2020.10.27:Food Court Catastrophe

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

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In Scene: Pepper, Taika, & Jaycob

Scene Summary: A few spoiled eggs spoil breakfast at the Dead Mall Food Court as kinfolk begin throwing up en masse. Pepper, Taika, & Jaycob do their best to clean up and find out what happened.

Dead Mall - Food Court

       The center of this large and airy space at the heart of the mall once had a sunken dining area for throngs of shoppers to enjoy cheap mall food, but its floor has caved into the flooded basement and it's become filled with water, dotted at seeming random by nearly submerged plant boxes that burst with wild and unkempt greenery. Decorative trees around the edge of this small lake have grown tall and thick since they were left to die at the mall's closing decades ago, roots breaking through their planters to spread their roots across the floor, between the tiles and down the steps into the water. Dappled sunlight from huge broken skylights two floors above, soft bird song from crows and pigeons and the occasional splash of koi or turtles give the place a tranquil atmosphere. Hammocks and small seating spaces set up around the lake's edge for the comfortable enjoyment of the urban wild are made more peaceful by glass moon phases hanging from the trees, the enchanted items bathing the mall in a feeling of calm.
       Around this unnatural lake is a wide walkway of tan and taupe tile made for heavy foot traffic, circleing around under the tree branches and giving access to a ring of abandoned restaurants. All but a few have been completely stripped and cleaned out for use as storage and pantries or, in the case of a sunlit Chik-fil-A, straw floored and wired wrapped to house chickens for fresh eggs.
       A few restaurants has been completely refitted and connected, and even somehow has electricity to power lights, refrigeration units, and even a brightly lit sign reading 'Random Food' in mismatched letters stolen from other shops. Always with someone present and able to cook for the residents at all hours, it's a lazy little restaurant with tables and chairs set on the walkway in front of it bistro style, with strings of christmas lights hanging above and little table lanterns providing comfortable illumination. There is no menu, the food really is random depending on what sort of things are in stock.

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It's early morning in the Dead Mall food court. All of the fast food booths save for one are closed, as they have been for twenty-odd years, though that doesn't make the court any less busy. Kinfolk move throughout the area as they start their busy days. Families gather at the various tables where children feed on cereal and toast while their parents nurse steaming cups of coffee. The lone booth, what once was a mall-chain pizza place, serves standard breakfast fare to the community.

Among the crowd sitting at a table by herself is a young woman with wiry blond hair who is absolutely engulfed within an oversized fur coat. The fur coat is old, matted, and very obviously fake. Pepper sips from a bottle of water and picks at a plate of sausages all while ignoring the funny faces being sent her way by the children one table over.

The door to the food court opens and in walks an older woman with what looks to be a real bruiser of a young man. Or at least he would look like he comes from a gang if he wasn't smiling and opening the door for the older woman. For those who have been around, the older woman, Mary, is a matriarch of Bergin's Scrapyard and her Boyz that run it. They are all Get kinfolk. The man is Taika. In Taika's arms are reusable grocery bags full of tupperware containers from the looks of it. The two of them walk to the open booth, exchange a few words with the person behind the counter, and after a moment, someone comes out to retrieve the food donation. Mary excuses herself to go speak with someone she recognizes though, leaving Taika to fend for himself. One of the children that was pestering Pepper notes Taika and begins making faces his way too. Taika opens his eyes wide, gapes his mouth, and sticks out his tongue in the tradition of his people, the Maori of New Zealand, which makes the kid laugh. Yup, a real tough guy this one - although his ta moko or face tattoos, and his general muscular size, do make him look like someone you wouldn't want to meet at the end of a dead end ally in the middle of the night.

Pepper seems to finally reach the end of her wits and she flashes a scowl at the children who one and all don't notice because they are all giggling at Taika now. The blonde waif follows their gaze to the Maori by the 'not-pizza' booth and her pale brows furrow. A final sausage is snagged from the plate in front of her and that water of bottle is snatched up in her other hand as she rises to her feet. "Hey. You. You encourage them. Silly pup faces. No good." Her pronunciation is fine but her cadence if speech is clumsy. More singular words or short phrases rather than whole, complete thoughts and sentences. Quick footsteps bring Pepper toward Taika and a moody little scowl is cast toward one of the kin manning the pizza booth before the blonde focuses her grey-blue eyes on the Maori again. "Pepper. Me." She says while slapping the chest of her faux fur coat with that plastic water bottle. When she next speaks, her words flow far easier. These words are very well rehearsed, "I am 'Seeks-the-Balance', so named by 'Steals-from-Thieves' of the land of Monterray. Lupus born Philodox and Cliath of the Bone Gnawer Tribe." There is the briefest of pauses before her voice drops to a low, lazy mumble, "Pleasedtomeetyou."

The Maori sways his gaze in Pepper's direction when she calls out to him. "No good? Nah, yeah, no worries." His voice is thick with a Kiwi accent. "Let them have their joy in the stupid little things. Instead of getting upset with them, feed from their joy. Let it give you a reason to keep going." He shrugs though and leaves it at that. "Kia Ora mate. I am Taika Ngata, Cliath Skald of the Get of Fenris, born to woman, rited Calls--Forth-The-Wyrm. Sweet as to meet you too." Now that the formalities are over, the Galliard whistles and looks around, "Quite the place you have here. Mary told me there was a kinfolk crib in the city, but this is nicer than I had imagined."

"Feed from their joy." Pepper repeats the words carefully, as if testing the taste of them on her lips. "Feed from their joy." The waif squints her eyes and shakes her head. "Funny words. Funny meanings. Feed from joy of shipping! See?!" Skinny arms are out stretched and the young woman spins around so the Maori can get a good look at her thrift-store outfit.

Once that is done, Pepper follows Taika's gaze around the large food court. "They make den for kin. Protection. Work." Her hand finds the chest of her coat again as she indicates herself. "I help. I PROTECT them." Her hand stays there, fingers brushing the matted fur. "You bring food." A pause and then she's talking in someone else's voice, "'Always say thank you to those who offer help, Pepper!'"

Taika listens to her repeat the words and stays quiet. Once she has figured it out and added her own bit about shopping, he smiles brightly, "There you go. You got it." With her spin, he chuckles, "Very nice coat. I will have to show you my fur topuni. It is sort of like shoulder pads, but more traditional. I usually only wear it when I am not in the city." His fur is real though. As Pepper explains what she does here, he nods, "Any way I can help? Other than bringing a plate? I can craft out of wood, can tell stories, and generally sort out the enemy." When she starts talking in someone else's voice, he raises one eyebrow and asks, "You right Pepper?"

"I'm right Pepper." is the blonde's quick reply, accompanied by a confident nod of her head. Grey-blue eyes hone in on Taika again and Pepper's expression remains blank as she studies the large man. "Help in any way. Some need work. Busy is good. Less trouble. Less fear." Something seems to gnaw on her brain for a moment. "Craft out of wood. Boats? Bow and arrows? Bookshelves? Not metal? Not cinder blocks?" As she settles in to listen for his reply, Pepper's gaze wanders toward the man's tattoos.

Taika lets the separate voice go for now. It isn't the time or place to be asking her about that yet. As she studies him, he studies her back. He is not one to look away. "I am happy to share what I know and keep the little ones busy and out of trouble - or at least out of dangerous trouble." He laughs at himself with that. "While managing fear is healthy, I agree that the little ones have enough fear." As Pepper asks him about boats, he nods, "Mainly boats and statues, but I could probably figure out bows, arrows, bookshelves, tools. No metal though. If you want metal, you will have to ask Bergin." He furrows his brow when she asks about cinder blocks, "Blocks for fire? Just out of wood then sure?" It is at about this time that one of the kids walks up to Pepper and pulls on her coat. It is a younger girl and she isn't looking too good as her face is turning whiteish-green...a tell tale sign that she is about to throw up.

Taika lets the separate voice go for now. It isn't the time or place to be asking her about that yet. As she studies him, he studies her back. He is not one to look away. "I am happy to share what I know and keep the little ones busy and out of trouble - or at least out of dangerous trouble." He laughs at himself with that. "While managing fear is healthy, I agree that the little ones have enough fear." As Pepper asks him about boats, he nods, "Mainly boats and statues, but I could probably figure out bows, arrows, bookshelves, tools. No metal though. If you want metal, you will have to ask Bergin." He furrows his brow when she asks about cinder blocks, "Blocks for fire? Just out of wood then sure?" It is at about this time that one of the kids walks up to Pepper and pulls on her coat. It is a younger girl and she isn't looking too good as her face is turning whiteish-green...a tell tale sign that she is about to throw up.

Pepper's head bobs up and down repeatedly as she listens to Taika's reply. The gesture is almost dismissive though her grey-blue gaze remains fixed on him, fully attentive until the little girl tugs on her coat. The blonde glances down at the little girl and shakes her head slowly. "Nono, pupper." There's a maternal element to the young woman's interaction with the girl. "Here now..." She places her hands on the child's shoulders and gently turns her ninety-degrees, so the little girl is properly 'aimed' at open flooring. "...let it out. Ate too fast. Too many eggs in your basket, yes?"

The girl is turned easily enough, and with good timing, because she spews chunks of eggs on the floor. Taika frowns and looks over to the not-pizza booth, "A little help here please? Do you have towels, a bucket, and some water to put in the bucket?" Sure enough, someone comes out in a few with what is requested, almost as if they were already on it when the saw the little girl's green face. Taika takes the bowl and paper towels and moves to start cleaning. Before he does that though, he dips some of the paper towel into the water and outstretches his hand to give it to Pepper, "For the girl...for her face and neck." The little girl meanwhile looks up at Pepper, tears in her eyes, but not crying. Can't show weakness out here.

The lupus born blonde gives the little girl a hearty clap between the shoulders that doesn't help as much as she might think it does. "There, there. Come up!" Pepper slips one arm around the girl's body, below the waist, and lets grunts audibly as she hefts the girl up. She holds the child against her side, almost burying her within the fur of her coat, and takes the napkin with her free hand. Grey-blue eyes alternate between the girl's face and the Maori 'custodian'. "See? You make big tough man kneel. Strong, pup!" The napkin is put to use with the type of overly aggressive wipes appropriate for someone's elderly and overly attached aunt. Pepper drops her voice to a whisper that is just as easy to hear in the loud food court. "No more fruit loops. Ladies eat toast and sausage!"

The lupus born blonde gives the little girl a hearty clap between the shoulders that doesn't help as much as she might think it does. "There, there. Come up!" Pepper slips one arm around the girl's body, below the waist, and lets grunts audibly as she hefts the girl up. She holds the child against her side, almost burying her within the fur of her coat, and takes the napkin with her free hand. Grey-blue eyes alternate between the girl's face and the Maori 'custodian'. "See? You make big tough man kneel. Strong, pup!" The napkin is put to use with the type of overly aggressive wipes appropriate for someone's elderly and overly attached aunt. Pepper drops her voice to a whisper that is just as easy to hear in the loud food court. "No more fruit loops. Ladies eat toast and sausage!"

Taika doesn't worry about the girl. If she heaves again, then she heaves again. Pepper seems to have her under control, rough, but what would you expect from a lupus born. At least she isn't biting her neck to hold her. The comment about kneeling makes Taika grin, "If you wanted me on my knees so you could play horse, all you had to do was ask, not throw up to get my attention." He chuckles and goes about cleaning the mess. It is clean in a matter of minutes with the help of a kinfolk exchanging the soiled water for fresh every now and then. It also helped to have garbage bag brought out for the paper towels. Taika stands and he looks to Pepper and the girl, "Everyone alright now?" And then holy hell breaks open as all of the kids who were at the table start to vomit. Then some of the other kinfolk around the food court start to rush out towards the bathroom or garbage cans.

The chorus of wretches and other sickly sounds draws a wide stare from Pepper. The blonde wrinkles her nose and watches as the kinfolk fall into action. "Who cook? Food okay?" The Bone Gnawer moves to stand beside Taika, the girl held against her side between the two. "What is this?"

Taika grows serious as the sickness starts to spread. He stands too and lets out a sigh. "So much for an easy day eh? Easy days aren't interesting anyway, so bugger all to them." Looking back to the counter, he waves his hand, "Ladies first. Let's go ask the cook."

The little girl rests her cheek against the furry shoulder of Pepper's coat. Pepper doesn't immediately reply to Taika. Instead, the blonde stalks passed him and toward the counter, girl bouncing lightly against her hip with each step. "You! Mop head! Yes, you!" 'Mop head' is one of the older teen kinfolk often found working various service or cleaning jobs among the mall's community. That is probably not his real name. That doesn't stop Pepper. "Check date on eggs? Acacia says! CHECK DATE."

The eggs are still within their 'Best if Used by' date. Mop head tells her as much. With the sound of belching growing louder behind them, the kitchen staff start to scamper out from the back of the not-pizza booth. One of the older kinfolk walks over to Mop head and asks, "What in the name of Gaia is going on out here?" The smell hits him and he wrinkles his nose. He grunts and looks at Pepper, "What'd you do to them?"

Jaycob wanders in from the mall commons.

It is morning in the food court. People were eating breakfast when Taika came to drop off more food to the not-pizza booth that is open and feeding the general masses of the Nation in the Dead Mall's food court. Taika and Pepper were exchanging pleasantries when a little girl, now plastered to Pepper's hip, started throwing up. Then many others started throwing up and Pepper and Taika have just started their investigation as to what is going on.

The eggs are still within their 'Best if Used by' date. Mop head tells her as much. With the sound of belching growing louder behind them, the kitchen staff start to scamper out from the back of the not-pizza booth. One of the older kinfolk walks over to Mop head and asks, "What in the name of Gaia is going on out here?" The smell hits him and he wrinkles his nose. He grunts and looks at Pepper, "What'd you do to them?"

When Jaycob arrives, with a courier bag dangling from one shoulder, and lingering near one hip, his lips are curled into a pleasant smile, that just by nature of his facial structure, almost seems pouty. His expression is bright and cheerful... Until he bears witness to the 'scene' in the Dead Mall, one hand coming up to cover his nose and gag softly at the smell. "Woo!" He murmurs with his nose wrinkling up unpleasantly.

Pepper offers the blankest of blank Pepper-stares to the older kinfolk. "What did I do?!" The blonde idly bounces the young child against her hip. Probably not a good idea considering that the little thing just threw up but...

Pepper glances toward Taika, eyes narrowing in confusion, then back. "Sick. All of them. Why?" Jaycob's arrival is not noticed by the Lupus though the little girl on her hip glances up at that 'Woo!'.

Realizing the situation is a bit larger than he originally thought, the older line cook grunts and says, "I hope you aren't blaming my cooking! Must be something else going on." Taika takes a deep breath and looks over to Jaycob's woo as he walks in. Something about that woo draws Taika to wave at Jaycob, "Hey, can you come over here and help us out before someone Rages and makes things worst." His eyes dart to the side twice to note Pepper. The line cook takes the egg container and throws it hard onto the counter, "The eggs are fresh, see." Only, when the eggs land, they crack, and when they crack, there is a certain putrid smell that comes out of them. "What the hell," the line cook intones. "Those weren't...that's not how...they were fresh, I swear." Mostly, Jaycob is trying to keep his own composure, the smell of vomit clearly getting to him as he holds his nose and face. Though when Taika speaks to him, his expression changes into a more serious one and he steels himself against the scent, dashing off to find the nearest mop and bucket, filling it with soap and hot water. "I don't think anyone is blaming anyone just yet." He assures the line cook, and he steals a glance towards Pepper, and then back at the line cook again. "Help us clean it up, maybe?"

The little girl flinches against Pepper's shoulder when the egg carton is thrown onto the counter. Pepper, in the meanwhile, turns that blank stare into a not-so-blank glare. "I am blaming!" She grunts between bared teeth. "Stupid, stupid man!" To Taika, the blonde grunts again, "He think evil egg spirit spoil food? Pepper would know!"

Pepper's attention bounces right back to the line cook who can't help but flinch at her next command. "Ginger-ale, now. GO!"

Taika sighs, "If it wasn't bad enough that we had to smell everything out there, we now have to deal with the smell of those eggs." To Pepper's nose, the smell is not of the Wyrm, but it is still hard to take. The buckets are brought back out, as are mops and a case of ginger ale to help everyone's stomach settle. A mop is held out for Jaycob and Taika to take. Pepper is offered a mop and then the Mop head thinks better of it and goes to start mopping. Looking at Pepper, Taika asks, "So, eh, what now?" He tried, at least. Jaycob presses the hot water into the mess with the mop, working away the smell to spite clearly gagging against the smell of it. So, as he works, he shifts and presses his nose and mouth into his shoulder in an awkward display as he works on cleaning up the mess nearer to Pepper. There is a rueful glance he casts towards the line cook too, but otherwise he is focused on cleaning the mess.

'Mop Head' earns himself a dumbfounded expression from Pepper before he moves off to start mopping. Pepper handles the stench of vomit and spoiled eggs like a professional. Months of dumpster diving and living off of the edge of society works wonders on one's sensory fortitude. Unfortunately, her little companion doesn't share in that particular strength...

Pepper quickly holds the little girl out to Taika when the poor thing starts dry-heaving. "Take." The blonde commands softly at first before going loud. "TAKE!" Jaycob draws a glance as the Bone Gnawer works to offload her little friend and he receives a dull, "hi." before Pepper's chest is promptly vomited upon.

Taika doesn't quite hear Pepper at first, but when she says 'Take' louder, he jumps and moves to take her, but it isn't quick enough. He frowns and takes the girl over to a garbage where a few other kinfolk still linger. He stays with her and gently rubs her back as she heaves more. "Let's get them outside and into some fresh air maybe? That way we can finish the cleanup. And eh, can get you a new coat?" Taika looks back to Jaycob, "Woo boy, think you can go check to see if any more eggs in the back are rancid?"

As soon as the little girl in Pepper's grasp begins dry-heaving, Jaycob is backing up. A lot. He was previously cleaning up the mess nearer to her, and then suddenly decided that... Oh, look. That mess over there is bigger, and needs to be cleaned up. Though as Peppper provides him with her dull 'hi', he grants her a faint smile, and returns to begin cleaning up the new mess, for what might be on the floor. "Uh, hey." He offers, and then bobs his head back at Taika, handing off the mop to another kinfolk as he moves to collect the spoiled eggs, tossing them into a garbage can and making his way back to where the food is kept.

Pepper hands over the little one to Taika and watches as the Maori leads her over to that trash barrel. With the child in good hands, Pepper's attention slowly moves down to the chest of her fur coat. "Ick." Off goes the ridiculously oversized garment, leaving the garou with a black t-shirt with the faded logo of a 90s era band that existed well before the she was even born. "Byebye, old friend." Pepper mutters aloud, mostly to herself, as she dumps the garment into a trash barrel. 'Mop head' receives quite the glare before the blonde woman moves off to help clean. "Weak Belly!" She calls toward Jaycob, lips shifting into one could possibly be a smile if it didn't include a snarl-like nose wrinkle. Pepper waves toward Taika and the little girl before pointing toward Jaycob, "WEAK BELLY!", incase they didn't hear.

Taika just sits there, patting the girl's back until she is done vomiting. As she seems to get everything under control, Taika scoops her up and starts ushering the others who were sick outside. The doors are opened and a cool breeze starts wafting in to replace the petrid air. Pepper's taunting of Weak Belly does bring a grin to Taika's face though, but he tries to stiffle it - really - he does his best. The older line cook kinfolk brings Jaycob into the back of the not-pizza booth and shows him the stack of eggs. "I grabbed the stack from here. I swear I didn't notice they were bad. What should we do?" He looks to Jaycob for guidance and stares out through the little window with a facial expression that says he is just hoping Pepper doesn't join them in the back. Meanwhile, the non-pukey-pukey kinfolk are doing their best to resemble a hazmat crew and clean the area. One of them reports over to Pepper, "We should have this cleaned up in another minute or two. We should probably burn this stuff, but where can we do it without causing more noxious fumes?" Of course, Jaycob heard her the first time, though he pretends not to as he works on dumping out any old eggs, or... Really just any out of date food he finds, just to be sure this kind of mess doesn't happen again any time soon. Though for the second time she calls out to him, he peeks over his shoulder towards Pepper, pausing for a moment as though to consider how to answer to her claim.

Rather than answering though, as he arrives more into the back with the line cook, he smiles softly, assuringly towards the other kinfolk. "Double check everything. Toss it out." He informs the other in a soothing voice. "Then clean we both head back out there, clean everything up. Everything is fine. Everything will be fine."

Pepper blink-blinks at the kinfolk that approached her and offers him her blank little stare. "Parking lot. Back. By whatcha-ma-callit. Loading dock. Use burn barrels from winter time." Her fingertips idly brush over the fabric of her t-shirt as she turns her gaze over the group of cleaning kinfolk.

After a moment, Pepper joins Jaycob and her favorite kinfolk line-cook, though she merely leans over the counter rather than entering the food booth directly. "Hunky Get brought fresh food. Don't throw that away." To the line-cook, Pepper mumbles, "Acacia's gonna get yoooou."

The older line cooks sighs and looks at the food that will likely need to be tossed, "Everything? Fine. Everything it is." He starts to toss the crates of eggs onto dolly to bring them outside and throw them out. "Someone needs to check with the farm that sent us these though. I swear they were good when we were cooking them." Every few he takes and starts cracking open, and to his relief, most are good. It's just that one or two here and there are in fact rotten...and just one spoiles the whole bunch. When Pepper comes in and says Acacia will get him, he shakes his head, "It's not me, see, most of them are good. We must have just been moving too fast and didn't notice the few bad ones. How could we have known?" Yup, someone's getting in trouble. Still, there aren't that many that seem to be bad as he does his spot checks, so something is up. After a bit, he says, "I don't know that we need to check any more, but let's toss the rest out just to be sure. Only seemed like a dozen or so mixed in randomly." "Am I Hunky, in this instance?" Jaycob asks with an amused curl of his lips as he peeks towards Pepper, searching carefully through all of the food in the back to double check, and then triple check for anything out of date. Thankfully, all he ends up tossing out seem to be those few bad eggs. Though with the line cook, he nods softly and then, satisfied with his work, he straightens back up. "You got this. Just stay extra vigiliant. You're feeding people, after all." He informs the other man, though his tone is still intentionally soothing for him. He does turns back to Pepper though, placing his hands on the counter she leans against, on the opposite side of it so he is facing her rather directly. "What a fun... Adventure."

Pepper stares at the line-cook as the man explains himself and she listens quietly before offering him the slightest of nods. When Jaycob asks about the nickname, he receives a blunt, "No, Glamour Boy." Grey-blue eyes follow Jaycob and watch as the young kinfolk settles in across the counter from her. "Right. Laughs. Barrel Full. Right words?"

Without waiting for him to answer, the blonde ruins whatever little moment the two are having when she abruptly turns her back on him. She scans the wide room, glossing over the kinfolk that are finishing the last bits of cleaning, and finds Taika among the crowd. "Pup okay?" Pepper has voted for you. Pepper has voted for you.

The older line cook continues to panick in the back room as Jaycob and Pepper have their moment. Taika meanwhile has a mop in hand and is swishing it back and forth on the floor. As he makes eye contact with Pepper, the large Maori nods, "Nah, yeah, the girl is fine. Her brother came and grabbed her. As soon as she got some fresh air, she started getting better." He scratches at the back of his head and then looks back over to Woo boy, "Taika Ngata, Cliath Skald of the Get of Fenris, born to woman, rited Calls-Forth-The-Wyrm. Hey, churbro for helping." Darn Kiwi and their slang. He's saying thanks.

Whatever moment it may be, Jaycob's lips are mostly curled with amusement at the new name he receives, though he doesn't have much to say on that. Instead, as she turns her back to him, he chuckles softly and leans forward onto the counter, over it abit as he peeks over towards the rest of the situation. With the introduction he receives from Taika, he bobs his head back at the other man. "Jaycob, Black Fury kin." He informs softly, and then smiles and nods at the thanks. "No problem."

Pepper glances over her shoulder at Jaycob when Taika offers his introduction and she remains silent as she closes her distance to the latter. "Thankyouforyourhelp." She offers in a quick, low mumble. Taika's muscular arm gets a light pat before the wiry blonde hooks a thumb back toward Jaycob in the pizza booth. "Watch Weak Belly. He make kin girls faint."

With that said, the lupus-born Bone Gnawer brushes passed Taika and slips through the open doors, out into the parking lot outside.

FTB.