A Half Pint and A Quarter Pounder (Shouhei)

The wind rushed past Tamsin, taking the night with it. When she'd ridden the bike with Shouhei the other day, she'd done her best to hide how much she enjoyed it. It was poor form to let someone you've just met know they have something you want after all.

But riding at night turned out to be so much better. The way they cut through the darkness like a knife, lights from street lights, stop lights, other vehicles, all blew past, as if they were travelling at light speed in some science fiction movie. The speed and recklessness of it, especially after having come from such a one-sided victory, made her feel equal parts alive and invincible. She wanted to sit up and spread her arms out wide, but she would probably catch the wind and fly off the back of the bike if she did that.

So instead she leaned forward against Shouhei, hands gripping tightly to his belt to keep herself from falling. He could probably hear or feel her moving around, craning her neck to look at things as they whizzed by. So distracted was she by the dashing lights that she hadn't even realized they were pulling into a parkinglot. It was a *bar* parkinglot, she realized, but at this hour, it was hard to find decent food places open that weren't. She supposed he must have thought it was a good idea to stop for a bite, which it was, because her stomach had been rumbling for hours.

Hoping off the bike when he'd parked, she took his helmet off and hung it on his handle bar as if she'd done it a dozen times. "...Hungry?" She asked, half curious, half out of simple observation. Crap. She didn't have any money. As usual. Well, she wasn't about to ask for anything. That was fine.

“...You got it.  There was this tradition me and my old buddies used to have, where if we won a big… game, we’d go and grab somethin’ to eat afterwards.  All that work puts up an appetite, yeah?” Shouhei walked Tamsin up to a worn and beaten down brick building with a neon sign that flashed “Keep M Come Inn,” with the “e” on “Come” burnt out.  The pair passed a throng of smokers outside, with a healthy range of leather jacket bikers, college students, and tattooed punks drunkenly and raucously shooting the breeze.

“Lovely clientele here too.  Even better burgers and deals on drinks… I mean, I ain’t drinkin’ and drivin’.  So don’t worry about that.  And don’t let the place uhh… turn ya off, the food is really worth it.”

Tammy stopped outside an looked up at the sign, sliding her cap back onto her head from where it had been tucked in the waistband of her jeans. She wasn't sure she liked the way he'd paused before saying a big game. She wasn't sure what kind of game he could possibly mean. And there was meaning to it outside of the word itself. It wasn't like she couldn't tell when an adult was trying to hide something she wasn't supposed to know about.

Eh. She'd call him on it later, for right now, it was time to brave this place without looking like she was hungry. As they passed through the throng of bikers and loiterers, one of them looked at Tamsin with a look of surprise...until she shot him an icy look that said "eat shit and die, motherfucker." At which point, he shrugged bemusedly and said something off-handed to his buddy that was unrelated.

The interior of the bar was familiar to Tamsin for some reason, a few of the staff members seemed to ring a bell. "I think Isaac brought me here once or twice. It probably has good pizza. Isaac loves pizza. It's basically his favorite thing." She remarked as she followed, hands in her pockets, unabashed by whatever sleezy or intimidating people might crop up in their path.

“...Ah, you’ve been here before?  Good, then you should be prepared for the inside,” Shouhei noted with a tiny smile of reassurance on his face.  As usual the bar was nearly packed; while Shouhei looked for an empty table he would occasionally turn his head back to check on Tamsin, who seemed unperturbed by the rowdy locals.  Loud rock music accompanied the standard fare of dozens of people talking and shouting over one another, and the sights and smells of wonderful comfort food were passed by the myriad of tables.  Finally a small table with stools for two was found as the pair seated themselves.

“So… how long has your gig as ‘Runaway’ been, Tamsin?  You’re still pretty young, but you look like you’ve been doin’ this for a while,” Shouhei usually didn’t try to beat around the bush in conversation and preferred things to be blunt and straight to the point.

Tamsin eyes the musicians a little as she followed Shouhei. He seemed to be finding his way around the place fairly easily, so she didn't need to really mind where he was going much, so long as she didn't step in something or someone along the way. As they seated themselves - Tamsin hopping rather adeptly into the stool which was made for someone with longer legs than she had - She focused on him, and deliberately did her best not to look at the menu.

"Actually, it's only been a few nights." She replied, propping her chin on one hand. She still had trouble forgetting what she'd seen the other night. The sight of rotting flesh still gave ner night mares, so she did her best to stay up until she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. "It's one of those things that you either pick it up along the way or you end up along the side of the rode."

She glanced out the window at the row of bikes that caught the faint gleam of light through the window. "Ride or die, as they say."

“Shit… for real?  You sure coulda fooled me,” he nodded in return.  There was something about Tamsin’s overall disposition that he happened to like.  Almost as if she were a part of his old biker gang, especially given her choice of words.  Shouhei kept his blue eyes away from the menu simply because he knew what he was going to order.

On cue the server arrived, an attractive redhead with her hair tied back and underneath a black bandana, wearing a black t-shirt of the bar’s name and a matching apron.  Her arms were sleeves of tattoos and she sported a pair of black fishnet stockings and black sneakers.

“Shouhei!  Nice ta see you again!  Where’s the rest of your host club buddies at?  And,” she narrowed her green eyes at Tamsin for a moment, “You got a date witcha?  Ain’t she kinda young?  I coulda swore I’ve seen her here before with another guy too…”

The corner of Tamsin's mouth quirked up at the compliment. It was nice to know that she atleast gave off the illusion of being something of an accomplished fighter. It was true though, that in her short time of being a psyche terrorist she had clashed against some pretty dangerous forces. It probably had to do mostly with the company she kept. A dangerous curiosity that kept her putting on the mask each night...

The waitress coming by took Tamsin buy surprise, and she felt a hot rush of blood to her face. She wanted to turn to the woman and refute her. She hadn't even thought about the fact that she could have been perceived that way. She brought the Menu up to cover her blushing face, pretending to be very interested in whatever she found there. But she wasn't looking, she was hiding until the waitress went away. "It's nothing like that..." She murmured through the laminated menu.

Wait...host club?

“...Right, Jules, it ain’t like that,” a tinge of red crept on Shouhei’s cheeks as well.  “We met at a baseball field in East Eden… and our leagues are scheduled close to one another.  We both won a big game today and wanted to celebrate.”

“Really?  That’s a shame, you two look kinda cute together.  I couldn’t imagine she’d be the type to go to a host club anyway.  Didja know your pal Shouhei here’s a real ladykiller?  I hear he woos ‘em with that singin’ voice of his,” Juliet noticed Shouhei’s embarrassment and wanted to see how far she could push it, as evidenced by the wide grin on her face.  “I keep askin’ him to sing for me- to see if he could woo me too- but he never does, even when he’s shitfaced.  Maybe he can soften up to a cutie like you?”

“O-Oi, I toldja we’re friends, and quit bringin’ up my work.  I hear enough of that as is at the Academy.  Aren’t you s’posed to be takin’ our orders?”  Now his face was flushed a full crimson.

“Right, the usual?  House special burger, Keep M Come Inn, hot sauce on the side, with some loaded fries?  What can I get for you, miss?” Juliet scribbled furiously on her pad then offered a warm smile to Tamsin.

“It’s my treat Tamsin, order whatever you like,” Shouhei added.  “I’d recommend the house special burger personally.”

It relaxed Tamsin a little as Shouhei corroborated that they weren't on a date. He could have easily turned that into an even more mortifying experience. The part about him being a host continued to baffle her, but from the singing during his awakening, it actually made some sense. Tamsin lowered the menu enough to look at Shouhei with veiled concern, but thankfully, the conversation turned back around to food.

Having no money and being spotted again was embarrassing in a different way, but Tamsin found it was much preferable to the topic that had come before it. She sighed, hating to just outright accept his charity, but at the same time, the lady was standing there and arguing it really didn't seem like it was worth any of their time. She looked at the menu, unsure of what she should order. Her first inclination would be to order what Shouhei did, but...she had no idea what most of that jargon was. So...she fell back on something simple...even though it was a little childish. "...Can I have the Nachos?" She asked, looking at Shouhei with a slightly plaintive look.

“...Absolutely, you more’n earned it.  Ya shoulda seen her Jules,” Shouhei winked briefly at Tamsin then made a swing of his arms like he held a baseball bat, “She was knockin’ em the hell out.”

“That so?  Y’know what they say, big things come in small packages yeah?” Juliet beamed at both Shouhei and Tamsin, then said, “Oh!  In honor of your wins today, how ‘bout I get you a pint Shouhei, and the lady a small glass of champagne to celebrate.  On the house.”

“...Forreal?  You’re aces, Jules,” Shouhei preemptively slipped her a bill of cash for gratuity.

“Not to mention ya tip like a boss,” Juliet took the bill and sheepishly laughed as she headed for the kitchen.  “Keep ‘em comin, yeah?”

“...I think they pay her to say that.  It’s pretty damn catchy if ya ask me,” a smirk came from Shouhei as he turned his attention back to Tamsin.  “Also, if you’re not filled up with just the nachos alone, feel free to order some more, all right?”

Tamsin stayed quiet until the lady had left, then breathed out a sigh of relief, and dragged her hand over her face. "I can't ever talk to waitresses..." She mumbled to Shouhei, forgetting for a minute that he was basically a stranger. She couldn't help it. Something about Shouhei reminded her of Isaac...like a brother she could talk to about anything. Maybe she was just desperate for that kind of thing. She felt the same thing about Patty, though it was a bit different in her case.

"So...you work at a host club? like that...Maid in Heaven place?" She couldn't avoid a little flush coming to her face, though she was trying to sound like she'd never been there before. "You must be pretty good at talking to girls, then." She observed, absently pushing the salt shaker closer to the centerpiece on the table.

“Give it time, I used ta crumble around servers all the time too, so no worries.”  There was a long and deliberate pause once she brought up his job.  Shouhei craned his neck and scratched the back of his head as he awkwardly laughed, “...Yeah I work at one of those places.  And trust me, I ain’t as smooth as Jules let on.  The main reason why ladies see me is ‘cause they like when I sing to ‘em.  They don’t care all that much ‘bout my conversational skills.”

Tamsin shrugged, propped her chin on one hand. "It means you good at it, even if it's not the same way everyone else does it. That's not nothing." She shrugged. There was no way she'd end up doing something like that. Talking to girls always made her a little uneasy. Especially when they were pretty. She didn't really know how to handle it, so she came off as rude or uppity, or sharp.

She looked out the window, running out of things to say, but just like at the field, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. After a moment tho, she asked, without looking at Shouhei, "Are you gonna check it out? The place you read about in that pamphlet?" She'd trust he knew what she meant.

Quietly Shouhei accepted Tamsin’s compliment and could only offer a smirk in return.  He usually disliked receiving compliments, unless it came from an idol’s song or some sort of musical variant.  Thankfully Tamsin shifted the conversation to something he felt slightly more comfortable in discussing.

“...Yeah, I’m gonna at the very least scope it out.  It’s better to be in a group then go at things alone.  And what about you?  You ever go see ‘em?”

Tamsin looked back to Shouhei, not sure how best to word the response. It shouldn't sound like an invitation, because it wasn't. It wasn't like she could tell the others who should or shouldn't hang around, afterall. She was the newbie still. "When I...played my first game...The people I met up with were in a league of their own. They didn't really play with any of the big teams, just did stuff on their own you know...Considering before all of this, I wanted to play for the home team...I guess I never stopped thinking about them as the other team. If that makes any sense. But I'm interested in checking it out. We can go together if you want." She wasn't sure she'd expressed herself in their baseball code well enough. Though, if she hadn't, she could always clarify later when there weren't so many ears around.