his eyes for a long moment before saying, "Really? Really!? The Cuban sandwiches I've been raving about the whole way here. That's what I would recommend... Unless you're against eating pork. Then the rice and beans with a side of onion steak or a 'mofongo'." Turning back to the little old lady behind the counter he proceeds to order a Cuban for himself and makes it clear he's paying for Lunair's order too.
As people start acting weirdly around the restaurant Gabriel smiles ever so slightly. He's seen this happen before. However, he doesn't say anything about it, instead letting Lunair put in her order.
Lunair pauses. A draft? But her winter coat keeps her nice and warm. She looks a bit owlish, surprised. But then she looks to Gabriel, peering back. "I thought there was more than one kind of it, sorry..." She looks duly cowed by the stare. But she'll order a Cuban sandwich, too. "And nah, I have 0 problems with pork." Aside from that one creepy episode of House about Trichinosis. That put her off ham about a few months. Either way. "Thank you," She thanks the little old lady, and looks to Gabriel. "Thank you, too." Nodnod.
Are people acting jumpy? Well, Lunair's kind of paranoid...
A few more people twitch or react to some unseen provocation. One poor gentleman even gets slapped after a sudden gasp from a woman he wasn't even facing! She'd acted like something felt her up. That's when a voice, a faint and wispy voice, comes from behind Gabe. 
A friendly sort of 'Hello there' that Luna would barely hear. And... for a moment, it looked like some sort of ghostly figure was just barely visible behind Gabe, but gone with a blink! Around the store, more than one person was rubbing their eyes, or taking a closer look.
"And who is this then?", comes a louder, more audible voice from behind Luna. Standing as though she had been there all along, though she most certainly was NOT, was the mischievous little ghosty, an amused smile on her face.
Gabriel takes his sandwich, a flat affair packed full of roast pork, ham, and Swiss cheese topped off with some pickles and a dash of mustard with a side of plantain chips. He smiles a little bit, not at all surprised by then at hearing voice. As he walks to his table he seems to be speaking to himself, "That would be a friend of mine. Her name is Lunair. Lunair, once you can see her, this is Phantasma." Once he's able to put down the little red basket containing his food on a table he pulls a small flip-phone from his front pocket and places it in front of an empty chair before going back to the counter to get his drink.
Lunair got the same thing as Gabriel! Because he said they were awesome and she clearly trusts her amoebuddy. Then, talking! She politely turns around, after carefully accepting her sandwich, "Thank you!" Then a smile as she's introduced as a friend. Pause.
"Hi!" This to Phantasma, who is totally visible and surprising Lunair. She tenses a moment, but - hey. She takes a moment to catch up, surprised. But her smile lingers. Something is odd about how Lunair emotes. It's almost as if she has to do so a bit more consciously. "Hello, Phantasma. Are you two friends?" She asks, and will carefully take a seat. But not the one with the small flip-phone.
Leaning over on the counter, the short teen was taking her sweet time ordering, asking a lot of questions about the different sandwiches and menu items. Some of her questions even seemed, truthfully, a little obvious, like what a BLT for example. 
After lots of indecision, she finally gets a platter of... alcapurria... that she eyes almost suspiciously as they slide in front of her. Turning to catch up to the other two, she slides her food across the table to the spot with the cell phone, and then moves as though she was completely weightless...
One hand on the table, she barely even crouches before hopping up and practically vaulting over it. She lands with her feet on the chair crouched down, and scoops up the phone before dropping herself, surprisingly lightly, down on to the seat and flips open the front of it, already eyes full of a childlike sense of wonder over the new toy
Still, the question actually seems to catch her... off guard. She opens her mouth to answer, then looks maybe a little self consciously at Gabe, afterwards closing her mouth and looking just as inquisitive. Poor girl was so new to this whole 'having friends' thing...
Phantasma's little show draws some looks but the few other customers in the tiny restaurant don't seem particularly surprised or put off by her antics. After all, this /is/ Mutant Town and things like that happen around here every day.
Gabriel also watches her, taking a big bite from the corner of his sandwich and chewing on it thoughtfully. Once he's swallowed his bite he picks up a plantain chip but instead of eating it just holds it in front of his mouth. "Friends? Well, we've only met once but I would say there's a good chance that's where we're headed." Smiling at Phantasma he pops the chip in his mouth and crunches down on it before adding, "As promised, no monthly fee on that phone. Just don't use it too much so the phone company doesn't start paying attention to it thought." The last few comments are made in a low voice that's meant to keep that part of the conversation among the people at his table.
Lunair smiles politely, as Phantasma sits. She quirks an eyebrow, but goes with it. She lives with Deadpool, after all. And Lunair seems hard to ruffle, but that's more her lack of social experience at work and somewhat friendly personality. She will take a bit out of her sandwich, as she listens.
Once she swallows, she nods. "I see." Aw. "And phones are handy," She offers. "Mine are mostly disposable though," Gabriel can probably puzzled out why. "How have you been?" Perhaps a general you, then. She seems to be mostly lucid and sane today, but then - getting a sandwich with a friend is a lot different than rocket jumping into an alien UFO.
Phantasma manages to mostly hide her face behind the flip phone, her hands, and her own knees curled up in the seat the way she was, as she waits for Gabe to actually get an answer out. Its hard to keep her eyes from darting to the phone, back to his face, sometimes the phone itself even becoming a little more transparent. Her eyes occasionally glance sideways at Luna too, usually with a punkish smile, maybe a little curiosity.
"I wouldn't know really..." she muses after Lunair speaks "... I've never had one before. Never needed one really..." There was a little drop in the tone of her voice, but for the most part her expression stays neutral and focused on the phone, perhaps the slightest jerk of her lip to match her sunken tone.
Whatever she's doing with it, the phone seems to be getting the best of her. A slip of paper in one hand showing a phone number, she appears to be wrestling with figuring out how to put it in. In between muttered grunts or curses, she reaches down to snag a bite of the doughy fried treats she had bought. The first bite makes her eyes widen and light up, and she looks in awe of the doughy snack.
"W-what is this.. This totally makes up for the thin wallet scene here!", she says, luckily keeping her voice down.
"Huh? Oh. I wandered around Metropolis the other day... *checked out* an electronics store." She says with an impish smirk and a strange emphasis on those two words... "How's it going for you guys?"
Then Lunair's phone rings. Her expression shifts. "... oh. Um. I'll put mine to go and take you guys somewhere cool. I have to go." And from the looks of it, it's not Deadpool related, at least. "See you soon, sorry." Lunair takes her lunch and quietly scoots. She seems sort of concerned and quietly unhappy about it.
Gabriel arches his eyebrows a little bit at Lunair's sudden departure. "You owe me a fancy restaurant dinner! Don't forget!" His tone is teasing but once she can't see him he looks a little sad. A look which he changes quickly enough as he returns his attention to Phantasma, holding out a hand for the phone, "Here, can I help?"
Phantasma 's eyes dart from Gabe, to Luna, back to Gabe again, and she gets a mischievous 'little sister learned a secret' sort of smile. You likely notice it shortly after offering to help her with the phone, which she graciously accepts. Turning around in her seat, she gently pushes off the back of her chair and drifts through the table, and her food, going so far as to nudge the chair beside you closer in before re-solidifying. She holds up the phone, and the slip of paper without argument, but the next statement out of her mouth, still with that wicked sort of teasing smile, is "You liiiiike her don'cha?"
Gabriel looks at Phantasma out of the corner of his eyes and smiles ever so slightly. His fingers work to put in the number and save it, making sure he's doing things slow enough for Phantasma to follow and be able to interrupt if she needs to ask questions. "I do. But not necessarily how you mean. And by the way, filching wallets in an area where people need every cent they have? Not cool. If you haven't figured them out yet I can show you the places where you can find the people that have more money than they really need." His tone is friendly but slightly chiding, all at once.
Phant is sure to watch over your shoulder as you do it, but doesn't ask questions. Glancing at her face shows her concentrating on what you are doing pretty hard to, truth be told. The little lecture earns a defiant roll her eyes, but her reply of "Yeah, yeah, yeah..." has a hint of remorseful apology.
"Force of habit. I'm not exactly used to being above anyone in the Fuck My Life category.", she continues, with a little playful smirk. Getting the phone back, she takes out a second slip of paper and... though slow and steady, manages to get it put in without any real issue. "So what have you been up to? Spend your share yet?"
Places are switched as now Gabriel watches over Phantasma's shoulder to make sure she's doing things right to get the phone number recorded in the phone. Like her he doesn't really say anything, letting her muddle through it unless she's about to do something truly wrong.
Instead he talks about other things, "You're not the only one kiddo. Been there, done that. But what I realized was stealing from people that need their money just hurts everyone involved. That's when I started to make sure I only hit people that didn't /need/ what I was taking. Know what I mean?" Of course, this whole conversation, or at least Gabriel's side of it, is happening in near whispers.
Then he answers her actual question, "As for my share, I kept about $1000 and donated the rest to homeless shelters around town."
Phantasma doesn't seem incredibly concerned about her voice, but you've noted that when she talks normally, her voice really doesn't carry. Like any sound coming from her is a little muted. She squirms a little from time to time as you watch over her shoulder, self consciously pulling her hood further down. Waving her hand dismissively, she says "Yeah yeah. Be nice to the little guy. I get it.".
Finishing and flipping the phone closed, shoving it back down into her pocket, she drifts across the table again, this time grabbing some of her food between her teeth as she shifts rather like a graceful swimmer, turns around, and once more 'sits down'. More than once most people find themselves wondering just how often she really is solid. Chewing, she eyes you a little more seriously, getting about halfway through her snack.
Gabriel chuckles at the little show his companion is putting on. And he also take a big bite from his sandwich. Chewing on it quietly while he eyes for eyes. He does break first, simply asking, "Yeeeeees?"
God did that girl ever blink?! Only when she wasn't paying attention to something it seemed, as satisfied she finishes her morsel and leans forward on the table, one arm propping up her head. 
"Well.. You helped me. That..." she pauses, but still was staring at you unblinkingly "... that doesn't happen to often. So... I want to help you to." 
It wasn't an offer, it wasn't a request, and it was quite bluntly delivered. For all the grace she showed moving through the airlike water, it certainly didn't come out in her speech.
"You were looking for.. something... at that deal, and you really don't strike me as the type to fire up like that, so I want to know whats going on."
Gabriel takes a moment to looks around the restaurant, which is still mostly empty. At this point the novelty that was Phantasma has also worn off so the few people that /are/ in the restaurant really are not playing anymore attention to the two of them.
Once he's ensured no one is paying attention Gabriel puts his hand into the pocket of his coat, which he didn't bother to take off when he sat down, and pulls out a small glass vial. The vial is empty except for a few dried remnants of some black material. "Well, the money wasn't bad. I was starting to think about what my next hit was going to be to put some money out there to the shelters. But I've also been looking for the source of a new drug, Its deadly and usually ends up with people's organs melted to black goo, a good that seeps out of their eye sockets. People are starting to call it Dark Eternity because the dealers are promising that it'll cure all addictions and bring eternal happiness and eternal life."
"Clever. The dead can't exactly shoot up... I get eternal happiness... but that last bit sounds a little far."
Testingly, she gives the vial a little poke with a solid finger.
"I'll stick to cigarettes and weed thank you." She finally dismisses, sitting back down and stretching "But for all the talk of drug deals I've been around... I don't have anything like that. I can keep an ear out though. You want me to swipe some... or just shake up their operation?"
Gabriel shakes his head, at the same time recovering the vial and replacing it in his pocket, "Neither. If you hear anything about it, it would be awesome if you passed the info on. My phone number is already programmed into the phone, by the way. But don't mess with them. One, they're demons so who knows if your powers will work against them. Two, I would love to find the source of the stuff and if we mess with the small fries we might make the whole org turtle up making it a lot harder to figure out who the big boss is." Yep, see how he delivered that line about demons without batting an eye. That's definitely someone that's seen a little too much...
Phantasma frowns at the first point, not seeming convinced by your concern. If anything she looks a little insulted, but the second point at least seems to satisfy her. Rolling her eyes she says "Fine... I'll leave the stuff be and just listen out. But..." she says, pausing, to play with one of her bangs.
"... If you find something out, I want in. I don't have much to do around here, so I'm always up for a little action." She plucks up the last tidbit from her order and curls up in her seat again, balled up with her knees to her chest, nibbling on the end while looking up at you.
Gabriel takes the second half of his Cuban and places it in Phantasma's little red basket. He entertains himself with his plantain chips, "Try that. Its delicious." After munching on a few chips he goes back to the Dark Eternity topic, "Fair enough. And I wouldn't object to you spying on them, following some of them to see what you can learn."
Phantasma picks up the sandwich, prying it open and examining it from every angle like a kid with a new kind of bug. A few curious sniffs, and she says "Easy stuff. They won't even know I'm there.", before taking a nibble. Much like before her eyes light up a little, and she has a little gleesqueak, before blinking, blushing self consciously, and clearing her throat. Trying to sound all powerful and impressive, perhaps adding a little depth other voice, she says "Y-yes.. uhm.. v-very good. This neighborhood shall remain haunting free."
Gabriel laughs, honestly enjoying Phant's reaction, "Well, that's good to hear because I like Lucinda's. It would be a shame to see it close down because of poltergeist activity." Finally he lets his curiosity get the best of him and he asks the question that's been floating around his mind for a while, "So who's phone numbers were those?"
Phantasma takes some time to answer, busy savaging the sandwich in a truly adorable manner. There is a good bit of effort to keep her voice casual as she talks, but little titters of excitement keep sneaking into her tone.
"Friends... people that like me. There's Dizzy... she's a nice bat lady I spooked just a few nights after I got here actually... and then there's this ghost hunter guy." That's where her tone sinks, not in an angry way but in a sort of rivalrous frustration "Only guy I couldn't even make jump... but I'll get him yet."
Another pause as she finishes off the sandwich half surprisingly fast, and settles back in the chair like someone who's just finished a massive banquet "Oof... He still has to take me shopping... tho I don't need the phone any more..." The last line makes her pause, inquisitively, and suddenly she begins muttering to herself, scratching her chin "I still wanna go shopping tho.. I told him to take me shopping... hmm..."
Gabriel listens and watches quietly. Until she gets to the part about the ghost hunter and the shopping date. Then he smirks a bit and says, "You liiiiike him, don't cha?" in a very decent imitation of Phant's own voice and mannerisms.
Phantasma blinks, indeed put off foot and blushing. "I... buh.. you..." she stammers, her face going from surprised, to flustered, to indignant, and finally settling somewhere on 'friendly seething', which is thankfully a little less intimidating from behind her knees where she currently hides her face, pulling her legs up close to her chest. "Watch it buster or your underwear is going to become intimately acquainted with Mr. Wedgie."
Still, her eyes are a little shifty as she says "I mean.. he's cute.. I guess.. n-not that I was really looking... I don't talk to a lot of people okay?", ending at the roller coaster that her tone has been. Most recently it started as a resentful mutter, went to shaky denial, and finally ended at a flat resignation. "He... just seemed interested in what I could do... said he had friends who might know some things." She was staring at her own hand at this point, which she held out in front of her. Staring pointedly at her fingertips, she finishes her last statement by fading her hand to nothing, then making it fade back to solid.
Gabriel goes all thoughtful and such at this. While he thinks he munches on the last few plantain chips left in his basket. Finally he focuses his eyes on Phantasma again and says, "Be careful... There's a lot of people out there that would do pretty much anything to get you to use your abilities to get them what they want. Best thing you can do is ask lots of questions about why and about the details..." His tone is carefully neutral, especially considering that their conversation just a little bit ago could be considered as him doing exactly that. Except for the fact that he didn't ask, she offered.
Phantasma crosses her arms and shrugs "Yeah, I'm not big on trusting people. Not anymore. But.. trust means different things for different people ya'know?" She grins and winks, stretching and sprawling out as though the chair wasn't even there, passing through table, floor and chair alike. Finally letting her legs go slack, hanging her shoulders loosely, she looks just as solid as she ever did, but otherwise disturbs nothing. 
She fails to make a sound, or disturb even the scraps of wax paper in her basket as she passes through it, before returning to that seated pose. There was a smirk on her face, and a little look in her eye that almost provoked the question 'Think I'm solid?'.
"Besides... he already promised no needles. There's no harm in going to find out a few things... I can always just vanish.." she says, fading completely from view but still speaking "... if things get hectic."
Gabriel gets up from his chair and picks up his basket, along with Lunair's and Phant's. "Well, if you run into any trouble call me. But for now I have to get going. We should do this again soon. Or Lunair and I like going to the zoo and the aquarium if you want to come with us one day?" As he speaks he's moving over to the trash can, throwing all their food away then stacking the little red baskets on the trash can lid. He's also raising his voice if need be.
Phantasma gets up by sliding out of the booth rather than just ghosting through it, but now a few subtle tells show she isn't solid at all. Nothing blatantly obvious, mostly in fact its her clothing brushing against something in such a way that isn't realistic. Has she really just been posing the whole time?
"Call me up any time...I'm a light sleeper and its not like I've got a job to get to or anything."
Walking along and following you to the garbage, she thumbs her way through a pair of wallets, seeming to be a little deep in thought, before taking out a much, MUCH thicker one from her backpack and moving the money around a little.
"And don't forget to call me if you find any action! Seriously... pretty boring until I get the projector fix and there's only so many hobo's I can scare before they all avoid my theater like the plague."
Gabriel nods and smiles, "Will do. Talk to you soon."
Category:Log