Players: Aiden, Bruce, Taylor and Cale
Summary: Taylor and Cale head out for a night on the town, and run into Bruce and of course Aiden who's working at the Bistro.
Date: May 7, 2012
Log Title: Freaks at the Bistro
Rating: PG
NYC - Le Bistro Bestial
//At the Le Bistro Bestial there are no menus, all the specials for the day are written up on chalk boards around the restaurant. A variety of sandwiches, soups, salads and other small dishes can be found featured here. There are shag carpet covered chairs and tables are set up around the small restaurant and in the summer there are some tables set up outside on the sidewalk. On the walls are colorful Richard Scarry pictures along with a faux Lion head above the bar.
Le Bistro Bestial has been in business for thirty years is run by two families, one American family and one French Family. Both have mutant children and grandchildren who help in running the restaurant. One reason their food is so good is the head chef has the mutant gift of knowing and understanding flavours.//
It's a slow night at Le Bistro Bestial, empty except for two men sitting at one of the tables. It's the owner and blue winged waiter sitting and chatting over a bottle of wine as they seem to be drinking away the time as they wait to see if anyone shows up this evening. "Now that tourist season is starting up I have to make sure my act is ready to go, you should come down to one of the shows." Aiden tells his boss.
Bruce sighs as he peers down from the rooftops, dead ends and dead ends. He had heard rumors of anti-mutant sentiment in this section of Mutant Town, but try as he may he hasn't found any hint of it. A few raindrops cause the man to look at the sky and frown. "Wonderful." Bruce walks to the end of the building he is on and moves down to the alley below. He glances around once more after exiting the alley and decides to ask around some of the local businesses to see if anyone has heard anything.
The door to the bistro opens and a man in tight blue jeans and a brown shirt steps in. His boots sound heavy on the floor as he approaches the counter, leaning on it with one hand as he glances over at the two at the table. "Hello there my friends. Slow evening?"
Taylor walks into the Bistro Bestial with a friend after Bruce, presently not wearing an image inducer while spending time in mutant down. The feline mutant says, "I wonder if they have any… carnivorous options…" The teen is presently wearing a white blouse with a black vest and a long black skirt. "I mean, it's in mutant town, right? They've gotta have stuff like that."
Cale walks into the restaurant shortly after Taylor; he'd /thought/ about coming as Kaylee tonight, but ultimately chickened out and wore his normal clothes. Still, even then, it might not be /immediately/ apparent that he's a boy, due to his small build, long hair, and recently re-painted nails… (Thanks to Robin.) "Yeah, I bet they do. I mean, well, EVERYBODY likes meat anyway, so I'm sure they can fix you up something… you know, veggie-free, if you wanted." Of course, he's never been here before, and is busy rubbernecking around the entire place. Shag!
As Bruce walks in the conversation dies and the owner gets up brining the wine back to the kitchen. "You're up." He says to Aiden in a French accent before disappear. Aiden stands up and looks at Bruce. "Yeah, it's a slow night tonight. Pick anywhere you want to sit. Can I get something to drink?" He offers right as the two students walk in. "Pick any table you want, the menu's up on the board over there." He says motioning to the daily specials board.
Bruce glances back at the two patrons who entered after him. At least one is obviously a mutant. He offers a quick salute-wave to the two of them and turns back to Aiden. "Drink? I guess a beer is fine. Whatever ya've got on tap I suppose." He takes another quick glance around, eyeing the special board for a moment before continuing his conversation with Aiden. "How've things been around here? Any problems I should know about?"
Taylor waves back to Bruce politely, though clearly not having any kind of idea who he is. To Cale, the felinoid student remarks, "I guess everyone does like meat, except for vegetarians. I tried to be a vegetarian once. Lasted a week. I like meat." The teen shrugs and then says to Aiden after looking towards the specials board with a bit of a squint, seeming to have some difficulty making it out, "Do you have meatitarian options here?"
"Um, I dunno… diet coke?" Cale asks questioningly - is this one of those coke places or a pepsi place? "Or pepsi… you know whatever…" he nearly trips and falls when Taylor actually asks for 'meatitarian' options. "Me too!" he chimes him, "How bout a roast beef sandwich?" Tummy-rumble. And he had all that good food leftover in the fridge at home too…
The blue winged mutant shakes his head. "Nope, nothing really Bruce, but then I try to stay out of the excitement." Then to Taylor he nods. "Well we have sandwiches and meat stuff up there, lot of stuff here is chef specials but if you want anything up there without anything, like bread or something, just let me know. Sure, let me get the drinks and then I'll put that in for you. If you need anything I'm Aiden." He says as he heads back to get Bruce a Stella and Cale his diet coke.
Bruce actually seems mildly disappointed that nothing out of the ordinary seems to be going on around here. If the rumor of trouble in this neighborhood was true, which it seems more and more to him that it was not, then at least he could go blow off some steam by beating some humans half to death. The man sighs again and leans on the counter, still not taking a seat. He looks the other two up and down once more before addressing them. "How about you? Been staying out of trouble? Haven't seen anything…Unpleasant lately, have ya?"
Taylor looks up at the board blankly for a few moments and then says quietly to Cale, "Can you tell me something on the board that I could probably eat?" The feline student looks down and brushes off their vest lightly before saying to Bruce, "I dunno, not much lately, I guess? I mean, sometimes people act like assholes when I'm out of mutant town, but never like, mega assholes so far? Why, are you some kind of superhero?"
Cale blinks over at Taylor, and then back to the board for a moment, before giving the cat a questioning look. "Wha?" he whispers quietly. "I dunno, you DO like cooked meat, right?" he murmurs, "They've got a nice chicken parmesan it looks like… that's just meat mostly…" he nods in a low voice. He was unaware of Taylor's food habits. SOmeday, he'll have to cook something… catty. And /not/ call it cat-food…
Aiden brings over the beer for Bruce. "Mutant Town's been quiet for the most part. Though there was that girl who when missing the park a few months back, haven't heard anything since so she could be back safely by now." He says shrugging as the tattoo like markings start to change colour to reflect a bit of yellow in them. "Diet Coke for you and did you want something to drink?" He asks the cat girl. "You know my girlfriend has a tail, she's less furry but her tail was adorable. Anyway what types of food can you eat and I can recommend something?"
Bruce chuckles at the girl. "A superhero? Only kind of. A part-time superhero I guess." He scratches his chest idly. "And yeah the humans can be bothersome outside of Town. If they give you too much flack just smack 'em around a bit. They'll leave you alone after a while." The man grins at the two kids and then peers over his shoulder as he is handed a beer. "Oh? Went missing you say?" How did Bruce not hear that one? People must be keeping things from him hoping he won't go on another rampage. "Know what her name is?" He takes a swig of beer.
"Well, last time I smacked someone around for giving me trouble I wound up taking anger management sessions. Kind of hoping to avoid a repeat performance," says Taylor, shrugging lightly at that, "But I guess I'll consider it." The teen then blinks a few times at Aiden and then says, "Well, pretty much… meat, some dairy is okay, veggies make me puke, too much grains or fruit give me a stomach ache. It's just hard to see the writing on the board…"
Cale glances at Bruce, and then back to Taylor. That sure doesn't SOUND much like a superhero to him - superheros protect people, instead of using their powers to 'smack them around a bit.' Then he looks at Taylor thoughtfully for a moment. He would have never thought the ocelot to be a violent type… "That's awful." The young mutant grimaces, "Remind me, anyway! And I'll cook you something good without any of that stuff in it." More furtive glances at Bruce. Gecko-boy is not sure what to make of sand-man.
"I think they said her name was Ronnie, but then I'm horrible with names. Only reason I remember yours is because you're the bartender at Nowhere and you live on the same floor I do." Aiden says as he listens to what Taylor says and he doesn't act like he thinks what she says is strange at all. "How about I get you a roast beef sandwich hold the veggies, dressing and roll. Can you have potato chips or fries?" He asks as he starts to write down the order. "And you, " He says to Cale. "Did you want a hot or cold roast beef sandwich."
Bruce nods in agreement with Cale. "That is aweful. I can't believe you had to take anger management classes for attacking a human. That's like sending someone to jail for stepping on a spider." He shakes his head in disappointment. "Well they do tend to get annoyed I suppose. Maybe try wearing a mask, the humans won't recognize you. No harm." Bruce glances at Aiden and makes a concerned face. "Hmmm…Better look into it just in case." He pulls out something that looks like a phone and types a few things into it before putting it back into his pocket. "Yeah you ARE on my floor. Stop by sometime when it's nice out. We'll have a cookout on the roof."
"Um, er, hot please!" Cale nods, glancing over at Taylor to see what they order shortly. His mouth just sort of, hangs open for a minute looking at Bruce. Yeah, /definitely/ not a superhero… "But regular's just fine with me, you know?" the boy nods, eyes still on Bruce. Sure, mutant haters are horrible - but he's never run into a human hater before.
Taylor shifts uncomfortably at Bruce's statement and then says, softly, "My parents are human, and they're good people…" The teen looks back over towards Aiden and then nods, "Yeah, that sounds like it would be good. I can have some fries. Just not too many… if I can get like… I dunno, chicken fingers as a side, that might be better? I'll pay extra… I haven't gone to a restaurant since, well…" Taylor gestures towards themselves.
Aiden gives Bruce a look and shakes his head. "Anyway, enough with the human bashing, I've met good non-powered folk who helped me survive when I had nothing and then I've met horrible non-powered folk like my father." He grins and then nods to Bruce. "Sure, let me know if you want entertainment, if I can get a spotter I can do some fire dancing and breathing for your cookout." Who doesn't enjoy fire? "I'll put in an order for a Hot Roast Beef sandwich with fries and a plate of hot roast beef, chicken fingers and some fries for you guys then." He says going to give the order to the owner/chef. "Well you don't have to worry about that here, I mean it's not like I can hide either." He says pointing at his wings and holding up a 'tattooed' looking arm.
Bruce rolls his eyes, "I'm not saying to go on a human destroying rampage. Just…You know, when they get out of hand remind them who the dominant species is." He takes another drink of his beer. "Spotters? Who needs spotters? I can put out a small fire in a jiff. We'll see if Rashmi wants to come up, too. I think she lives a couple floors below us. Haven't seen her in a while, though. Wonder what she's up to…" He ponders this for a little while while giving Cale a look which may be seen as judgemental.
"I… I guess," Cale murmurs, not looking too happy about all that. He doesn't consider himself to be any kind of dominant race at all! In fact he's hardly dominant in any way." He looks over at Taylor again, wondering if this sorta thing is normal around here. The food does sound good though!
Taylor just shrugs at Cale, as if detecting his thoughts, but then nods at Aiden, "Well, yeah, I guess you can't hide it, but I guess at least you look super fucking cool." The teen brushes back their hair and then sits down nearby, "But that order sounds like it'd be good…"
Aiden disappears for a bit to place the order and after a bit he comes back out. "It's not just about putting out the fire, I have to make sure I do everything right without hurting myself. My freakshow act has nothing to do with my powers for the most part." He explains before looking at Taylor. "And you don't look super fucking cool yourself?" His tone is quite serious as he asks.
Bruce just drinks his beer and glances around the restaraunt. These three are too soft hearted about humans. Perhaps one of the only drawbacks about living in a mutant community. They got too used to being tolerated by those around them. If they were exposed to humans more regularly they would likely see his point.
Of course, Cale is exposed to humans fairly regularly! He's just a softy. A big goody two-shoes. He glances over at Taylor momentarily, "Cats are pretty cool!" he smiles, agreeing with Aiden. "I don't look half as cool as you do with your image thingy off."
Taylor blinks a few times at the statement being turned around, glancing between Aiden and Cale, ears flicking a couple of times as Taylor attempts to come up with a response, "Well, I dunno, I think I'm kind of funny looking more than anything… I'm more okay with it than I used to be, but it's still, I dunno, just kinda weird, I guess."
Aiden shakes his head at Taylor. "Nah, you're not funny looking. You're just being down on yourself. My family, we're all obvious mutants, well Ben wasn't, but he was part of the family. We were a traveling mutant Freakshow, you just have to learn to embrace what you are and realize you're beautiful the way you are. Screw what others might think. Anyway I'm going to go check on your food!" He turns away from the table and disappears into the kitchen.
Bruce waits until Aiden is out of earshot before turning to Taylor. "Not that you should join a freakshow. You don't look like that for the amusement of others. You look that way because that is how your gift manifested." He shrugs, "It is something I see often in this Town. People who think they are not normal because of how they look. And yet they're right. You're not normal. You're better than normal."
"I dunno… about that either though…" Cale trails off, not particularly liking the sound of a 'freakshow.' Even if Aiden seems enthusiastic about it. He gazes at Bruce for a moment, biting his lip. Better than normal? He's not really too sure about /that/ bit. In fact, he's not sure about anything that Bruce has said at all; though he's nervous by nature. He gives an apologetic look to Taylor, though, knowing that the ocelot doesn't like talking about their mutation that much… Well, he doesn't either!
Taylor headshakes and then says, "I don't think I'm better than normal. I mean, the way I looked before, I really liked how I looked, and now I look like this. It's more unfamiliar than anything." The teen shrugs, tail flicking slowly back and forth, "I dunno how I'd even be better than normal. Other than being, I dunno, a bit stronger?"
Bruce shrugs. "You're the next evolutionary step. You're better than normal. Assuming by 'normal' we mean unevolved, hmm?" He grins again and fiddles with his drink. "And you there, twitchy guy. What can you do?" He motions vaguely in Cale's direction. "Other than look nervous and have a naive perspective of humans."
Cale gives Bruce a bit of a look, not liking being called 'twitchy guy' apparently. "I dunno, I… climb walls and stuff. And change color." He's not going to mention his tongue though. He doesn't like to talk about that and well, if someone finds out about it the hard way well, the better for him! "It's okay, I guess. Humans are fine, anyway. My mom and dad were humans," he speaks up, "And I was a regular human until just a month or so ago. We're all humans. Sure some people treat mutants bad, but mutants aren't the only people that get treated poorly."
Taylor shrugs lightly and then looks towards Cale, "Yeah, my mom and dad are both human, like, not mutant humans… and they're really nice. I mean, I dunno, I guess it's different for them having a mutant kid but… I dunno, they're used to me being weird, I hope…"
Bruce looks between the two of them and finishes up his beer. "Hmmm." This is all he says to their view of humans. This is followed by a "Wellp, guess I'm out of here. Try not to get killed by all those humans you're both so fond of, eh?" The man offers a quick wave and heads out into the street.
Cale gives Bruce a smile and a little wave as he wanders off, but then looks somewhat relieved to have him out of there so the two can finally eat dinner; a different waiter than Aiden appearing with the food, specially made for Taylor and more regularly made for Cale. "That guy…" he murmurs, shaking his head. "I didn't know there were mutants like that."
"Eh, there's jerks on both sides of any fence, and all that, you know?" says Taylor, sighing and peering after Bruce as he leaves, "But I dunno. I don't love regular humans or anything either… but mutants are just other people. In my experience, assholes come in all colours."
"Well that's what I meant. I mean a person is just a person. Some people are different genetically, some people are different in other ways…" Cale trials off. They both know that pretty well!
