6158/Speedy Service Like Lightning

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Speedy Service Like Lightning
Date of Scene: 08 May 2021
Location: Mel's Roadside Diner
Synopsis: Tommy and Leslie work a shift at Mel's Diner. It goes totally fine except for one bigot who has a TOTALLY RANDOM car accident. Also one kid who loses his electric scooter. But the milkshake machine is working!
Cast of Characters: Tommy Shepherd, Leslie Willis




Tommy Shepherd has posed:
So... Tommy lives in space. No, not the metaphorical type with his head in the clouds. He literally lives in space with one of the greatest mutant tyrants, or saviors depending on your perspective, in history. So why would he be busting his hump at some run of the mill diner? The same reason every other young adult has... He needs cash for 'experiences', and Magneto isn't exactly giving him an allowance.

When Tommy first visited Mel's diner and saw they were hiring, he was initially super excited. This was a job about being fast... on roller skates! Totally cool.

That was a few weeks ago. Now it's just a job, and really... it's not 'fast' by his standards. It barely registers as a speed walk.

"Thanks for eating at Mel's diner. Here's your double bacon cheeseburger with fries and large chocolate shake... And here's your coney dog with fries and a large strawberry shakes. Do you need any condiments?" Tommy tries hard not to let one of his green eyes twitch and keep the fake smile plastered upon his lips. He raises a hand to brush some of his white hair from his forehead.

In a barely not monotone voice, he finally concludes, "Thanks... please come again..." He then zips off on the roller skates like a pro. However, he's learned to hate the things on his feet, they actually make him slower! He learned that the hard way after melting an axle behind the diner playing around.

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie lives in Metropolis. It might not be as cool as space. But she's pretty sure the commute from space to Mel's is easier than her commute. It's -down-, who can't do down? Gravity's a thing, gravity -makes- you down. So like, you just have to wait and you wind up at Mel's. She's got to cover a lot of road in a little time. And she hasn't got super speed.

But what Leslie does have is an electric scooter. Oh, not normally. But she's got one -now-. Because she stol- because she found it on the side of the street. And she figured hey, she knows electricity. The motor uses electricity to make the wheel go. And if it uses more electricity it goes faster.

And if you use enough electricity, it hits 150 miles an hour and the rear tire catches on fire. And also the brakes don't work because -apparently- some egghead didn't think someone would make it go criminal levels of speed.

They say in space, no one can hear you scream. But in Westchester, everyone can hear the turbine-like whine of the rapidly deteriorating scooter. And probably also at least a bit of Leslie's wild screams, "OUTTA THE WAY NERDS!! WOOOOOOORLDSTAAAAAAAAAR!!!!"

Hey, it's not her fault if people don't know that means 'Clear a path for the ballistic scooter'.

Leslie thinks this would be so cool. She'd look right badass riding in on a blazing trail of fire. Except of course that the uniform for the female employees is this horrible 50's style dress thing in ugly melted creamsicle orange with white trim, and an aquamarine apron. So really, she's as much a crime on the eyes as she is, you know, all the traffic crimes right now. And also theft. It's just another Saturday for Leslie though. Plus, c'mon, that kid didn't even -see- her steal his scooter. Find. Find his scooter.

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
There's probably a few screams and gasps of concerns at Leslie's arrival. That would be the response of the 'Normies'. For Tommy, the events happen just a little slower, and that fact allows him to appreciate the very bizarre combination of 'cool' and 'comedic'.

His jaw drops as he watches the trail of burning rubber splat on the road. His lips curl into a grin at the call for nerds to move or basically die. Noticing her apparel, he blinks guessing she's the person late for her shift. He guesses her trajectory and about how far the dying scooter will carry her. In a flash of speed, he removes his skates, zips over, and then puts them back on.

He tries to stand stoically, almost stern faced, as if he's some kind of angry supervisor, but by the end of it all... He's on the ground clutching his sides laughing. "Oh shit... you look fucking ridiculous!" Ya, he's got that 'juvie' mouth.

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie's all gasping, panting, and trying to smooth her outfit out as she just sort of reels as she stumbles a little, hauling the gym bag off her back and pulling out her own pair of skates, groaning and kicking her sneakers off, working into the skates with more than a little glower.

"Oh my god, traffic was -nuts-, like, you'd think people haven't seen an electric scooter before."

Once she's properly work-attired, she rummages in for that classic, horrible paper cap that all fast food employees are cursed to wear, snapping it open, planting it on her head... and yeah, it looks more like it's being impaled by an irate porcupine than 'worn', but still.

"So like... did I miss anything? Joe didn't wreck the milkshake machine again did he? 'cause I swear to god, if one more trucker asks about my milkshake and bringing the boys to the yard, I'm gonna fuckin' dunk him in it until he stops kicking."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy is back on his feet in a split second, too fast to be normal. Though maybe he's just hyped up on bad coffee. He glances toward the diner, "Nope... The milkshake machine is definitely working, pretty sure I've handed a dozen of those so far tonight."

"Traffic or not, you are totally late. And like, while I can probably do this job without you, that's like..." He counts to two on his fingers. "Twice as many times I have to pretend to be 'happy' doing this.So like you... owe me or something."

He looks at the wreckage of a scooter and looks over his shoulder, "You also might want to hide that or something, cause... I'm sure the shift manager will complain about it."

Frowning he looks back at her then looks to some of the lined up cars, "Do people really drop that kind of lame shit on you? God. Glad I'm not a girl. I'd kill someone if I had to hear that more then twice."

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie does, just like, the -biggest- eye roll while she manages to somehow balance on one skate, and kick the scooter towards the edge of the parking lot with the other, taking out her rage on it, and punting it into a bush to... probably not start a brush fire. She'll check on her break.

"Oh my god, you have no idea. Like, you think Twitter is bad? It's nothing but dumb pickup lines, or corny jokes, if one more person makes a joke about 'I guess it's free' if the cash register fucks up I'm going to kill their family."

She glowers and points at the line of cars, "And those goddamn animals don't -stop-, constantly talking about how my hips look good, like, what? This outfit sucks, this does -nothing- for my hips, it is -negative flattering-, but these dweebs just don't get it!"

She growls and does a mixture of skating and stomping towards the pickup window, snagging up a notepad, shoving a pencil behind one ear, and then sliding four more into the breast pocket of her uniform, "You know how many good customers I've met here? One. ONE! And she was kinda weird. But cool. If you see a lady in a beat up orange Honda, make sure you treat her right. She's cool."

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, "Nahhh, I'm pretty bullet proof, the government subsidizes my wage 'cause of the parole program so like, as long as I don't actually kill anyone, or start taking hits of juice off the neon sign I can probably skate on it."

And then she's rolling off to the first car in line, thumping her arms atop the roof, leaning in the window with that classic, friendly greeting, "Yeah, I -did- take five minutes to take your order, so you oughta know what it is! Whattaya want?".

Leslie's so goddamn good at this.

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy can already tell he likes Leslie. It's not her aforementioned milkshake either. She's entertaining. She's a spark of electricity to a very dull situation, and if Tommy suffers from anything, its perpetual boredom. Leslie just made the workplace unpredictable, and for Tommy, that's a breathe of life or an AED to the chest.

He looks ridiculous too. His white hair with the orange polo makes him look like a leaky cream sickle, add in the green of his eyes, and he's a walking Irish flag. He gasps in mock surprise, "You actually got a GOOD one? Now I'm super jealous."

He tilts his head and frowns, "Whoa, you on parole too?" He looks her up and down. "We need to exchange stories sometime."

Turning around, he skates over to the window and picks up two trays, effortlessly scooting his away between an SUV and pickup truck. A tray is attached to the window of the SUV and some cash exchanged. He zips around to the other side of the pickup truck and repeats the procedure. The stereotypical redneck behind the wheel spits into a cup and then mutters, "About time you little shit."

Scratching a beard, he gives Tommy a squinting look, noting his hair color. "You some kind a punk, or one of those damn muties, huh? Better not be a mutie. I don't want no devil touched bastard anywhere near my food."

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie handles a few orders with... okay, like, semi-professionalism. She doesn't kick anyone's car or anything.

It's just that she's skating back when that redneck pipes up and her eyes narrow. They might actually spark.

But she used a lot of juice -already- breaking her parole once with the scooter. Draining some here and zapping the guy seems like a step too far.

So she improvises and skates up to the window, leaning in with the brightest, winningest smile. Slender arms -squeeze- against what her momma (or maybe the electric mishap) gave her, "Ohhh! Are you afraid of mutants?"

It's sugary sweet, her bright blue eyes widening, that utterally unnaturally pale skin practically glowing, "Do we -scaaaaare- you? I mean, our powers are -spooky-!!"

She reaches out and -boops- him right on the nose, "I mean, that one guy with the eye beams? And the weather lady? All I got was this boring little thing. I make guys' wives cheat on them with a touch! ...OH NO! I FORGOT MY GLOVES!! DUDE! YOU GOTTA GET TO A HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW!!!"

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy's gaze narrows into a look that can kill as the redneck speaks his peace. He's about ready to break the guy's nose when Leslie comes to the rescue.

He's little shocked to have backup for once. In truth, he can't remember anyone who truly had his back for anything. Grinning, he looks at the redneck and gasps when Leslie touches his nose and makes her power declaration. "Oh shit dude! Better run before you dick explodes out of your pants."

The bearded man leans back and offers an incoherent jumble of swear words and what he thinks are biblical quotes. He flings the tray off his window and then slams the truck into reverse. Speeding out of the parking lot he screams, "GO TO HELL YOU GOD DAMN MUTANTS."

One might expect that Leslie would be wearing a milkshake, burger and fries, but oddly enough, some force seems to have picked them from the sky and neatly placed that back on the tray. In fact, Tommy is slurping milkshake through the straw and bats his eye lashes at Leslie once the commotion is done with. "My heroine."

He offers a fry.

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie shakes her head slowly and sighs, "Oh my god, that guy's totally prejudiced. I got my powers from, like, -5G-, not mutantness. What a dork."

She snags that fry up as the spoils of a job well done, truly justice is the sweetest sauce.

"Heh. Dick explode. Good one."

There's a long pause and Leslie's shoulders shrug, "I mean, they're electricity. My powers. I can't actually make a guy's wife cheat on him in one touch. Well, okay, that guy? Totally. But like, not because of ~powers~, I'm just that good."

She nods solemnly. Yep, that's totally factual, it is not in fact her boasting to fill the silence or anything.

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy watches her then nods as she mentions her potential origin. He gives her a 'huh'. "And hear I thought all this 5G stuff was like... crazy people in Britain swearing it was killing their grand parents."

Tommy raises a white eyebrow over a green eyes then chuckles, shrugging. "Good one? I guess so."

There's a pleasant laugh as she clarifies her powers. "Oh right. Electricity.. the scooter. It's all coming together now."

Shaking his head and offering another laugh, he hands her all the fries while he slurps on the milkshake some more, because he's not passing up on chance for more calories. In truth, the diner had reduced margins since he joined. He was swiping food every chance he could. He offers her the shake, "Hold this for a few seconds."

There's a gust of air that ruffles her bad 50's dress. His paper hat floats around in the air, Tommy seeming to have disappeared. A couple of seconds later, there's a very loud crash from further down the road. Another couple of seconds pass, Tommy's back to catch his hat before it touches the dirty parking lot. He's holding a tire iron in his other hand. Looking at it, he makes a little 'oops' sound then tosses it up on the roof of the diner.

"Just that good, huh? Guess you weren't in the system very long. I didn't exactly find a lot of time to practice my social skills." He snatches a few fries and munches.

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie steals a sip of the milkshake while she's holding it, because Leslie is a criminal.

Also because she's thirsty, but really it's for the sake of the crime. Totally.

She shrugs listlessly and grins, "Benefit of Metropolis's lenient social work system and like, pretty good lawyers. Plus it's... tricky. I mean, I'm not that bad, unless I get all juiced up on a -lot- of electricity. Then..."

Her face screws up a little and she sighs, "Yeah, things can get a little dicey. But hey! It's been like, -months- since I did a thing."

Her eyes narrow as she offers the shake back, "Oh my god, it is -cheating- to talk about being on time when you're all zippy like that! That's unfair! I mean, that'd be like if I got here on time by riding on the power lines! 'cause i could and I'd... totally... get here... faaaaaaaaaast."

Her voice slows to a crawl as those little hamster wheels in her head spin up to speed. "...Son of a fuck."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy frowns, "I need to relocate to Metropolis then... Here, you accidently blow up one small classroom as a little kid, and you end up in a super max juvie facility being turned into a porcupine with weird needles and shit."

He doesn't seem to care that his straw has been used by someone else as he drinks down more of the shake. He covers his mouth as he laughs with a mouthful then swallows, "Yea, I guess it's kind of a dick move, but I still had to deal with more people because of you." It'd be even more cheaty if he revealed a mutant had teleported him behind the diner. He had literally brushed his teeth, combed his hair, put on his uniform, and then was at work.

"Been months since you did something, or months since you got caught? Cause like... I think it's been 10 seconds now since I last did something." He makes devil horns with a pair of fries.

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie's eyes roll, "I mean, hey, trespassing is like -barely- a crime, but I haven't tried to knock over a bank, or like... busted into a museum to steal some sort of cosmic shoes. Okay, that only happened once but like, that makes sense right? How many cosmic shoes can there be? And I haven't seen Knockout since then, so like, maybe she got them in the end and the universe is better for it?"

She rolls her eyes and grins impishly, "Pfff, oh whatever, I'll totally make it up to you that you had to like, deal with people and stuff. I mean, I had to work a double a couple weeks ago! That's the -real- crime!"

She points at him dramatically with split fingers, "We'll like, hang out. I'll take you clubbing, or you can take me or something. Whatever. We'll do a -thing-."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy squints as he listens. He presses his lips together in the classic 'impressed' facial expression. "Now that's something I haven't done. Though if you ask me, the 'normies' ask for it... like daily." He thumbs in the direction of the pickup truck had left in. It was consequently wrapped around a telephone pole. Lazy guy hadn't checked the bolts on a tire. It had just... popped off. What a freak accident.

"I accept. I haven't done the club thing before. Kind of scares me shitless. Been looking for someone to show me the ropes." He shrugs, "Or whatever thing. I mean... if you like messing with bigots, I'm down for a little mischief every now then."

"I'm Tommy by the way." He eats his french fry horns and then rubs the grease off on his uniform before offering a hand to shake. "Guess we need to finish the shift, huh?"

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie bobs her head and grins, joining in that handshake, she doesn't seem put off about the jackhole who crashed, he's probably fine. Or fine enough. Whatever, dude was a jerk.

"Really? You've never gone clubbing at -all-? Oh man, we are going to get your world -rocked-."

She sighs and shakes her head, "Stupid job, you should have like, a quota of customers you gotta deal with and then you just get to leave. Eight hours of this is too much, man. Leslie, by the way. Uhh... Livewire online. I'm a pretty big deal."

Tommy Shepherd has posed:
Tommy shrugs with a sheepish grin, "That's sound awesome. I'm trying to make up for lost time. Sounds like I found just the purpose to help speed up that process."

His brow knits together as she gives her alias, "Livewire, huh? I bet you are a big deal. You've got the style and attitude thing down. Sorry that I haven't heard of ya, because I've pretty much been living under a rock until a few months ago."

Groaning, he agrees with her. "It's days like this make me want to knock over a bank, but I'm kinda paranoid about going back to prison. So beyond making 'little accidents', gotta make scratch like everyone else."

He looks down the road for a second, "Maybe I should have lifted his wallet too while I was at it... Oh well."

Leslie Willis has posed:
Leslie snickers and shakes her head, "Hey, just bat your eyelashes at the housewives for the rest of the shift! I dunno, tell 'em you have a big game coming up or your soccer team's raising money for the wildlife, they'll tip like whoa."

She shakes her head and snickers, "And it's cool, you can totally Google me later. You've got a computer right? Or a phone or something?"

She sighs and shakes her head, "This -totally- counts as our lunch break I bet. Well, let's get it done before the cops throw us back in the slammer, or like, ship us off to one of those crazy -actual- super prisons."