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Unlikely Heroines [M&M3e] (NSFW) - Applebuddy's Restaurant

experimenter73

experimenter73

Super-Earth
Joined
Dec 27, 2021
Location
Maine, United States
1. Applebuddy's Restaurant

Yes, it's a blatant ripoff of Applebee's. Yes, typically, the food it serves was recently in a freezer. Yes, the staff can play a little fast and loose with health regulations. It is still a favorite hangout for Freedom College students, in part because of its substantial discount for students and in part because of its lax policy regarding the serving of alcohol.

When it isn't closed down as the result of a health inspection or underage drinking sting operation, the vaguely run-down restaurant is usually pretty busy. This evening, the place is a little slower than usual. There is an event over at Freedom City University that seems to have drawn away some of the regulars.

You are welcome to come up with whatever explanation you would like for why your character is here, and to roleplay your arrival to the restaurant (along with any other typical restaurant guests/employees that would make sense).

Applebees Map.png
 
It was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and a bit of a relic from her first few years at Freedom College where she had been able to get some less than legal alcoholic beverages. Now she was legally able to get them anywhere but a part of her still enjoyed the somewhat rundown restaurant. The steak even if it had been recently frozen was good and coated in a wonderful blend of spices that she enjoyed. Addison sat in one of the corner booths, a thick book sitting on the table next to her and propped open. Her long red hair was held back by an idle hand while the other turned the pages.

Her food would probably be there soon and she was quite looking forward to it. It was even nice that there was less of a clamor in Applebuddy's today, less people than usual which meant it was easier to focus on her book. In fact as she was turning the page to continue the adventure before her she glanced up for a moment and saw the waitress making her way over with her dinner. "Thank you." She said, smiling as the other woman set down her plate of food in front of her.

The waitress nodded and smiled back, though Addison wasn't entirely sure if it was a genuine one. She could understand that, she would have hated to work food service and was eternally grateful that her family's wealth meant she would never be consigned to such a fate. As the woman walked away she turned her gaze briefly in the direction of one of the televisions that dotted the walls in an odd assortment of places. The channel was showing another feature on the recent supervillain outbreaks and an expert was on telling everyone that it was certain the next attack would be in Washington DC. Addison shook her head. Now she had never professed to know how supervillains thought but no one would be stupid enough to try and attack the capital. Which meant she tuned out the television and turned her focus back to her book and her steak which sizzled and smelled wonderful as she began to cut into it.

Yum!
 
Elaine was sat in a booth. She'd been there awhile, a massive stack of books right alongside her. She'd already been in for a while, killing two birds with one stone as she picked at a salad while flipping through books, stopping every so often to jot something down in a notebook she had set down. All the while, she sat under a TV blasting the news report. She was only passively listening, but she seemed to be casual about the studying and eating too.

While she was a regular to Applebuddy's for it's lowered prices, this was not her first choice of venue. Her own room was top of the list, of course. However her roommate had kicked her out on the premise of 'doing group work'. Normally Elaine wouldn't mind this, but this had been the third time this week that this 'study group' had met. It was annoying, but much better than making a fuss with Claire over the room's usage.

Her second choice was to simply head off to the gymnasium to work out. This was immediately nixed when she saw there was to be an active debate between seated politicians. She actively avoided that for any shit storms that would bring upon campus. This brought the bright haired student out to ol' (halfway) reliable, Applebuddy's. She was pleasantly surprised the establishment hadn't been on the wrong side of its endless battle with the health inspectors.

As such, Elaine brought over a bunch of books, some assigned reading by her classes that she needed notes on, and some she checked out after her most recent shift at the college's library to read just for her own sake.
 
Ayla wiped the sweat from her brow, three hours into her 8 hour shift, from after school until close, she flipped the steak on the grill and seasoned the other side. Dropping fries for the order as well, she took a quick drink of water from her bottle before taking a rotisserie chicken out of a warming drawer and split it down the middle for a pair of half-chicken dinners, plating them and then passing it down the line so another cook could add the sides. "Katie, got your two chickens here! Gwen, your steak for the corner booth is a minute away. Get off your phone and get the condiment carrier ready!" The young Miss Kincade barked out. Applebuddy's was not her first choice of place to demonstrate her culinary gifts, but, they hadn't cared about her tattoos or piercings, and she'd been brought in to replace the old head cook after violations meant he'd had to be let go last year. It was in some small part to her that the place had improved juuust enough to get a passing grade, but that was where the owner was content to leave it.

The steak was pulled off and let rest on the plate. She knew that Gwen would be chatting with on her phone for long enough for the meat to rest properly, so, she didn't prod the redhead just yet. She grabbed the next couple tickets and put on a trio of burger, salting them and then starting to toast the buns. "Gwen! Your table's ready! Stop swiping right and get this meal out there!" Ayla barked. The former junkie was a few years older than most of the staff in here, given her late start into college, and so, that naturally gave her a bit of authority with the young welps. The redhead sighed and put her phone away, shooting a dirty look as she picked up the plate and condiment caddy, while Ayla returned a pleasant smile.

Her hands started to shake a bit as another craving started to hit her, but they were still filling orders from the dinner rush. She managed to flip the burgers okay, but her cheese placement was a little erratic as she domed them, and started cooking another steak. About 15 minutes later, those orders were filled, and there was a lul. She turned to Carlos, the other line cook and beckoned him to take over. "I-I need a break." She said, fighting to stay in control of her body. He nodded for her to take it, as the oven guy brought up a fresh spit of birds.

Ayla bolted to the back and grabbed her vape, taking it out back and taking a hit of her marijuana. Holding it for a moment, she then expelled the cloud into the cool night air. The first hit got her nerves more under control, and the second made her feel normal again. It was medicinal stuff, she'd be prescribed it to help wean her off the harder drugs she had been using on the street. The traces of her bad choices in life stuck with her, as every bit a part of her as her piercings and tattoos. She checked her watch and headed back in, her break over. Any more hits and she'd start to feel high. And as nice as that escape was sometimes, she realized that she wouldn't want to be handling knives like that.
 
Applebuddy's Restaurant – Free Time

In the kitchen, the dinner rush draws to its end, as it always does. From this point forward, the restaurant only offers its "Bar Menu." The flat top is reserved for burgers, and almost everything else on offer is some form of potato or cheese that goes into the fryer or under the salamander.

Jeremy, now Ayla's only companion in the kitchen, runs the Hobart dishwasher with as much skill and dexterity as the best free climber. Even so, the teetering pile of dishes stacked by busy servers stands as tall as his own personal Everest. Head down, working in a perpetual cloud of steam, he continues to push through toward the summit.

In the dining room, only a few guests remain. Elaine and Addison remain in their booths. Only one server remains on duty, a redhead standing idly by the hostess stand. She is more absorbed in her phone than in seeing to the needs of the few remaining customers. At the central bar, a man and woman bartending team tends to the regular customers there, flirting playfully to secure the best tips.

The front door to the restaurant opens and a man enters. He is tall and slender, with angular features. His bright red bow-tie stands out prominently beneath his sharp chin.

"You can seat yourself wherever you like," the redhead says without looking from her phone. "Bar menus are on the tables."

"I shall do so indeed," the man responds. "But I fear that the bar menu might not be enough to satisfy."

His words are enough to pry the server's attention away from her phone. He smiles down at her, eyes wandering down to the name tag displayed on her chest. She makes no effort to hide her annoyance.

"Gwen, I would be forever in your debt if you would prance back to the kitchen and endeavor to secure me one of your establishment's signature Definitely-Not-Bourbon-Street steaks. I have heard that the preparation is much improved of late, and I cannot take no for an answer."

"The Beale Street Sirloin is not on the bar menu. We can't-"

"Such a terrible word that: can't. Let's not have our culinary relationship begin on such poor terms. Please, be a dear and run along to make my entreaty."

With a sigh and a shrug, the redhead turns and walks back to the kitchen, disappearing through the swinging doors.

The man follows her casually for a short time, and then stops in the restaurant seating area. He pulls a coin from his pocket, then balances it on his thumb. With a ping, it flies upward when he flicks it.

The coin bounces off the ceiling with velocity, ricocheting toward one of the large windows that looks out onto the parking lot. Before striking the glass, however, it bounces off a track light and then smacks down onto Addison's table. It lands there in a spin, wobbling as it twirls on an open space.

"Well, would you look at that?" the man remarks. "It looks like I've found my table."

With a smile, he approaches where Addison is seated.

Back at the kitchen, an obviously flustered Gwen enters.

"Ayla, there's a creep out there who's demanding a Beale Street Sirloin."
 
Ayla was cleaning some of the now unused counter space when Gwen came back in and talked about the weirdo wanting a steak, the blue-haired woman sighed and turned the nobs for the grill back on. At least she hadn't started cleaning it yet. Seeing the distressed redhead, the older woman comes out from around her side to check on the server. "Are you comfortable serving him? If you are, I don't mind making it, but you'll need to tell the customer that it'll be an extra ten minutes to heat the grill back up. We don't get paid enough to fight with sketchy customers. If you're okay with it, go and let him know. If not, I'll go talk to him myself." She instructed the younger girl, making sure she was okay. While the girl was often absorbed in her phone, she didn't deserve to be preyed upon by some lecherous guy. The cook waited there to see if the server was comfortable with their new patron.
 
Elaine kept on with her books. At this point, she had finished with the school-assigned stuff she had needed to do. She shuffles all of those books off into a backpack, and then produces a different notebook for the more personal choice reading. The speed at which she reads the books would honestly make one question whether or not she is actually reading, but every so often she stops to write something, much like with her school books.

Engrossed in her own thing, she hardly notices the new arrival. Only once he and Gwen seem to get in a tizzy about some steaks does the honors student bother to look up. She doesn't keep looking for long, but determines it was weird the guy was determining his seat with a coin, seemingly. She turned back to her books with a sigh, hoping another fight doesn't break out as he tries to now force someone out of their seat.
 
Addison was used to people being pushy at times, and she had had a lot of practice over the years tuning out the chatter and background noise when she was reading. And so the exchange between the new arrival and the server had gone largely unnoticed by the redhead in the corner booth. But the abrupt clattering sound as a coin ricocheted off the cieling, a window, and then clattered down to spin around on her table certainly punched through the fog of fantasy in which her mind was buried. Bright blue eyes flicked up in surprise as she stared first at the coin oddly spinning on her table and then glanced around to notice the approach of the man towards her table.

"I'm not sure how your coin ended up on my table," Addison began, gesturing towards the spun out piece of metal that had clattered to a stop there. "But I'm not really keen on company right now." She still smiled, though it was an expression that had somewhat less of the normal cheer than normal. If this was an attempt to hit on her she wasn't interested, though she gave credit, it was certainly more creative than most ways people tried to get her attention. "There's plenty of other seats though, it's a calm night." She gestured towards the other parts of the room where most of the tables and booths had cleared out. "And John and Ellie are always conversational" She pointed towards the young man and woman tending the bar. "Much more so than me."

She leaned forward and took a sip from her water, expecting the guy to pick up his money and leave her in peace.
 
Applebuddy's Restaurant - Free time

In the kitchen, Gwen nods, wrinkling her nose a little at Ayla's offer. For someone usually a little dispassionate about anything not found on the screen of her phone, she seems genuinely rattled.

"Sorry, yeah, if you don't mind talking to him," she finally says. "This will sound silly, but he's wearing a red bowtie."

She leaves the statement hanging in the air, as though she expects her concern to be understood. Then she shakes her head.

"I know, it probably seems silly, but I had this uncle. He always wore a tie like that, and he was such a... well, I don't like being reminded of him."

Back in the main dining area, a loud popping sound is accompanied by a curse from one of the bartenders.

"John, the Bud Light keg just went out," Ellie announces with an exasperated sigh. "Watch the bar. I've got to go downstairs and tap a new one. Sorry, Ernie, your refill will have to wait a couple minutes."

"No problem, sweetie," the regular answers before sliding from his seat. "I have to go drain the lizard anyways."

The man with the red bowtie stands at the end of Addison's booth, an unchanging smile on his lips as she speaks. When she finishes, he raises an eyebrow.

"My coin ended up on your table by quite the wonderful stroke of chance, and I have learned never to ignore when Lady Luck makes her presence felt in my life. Fear not. It has often been said by any who know me that I am more than capable of carrying on a conversation without the need for the participation of any around me."

He slips into the booth across from Addison gracefully, reaching out to pick up the coin. Idly, he begins to roll it across the fingers of his right hand. His gaze fixes intently the woman across the table from him.

"You know, I've always held genuine respect for those comfortable enough with their own company to pierce through the social stigma of dining out alone. It is a virtue, I believe, and never one that I have possessed. I find the company of others so much more comforting."
 
Addison blinked and looked confused for a moment as the man, rather than leaving her in peace so she could return to her book for another half hour or so before heading home, instead sat down on the opposite side from her. This wasn't a situation she was used to really, normally people left her alone if she expressed disinterest and this man seemed quite stubborn, or quite oblivious. Also his fashion sense was bizarre, bowties were not fashionable and while Addison tried not to judge on appearance, that particular sin was one she did judge at least a little. She took a deep breath and then began again.

"I may not have been clear enough." Her expression changed to be a frown rather than a smile. "I'm enjoying my privacy and the quiet. I don't really want to be involved in a conversation on either end. Please leave me be." In truth Addison was getting some weird vibes from the man and if he kept at it she was strongly considering just leaving. "Besides if you don't need others to carry on a conversation, then you shouldn't mind leaving me alone. Yes?"
 
"Not at all Gwen, believe me when I say I've dealt with worse." She said with a comforting smile as she patted the redhead on the shoulder. "Get the condiment cart ready for the order, okay? I can even take it out to him if you want." Ayla added as she headed out into the dining room. She looked around for a couple minutes before spotting the man in the red bow tie twirling a coin. He seemed to be seated at a table with an also uncomfortable looking student who had gotten a steak herself, given the plate and what was on her table still.

The cook walked over to the table, and heard the tail end of the woman talking, wanting to be left alone. She inserted herself into the conversation to try and assist. "Hi, Sir? We can definitely make you that steak still, we haven't started cleaning yet. But it will take an extra 10 minutes or so to get the grill heated back up." Ayla said in a pleasant 'customer service' voice. "However, this table is already rung into the POS, so, we unfortunately can't have serve you at this table. Any empty table will be fine, and as soon as I get you seated somewhere where we can ring you in, I'll have a sizzling Beale Street up for you as quick as I can. What doneness did you want your steak to be? We usually shoot for medium well." She added, waiting by the table to help him relocate, making it clear his food wouldn't get started until he seated himself at his own table.
 
As the commotion grew to what she expected it would naturally reach, Elaine shakes her head. She starts to fish in the messenger bag she brought with her, producing a pair of headphones. Connecting it with her phone, she starts to drown out the conversation with the strange man and the staff with music. Before she returns to her books, she also shifts seats to be faced away from the seemingly minor predicament.

Turning back to her work, she looks into the textbook she pulled from the library. It was not something from either of her majors, but the honors' student thought it prudent to keep up in as many studies as she could. She had the free time to kill, after all, so knowing more wasn't gonna hurt her. She speed-reads through the practices in the book, taking notes before putting them to practice as she completes exercises laid out by the book in her notebook. Every so often, she picks at the salad she'd already been nursing for about two hours. Humming and working while the music drowns things out, Elaine could honestly say she's in bliss. Despite her feelings though, she has a nagging worry about the things going on behind her. Of course, it was not a worry she felt like indulging in, when she could remain solely with her tasks.
 
Applebuddy's Restaurant - Free Time

The bow-tied man listens intently to Addison as she speaks, his eyes never leaving hers. He does not blink often, but when he does it is a long, slow process. He is opening his mouth to reply to the seated red-head when Ayla arrives at the booth. A broad smile grows on the man's lips as he looks up at her. As with Addison, he listens intently as the offer of a fresh, sizzling steak is put before him.

"You, my dear, have no idea how delighted I am by your arrival," he says, slipping from the booth to stand once more. "I had truly thought, for a moment there, that this most precious occasion was going to be an abject failure. But you have rekindled my belief in my good fortune with your promise of sizzle tonight."

He moves to one of the free-standing tables, as though he is going to take a seat there. Instead, he stands next to it, reaching down to pick up the salt shaker.

"One," he says, "was never going to be enough to prove my righteousness."

As he speaks, he tosses the shaker into the air. And then the pepper shaker from the table joins it. He juggles them back and forth deftly."

"There was ever the possibility of two, which swings the odds a little in my favor."

A squat bottle of ketchup joins his juggling as he smiles.

"But then a guaranteed second steps into my life, with still the chance of a third. As ever, fortune favors me. How could they ever think me replaceable?"

[INSERT MOMENT: If Creepy Bowtie's vibe has brought your character to place of wanting to do something before what follows, then we will consider the action stopped here. We will then roll for initiative to determine if your character is able to act before he does. If no one wants to try to act before him, then the following happens.]

The man's eyes suddenly flash toward the bar area. Anyone who follows his gaze would see that only John is left at the bar at the moment. In fact, he is the only person left in the main area of the restaurant other than Ayla, Elaine, Addison, and the man.

The pepper shaker flies through the air at high velocity. It leaves a trail of powder in its wake, like a miniature jet engine. The glass container strikes the bartender hard in the temple with a loud crack, and John falls down behind the bar with a grunt.

TRANSFER TO CRUNCH TIME - Roll for Initiative.
 
"John!" Ayla cried out in shock as the bartender crumpled from taking a salt shaker to the head. One of the things the cook had done in getting off the streets was take a self defense course, in case someone from her old life came back looking for her, the former junkie wanted to be able to defend herself.

She approached the man and attempted to restrain him, acting more on adrenaline than anything. Ayla launches herself into the man's midsection and wraps her arms around him. "Somebody call the cops!"
 
Ayla wraps her arms around the bow-tied man. It is a picture-perfect maneuver. Fueled by adrenaline, she performs the hold better than she ever has in her life.

And yet, somehow, he slips free of her grasp. The slender man moves with uncanny grace and agility, spinning to give her a wink as she is left holding air.

"What a feisty minx you are, but the deck is stacked against you tonight. This foray will end with you wishing you had not decided to play hero. You should have just stayed behind the scenes and made my steak."

As he almost spits out the final three words at Ayla, she feels a powerful doubt and despair try to creep into her mind.

[DC 20 Affliction, Resisted by Will]
 
Ayla grunts as something tries to work her way into her fucked up brain. Hardened by years of drug use and living on the street, she tries to shake it off. But, a little bit of his words do manage to hake hold in her mind.
 
Addison wasn't the fastest to get to her feat, possibly because she was stuck in a booth and it takes a moment even at the best of times to untangle oneself from that position. But she did manage to get out from her seat and with wide eyes took in what had happened. The strange man had just at the very least knocked John out with a salt shaker of all things. She could try to call 911 but the time it would take her to do that was time that the man could hurt others and Addison actually had a decent amount of training.

The redheaded young woman took a couple quick steps forward and lashed out with a shoe clad foot, trying to hit him in the midsection and hopefully make him double over so that Ayla could try to grab and restrain him again.

Roll 1d20+1=16 for attack roll
 
Elaine hums to herself as she works, but is quickly taken out of her reverie as a loud crack rings out when the pepper shaker hits the bartender. Turning around and taking out an earbud, the command to call the police, followed by a visible confrontation between the man who walked in and the two women, the honors' student was shook. She quickly ducks down flush with the booth as she fishes her phone out.

Lying on the booth, the light-haired woman begins to dial the number for the police, and pulls her phone close, trying to keep quiet as she works through the 911 call, attempting to get the police on location with a sparse description of a strange man wearing a red bow tie attacking people in the Applebuddy's near Freedom College.

Stealth: 14 if based solely off ability score, 18 with ranks.
 
The Freedom City Police are very responsive, recognizing quickly that there is something serious going on by Elaine's quiet voice and manner.

"Ma'am, just stay where you are unless you think there is a chance for you to escape without notice. I'm directing a squad car your way."
 
Ayla grunts and struggles to her feet. "I'd rather lick one of the toilets here than do anything for an asshole like you." She said defiantly, even if her legs wobbled a little. "If I want to play hero, no idiot in a fucking bowtie is going to stop me!' She says as she tries to slug him instead.
 
As Ayla throws the punch, he remains standing in place and smiling. An instant before it would have landed on his smirking face, he suddenly launches into the air with superhuman speed and agility. He flips backward through the air away from Ayla and Addison. A feeling settles over the room, a gut recognition by his opponents that the deck truly is stacked against them.

Affects all rolls to resist the effects of the serum.
On any roll other than 3 degrees of failure, re-roll and take the worse of the two.

His right hand flashes out, a dart from inside his sleeve flicking out at Ayla.

Die Roll: 7 +15 (skill) = 22, a hit.

Make a DC 15 Resistance check vs. Fortitude.
1st Degree: Fatigued
2nd Degree: Exhausted
3rd Degree: Asleep

Regardless of the success or failure of the toxin, Ayla would feel as though every fibre of her body is reacting to the stuff, a powerful sensation.

His flip takes him to Elaine's booth. He gives her a wink before landing.

Applebuddy's Flip.jpg Applebuddy's Ayla Needle.jpg

"Can you believe they thought they could replace me?" he sighs, and then continues in a mocking voice. "You're too careless. You take too many chances." He wrinkles his nose, turning to look down at Elaine crouching in her booth. "Don't they realize life is all about taking chances?"
 

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This wasn't good. The man had casually knocked her kick out of the way and done backflips while throwing darts. Addison had made a hobby of martial skills and what he was doing didn't seem like the result of dabbling or a hobbyist. Either he was a professional or he had powers boosting his abilities. She definitely was not cut out to fight against a supervillain, and neither was the cook from her favorite slightly divey restaurant in the city. At the same time there wasn't really much chance she would be able to get out of here if he was still up. He'd used a salt shaker as a lethal projectile, and she wouldn't be able to move quickly enough to flee.

So Addison tried again, hoping for a lucky hit as she tried again to strike the man, maybe with him distracted from his quipping she could catch him off guard. But she wasn't particularly hopeful as her foot shot out towards his head this time.

1d20+1=17 to kick him in his face!
 
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