The Quack Job [1x1]

romamaro

Well-Known Member
The Sunshine Diner was a favourite around the town of Eliziana, with tasty, heart-attack worthy foods, friendly servers, and a warm, unbeatable atmosphere. The most popular item on the menu, by far, were the vanilla milkshakes, two of which waitress Olive Huang was making. Not for customers, but for herself and a friend. The diner was a lot less busy on weekdays, especially during the day. The only person in was a man in a suit with a coffee and newspaper, sitting off on the corner like a total loner.

"Hey, Sydney! Got shakes," the dark-haired girl called into the staff room.
"I'm joining you two," a voice came from the bar area. Ruby Jones was a sensible teenager that lived with her parents and was saving up all of her money for a car. She jumped off the stool she'd perched on, tossing a dark curl over her shoulder. "This place is boring when it's dead."
"Yeah, no shit," Olive said back, quietly enough that their one patron wouldn't hear. The waitress took up one whole side of the booth, leaning against the wall and putting her legs up on the rest of the seat. She put Sydney's milkshake on the other side of the table.
 
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Sydney sat in the back of the restaurant in a little booth that took up most of the already small break room. The stuffing was coming out of the cushion, but rather than toss it, it had replaced the old table and hard chairs that had previously filled the room. This was a far better option in the young woman's opinion.

She couldn't see Olive, but her best friend's voice rang clear through the kitchens, carrying back to her and she sat up in her booth, making room for Ruby when she saw the teen enter. "Thanks," She accepted the milkshake, lifting the straw to her lips and taking a long drink from the cold ice cream, hands cupping the tall glass. "It's Barbara's birthday today," she announced. Barbara being her birth mother.
 
Olive sat the cold glass on her lap rather than on the table, sipping from an extra large straw she'd given herself. She turned her head and attention fully to Sydney at the news. A smile spread across her face. "So, pop in and say happy birthday!" She proposed. "What better birthday gift than a long lost daughter?" As she spoke she moved her hand in front of her, as if painting a rainbow.

Ruby snorted, setting her strawberry shake down on the table a little bit louder than she intended. "You should have gone visit a couple days ago," she said. She sat her hands on the table, fixing Sydney with a very wise-looking gaze. "One day she's gonna walk in here, and she'll recognise you, because that's some sort of mom superpower. Then she'll probably freak."
 
Sydney rolled her eyes at both of them, addressing Olive's suggestion first. "Or long forgotten daughter. Or a good riddance daughter. There could be any number of reasons that she gave me up and it's possible that she'd be angry or something at seeing me. No, not going to ruin her birthday."

She snorted at Ruby. "She hasn't seen me since the day she gave birth, I highly doubt she'd be able to recognize me twenty something years later." Seeking solace in her shake, Sydney would take another large gulp of the ice cream wincing at the following brain freeze.
 
Olive huffed. "So what day are you going to 'ruin'?" She used her fingers to make quotation marks around 'ruin'. "And can I just say, if that lady doesn't appreciate you going through all the work, hunting her down and moving town, then she's not even worth it."

"I'm telling you, mom superpowers! Like how they can always find things you think are lost!" Ruby pointed out. She sipped at her milkshake while she thought. The word 'superpowers' seemed to have planted a thought in her brain, and now she was just looking for the way to phrase her thoughts.
 
Sydney sighed at them both and sucked hard on her straw. "I don't know... I just don't think I'm ready to face her if it turns out she doesn't want me. If she's not worth it, okay... but that doesn't make the rejection any easier to swallow." Her throat felt tight at the thought and she pushed aside the glass, slumping down in her seat.
 
Olive sighed at Sydney's downtrodden attitude. She laid her hand on the table, palm up, offering her support. "There's no way for you to know how it's going to work out. Tell you what, why don't we-" she was cut off with a dramatic slammed hand on the wood from Ruby.

"There is a way to find out!" She said, loud enough that the single patron would lift his head slightly, before returning to his paper. "What if you go and visit The Psychic?!"
Olive groaned just as loud as Ruby shouted. "You're kidding, right?"
 
She'd take the proffered hand and sigh. But as Olive was interrupted, she'd jump at the sudden outburst from the teenager, Sydney jumped. At the mention of the Psychic, though, she just rolled her eyes. "You don't really believe in all that nonsense, do you?" She groaned, despite the fact that she very much believe in all of that nonsense.

"I'm not going to pay a weeks worth of tips for some Psychic to pretend to see the future and then tell me what she thinks I want to hear." Shaking her head at the teenager. "Any other suggestions?" She opened the floor, mainly to Olive.
 
"But she's legit!" Ruby attempted. "She really does see the future! She told me that my job interview was going to be successful, and look at me now!" She pointed at her waitresses apron. "She told my dad that my little brother was going to be a boy, too, and that was true!"
"She told me I was going to have a 'year full of health and love', then my grandparents died and my boyfriend broke up with me!" Olive actively spoke over Ruby, drowning out the 'evidence' she was giving.

Olive turned her head to Sydney. "We'll hop in my car, and we'll just drive into the neighbourhood. Doesn't have to be today, but sometime this week. How does that sound?"
 
"You have a strong personality and a pretty smile," Sydney pointed out. "Of course your interview here was going to be a success, you make a good waitress and she had a fifty, fifty chance of getting it right with your brother." She shrugged, considering Olive's much more reasonable suggestion.

"Fine. But I'm not telling you which house is hers, because you'll probably just stop or something." She was grumbling and there was a twisted feeling in her stomach, but maybe having Olive along would help her make it onto the street. "Baby steps, right?"
 
Ruby shrugged. "I'm just saying! So many people get good predictions from her, chances are, she's actually got weird powers!" She poked the table with her finger to punctuate her point, but Olive wasn't paying any attention to her.

The mixed race girl smiled. "Right." She squeezed Sydney's hand once, before returning it back to holding her milkshake. "Once it actually happens, it'll probably be fine."
 
"Sure." Sydney agreed, but she was thinking more about what Ruby had said. Maybe this girl really was psychic. If that were the case, maybe she could get answers to how it will play out with her mother, but she could also meet someone, another someone, who could see into the future. She'd have to ask Ruby more about it, but later when Olive isn't around.

The bell dinged over the door of the diner and she rose, "I'll get this one," she informed the other girls, climbing past Ruby to get out of the booth. After that, they were slammed with customers until closing and she didn't get a chance to speak with Ruby again until they were closing up. Olive was at the register, cashing it out for the night and the other two were cleaning two booths on the opposite end of the diner. "Hey, uh, Ruby?" Sydney prompted the young girl.
 
The teen was bent over the booth desk, reaching to get right to the corners. "Hold on a sec!" She grunted, going onto her tip toes as she wiped the edges. She finally pulled back. She nudged her glasses up her nose with the top of the spray bottle, turning her attention to Sydney. "What's up?" She asked.
 
While she waited, Sydney finished wiping down her table, neatly arranging the napkin container with the salt and pepper shakers. "I was just wondering..." She hesitated and then with a sigh, lowered her voice a bit further. "The psychic that you mentioned, you really think she's legit? I mean, it's worth a shot, right?"
 
Ruby's face lit up, obviously pleased that her recommendation hadn't fallen on deaf ears. "Yeah, totally!" She chirped. She perched on the table she'd just cleaned, crossing her legs over in front of her. "I mean, it's like, literally only Olive that doesn't believe she's legit. You should definitely go."
 
"I'm... thinking about it." Syndey admitted in a whisper. "I mean, I don't know about all that, but I suppose it can't hurt. You, uh, have her information... do I need to call and make an appointment or just show up or...?" She shrugged, feeling a little silly now that she was asking about it out loud. She moved on to the next booth, though, eager to be done for the day. Scooping up her tip and tucking it into her apron, "Nickles, how kind," she piled the empty milkshake glasses together and set them aside.
 
Ruby shrugged. "It depends on how busy they are," she said. Unlike Sydney, she didn't seem embarrassed to be talking about it. "Like, usually you can just walk in and say 'hey, I need a session' and they'll be like 'cool, here you go'. The only times it's really busy is during Christmas. 'Cus people want to know if they're gifts are good or not." While she was speaking, she'd moved onto cleaning another table. "You could probably just walk in."
 
Sydney nodded, her movements halting as she considered the idea. She wondered if the psychic saw her coming. "Great, uh, if you cold write down the address for me sometime, I'll think about swinging by." Super non-committal.

Meanwhile...

Jesse offered a nod of his head to the last customer of the night, following him out the door. "It was a pleasure looking into the unknown with you," he said in his practiced mystic voice. The old man seemed satisfied and Jessie grinned before locking the door behind the man and letting out a sigh as his Customer Service smile fell and he took off the novelty hat that was part of his uniform. "We. Are. *Closed*." He announced to Lilly.
 
Lilly had evidently been standing near the door, but in such a way that it wasn't immediately obvious she was there from a look. "Thank God," she mumbled, stepping into the foyer. She lifted her hands to the circlet around her head, taking it and the veil off simultaneously. She reached her hand around the back of her head and tugged on the hair tie that was holding her hair in the tight bun, tugging a couple times to free her thick ginger hair. "Any problems with clients?" She asked, starting to take off her elaborate jewellery.
 
Jesse went digging behind the counter for the make-up remover wipes that were stashed there. When he found the package he took two out, handing one to Lilly. "Not really. It was a pretty good day, only had one crier and one person who was not so thrilled about the price, but he seemed like a tightwad anyway. He did pay, though."
 
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