Day 35: Twin Pines Restaurant

[byname_bynature]

( From here!)

Artemis walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the decor. He wasn't impressed, but he wasn't disdainful either. He simply smiled. It was nice... for a town with a population of barely three hundred.

The boy smiled up at the person up front. "Two, if you please."

Comments

[high_prosecutor]

[from here]

Quaint.The word had ceased to have much of a positive connotation a little while ago. The fact remained, this whole place was an anachronism of the highest order, as if it had been frozen in time somewhere around 1951. A few things had changed here and there, but for the most part, the modern conveniences that were even evident in most of the small towns in Europe weren't here. There were no internet cafes, no music stores...but that wasn't all

[pleading_ngri]

[from here.]

So much for a dashing getaway.

That was a terrible idea. It isn't as if I know how to steal a car anyway. Or, you know, drive, Phoenix mused, glancing in the spotless picture window of the next establishment he passed. He looked back down again after a second, and kept walking for another three or four steps before stopping and backing up as his brain finally caught up with his feet.

He shouldn't have been surprised to spot Edgeworth on the other side of the glass, seated at an unimpressive little table in an equally unimpressive little restaurant, frowning down at his journal. They did have a habit of running into each other, after all.

For a moment, he considered tapping on the autumn-cold pane, testing how long it took Edgeworth to realize that he wasn't being pestered by a homeless man. (Probably a little while -- living in a city had that effect.) But something else occurred to him, and he leaned close to the glass, breathing on it enough to fog before scrawling a carefully-backwards "HI" with his finger. Then he

[high_prosecutor]

Edgeworth turned and looked at the window, then looked back down at his journal again, writing a few words. It was a little surprising, but then again, this was the classic stereotypical small town. It made sense that it came complete with that one harmless hobo that everyone knew. Nothing to worry about, and if he ignored him, they would go away soon enough.

Then a surprising realization hit. Wait. There's something awfully familiar about that hobo. And why would they write on the window?Edgeworth looked up again, slowly turning towards the window. Hooded sweatshirt, black pants, a hat that needed to be burned immediately - and then it dawned on him. His waitress came over with a menu at that point, and he said, "Pardon me for a moment, miss. I need to step outside, but I'll be right back - oh, and do you mind leaving two menus

[pleading_ngri]

"I'm wearing what the nurses gave me," Phoenix replied matter-of-factly, grinning and holding the hat to his head as he dodged the attempted grab. "No way -- you're going to destroy it and I won't hear the end of it." It wasn't that he liked the thing -- completely the opposite, actually -- or even that he enjoyed goading people on. It was more than it was really, finally sinking in at a basic level that he was trapped. Trapped in a mental institution full of monsters, human and non, which would have been stressful enough without remembering at least once an hour that he was in a romantic relationship he couldn't remember starting but could definitely remember giving up on the very idea of. That would have been enough, but now there was the idea that maybe he was trapped in time, too, and even if he got out of here the rest of their lives were laid out before them ordered and neat as dominoes, and there was nothing they could do to stop it

[spirit_forge]

[from here]

Stepping into the store, the restaurant instantly gave him that homely feel, the kind you get from having a nice dinner around the clean table with your warm family. The waitresses were pretty perky about their job, which was kinda surprising for Archer. After all, how much were they getting paid? Sure it was their family's diner, but they were kinda going overboard. One of them in particular was awfully friendly, the one with "Jackie" on her name tag. Unfortunately for her, Archer was there for the meal, not for the view.

"We'll just be having the free meals," Archer said, handing her his coupon. He could of sworn she made a "tsk" sound as she walked away with their orders, but it was probably just his imagination.

He hoped they didn't have to wait long. There was no telling if Hanyuu's stomach would last. That thought brought a smile to his lips.

[meironohosoku]

Country fried steak? She couldn't tell much from glancing over the articles taped to the windows, but that seemed to be what the restaurant was known for. Hanyuu resisted the urge to sigh. She was sure it was good--most of the food in Landel's was--but she wished they'd sometimes serve food she was more used to.

Speaking of what she wished they'd have, she wondered if Doyleton had any places like Angel Mort... Hanyuu really would've liked to have one (preferably more) of their desserts right about now.

Her stomach seemed to agree with that thought and it gave another low rumble, causing the girl to blush yet again. "Auauu," she murmured shifting from one foot to the other. Even if the food wasn't like Angel Mort’s desserts, she hoped they were able to eat soon. That was embarrassing...

[lady_general]

[From here]

Celes found herself surprisingly pleased as she walked into the small family restaurant. By now, many seats had been taken and, as loathe as she was to admit it, Celes didn't wish to wait for it to clear out - who knew how long that would be? She scanned the restaurant and found a small head she recognized (and thank the Triad). One of Mion's friends, and she knew she'd heard her name at least once or twice.

Hannah?

Hahyu..?

Hahn-you?

Hahn-you. Yes, that sounded right. Miss Hahn-you. Celes politely ahemed to get the younger girl's attention. "Hello, Miss Hahn-you. Would you be adverse to my joining you and your companion?"

[spirit_forge]

Ducking his head towards his friend, Archer teasingly whispered to Hanyuu, "It sounds like you have a little dinosaur in there."

Noticing someone's approach, the stranger's presence brought him out of his humor, changing to a more reserved one. Partly because she was a stranger, and he noticed that she was particularly beautiful. It was mostly the latter. Luckily, Archer had enough experience with beautiful women not to look like some spellbound idiot. Rin's vicious teasing was the best medicine for that.

Obviously, she knew Hanyuu, since she called her name, even if she butchered it. At best, he suspected they were acquaintances. Her formal demeanor served as further evidence. You didn't attach "miss" to a friend or someone you were close to. Sharing a look with his friend, he wondered what her reply would be. "Hanyuu, I'm fine with it, but it's up to you."

Given the spirit's recent emotional outburst, Archer wasn't sure if she wanted extra company, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

[transgenix]

[ Coming from here.]

Max slipped into the Twin Pines, casting a quick glance around. It looked like any other small town restaurant she might have stopped on a road trip somewhere, although a good deal cleaner than most back in her end of the world.

She waited for Wash to slip in behind her, then indicated there were two of them to the waiting waitress, who led them to a little table near one of the windows. Sinking into a chair, she slouched back in it and made herself comfortable, waiting for the waitress to slip away with their drink orders before picking up the conversation once more.

"So you avoided anything overly hungry last night? Lucky for you. Although the flashlight tends to help with the whole dark thing somewhat, you know."

[notaleaf]

The restaurant was modest, but actually quite nice, especially by his standards. The crew almost never stopped in anywhere to eat. Small-town bars were the highest quality they went for.

Wash slid into the seat across from her. "We heard something overly hungry," he said. "But we avoided it."

Although, come to think of it, the noise hadn't sounded that much on the hungry side. It was more on the fighty-combat side which meant it could just as well have been two patients attempting to resolve their problems.

"It does," he agreed. "I learned that last night. You didn't run into anything overly hungry, did you?"

[transgenix]

"Not last night," Max shook her head and shrugged. "I was aiming for outside last night and managed to miss anything overly hungry while exploring. I've seen several of the things that hunt inside, but I've only heard tales about what people have encountered outside the walls so far. Then again, we could only get there as of two nights ago, so there's not a whole lot of information yet."

[notaleaf]

Just two days ago? That was kind of interesting. No wonder not many people had said anything about escaping. Actually, no one had, in fact.

"It sounds like everything's only happening recently," Wash commented.

[tranquil_seas]

[From here.]

Stepping into the quaint establishment, the first thing Michiru noticed was that quite a few people had decided this was a good place to eat as well. She couldn't tell from a glance exactly who belonged to the institution, but considering the number of people departing the bus, it was possible that they were of the majority in here.

She paused just inside the door, waiting for Kunzite to join her before making any table arrangements with the hostess.

[vessavana]

Kunzite, too, noticed the popularity of the establishment evident in its business, a factor he felt to be to his benefit, should the discussion of Sailor Senshi ever make itself present. A quick inspection of the clientèle might have pointed out familiar faces if the swordsman was particularly interested in looking for them. As it was, however, he was focused on Michiru, and walked with her to the woman standing at the lit dais by the door.

"Two, please...by a window if possible," he said, not noting whether that seating arrangement was possible; nevertheless, he hoped he'd be able to be somewhere where he could admire the impressive greenery that surrounded the small restaurant.

"You arrived last night?" he repeated from her earlier comment. "That must have been quite an introduction to this place...I'm sure you've seen what kinds of things lurk the halls of Landel's when the orderlies turn off the lights..."

[tranquil_seas]

"Actually, I haven't." Despite the fact that they were assumed to be mentally ill, Michiru kept her voice low enough that only Kunzite could hear. Peculiar looks from their waitress weren't need. "I didn't leave my room. Though, I heard a few things this morning regarding that... Just not much." She frowned, slipping a bit of worry into her tone to add credibility to her 'civilian' rouse.

Michiru paused the conversation as the hostess led them to their desired table, seated them, and handed them their menus. When the woman had walked away again to give them time to choose their meal, Michiru continued. "I assume you've been here a while... What exactly did you mean by 'things'?"

[vessavana]

Kunzite was hardly surprised at Michiru's response. He had stayed in his room himself a few nights; true, the majority of those times he was ill or too severely injured from the night before, but even he, as ambitions as he was, often felt that he would be a greater liability venturing out alone than exploring. Lately, however, joining the History Club gave him a good reason to go on nightly excursions...perhaps that, in the end, was what he really needed, to BELONG to something...

The swordsman looked over the menu again and finally settled in on his choice. He also perused the wine list, but the names were unfamiliar to him; all he knew was that he enjoyed the red ones over the whites. During this time, he listened to Michiru's question with interest, and answered almost immediately.

"Monsters," he said, pausing just briefly before clarifying, "youma. Creatures of shadow and darkness that seem intent on destroying us, or at the very least distracting us from fully exploring the facilities. They wield interesting powers, the

[sheisthecause]

[from here]

Meche sighed with relief as they stepped into the restaurant--she hadn't realized how cold she'd been until the warm air started thawing her hands and face out (and what a strange feeling that was, after all this time).

"Hello," she greeted the host politely. "May we have a table for two, please?" They could pull up an extra chair if Senna managed to find them again.