fandomtownies | Luke's, Wednesday

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Luke's, Wednesday

A cry of "HA!" echoed through the diner Wednesday, entirely unconnected to the killer clowns roving the streets. Regina rushed out of her office, holding a spellbook, a broad grin on her face.

"I finally found it! Where the curse went wrong! I can get out of here and find my son!"

". . . Cool?" the cook said. "But, uh. What should the specials be?"

"What?" Regina looked around the diner. "Oh hell, I should probably do something with this place before I leave, shouldn't I."

Today's specials
Something something whatever with apples

Luke's was open. And currently clown-free. . . .

[Regina is about to head out permanently! She was very fun while she lasted, but I have done nothing at all with her in ages, and I'm not good at leaving characters to fallow. . . .
Luke's management hand-off with Duke will be the last thread chronologically for Regina. Duke can still be found in the diner if you like.]

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Duke was just trying to get back to his boat from class. That was all. He didn't think that was too much to ask.

The trouble was, while he was armed and perfectly willing to take down a clown, he was also quite getting-stabbed-avoidant, which meant given the option, he was still going to duck and run when he saw them approaching. And they were very successfully herding him away from the harbor and his damn boat.

He ducked into the diner to avoid a rainbow-wigged monstrosity, and took a moment to try to wipe at the orange blood splattered on his shirt. This shit was never going to come out. . . .

"Oh good, it's you." Regina had only met any of her employees once, but this one in particular had a fairly unique aesthetic. "You've been working here awhile, right?"

"I -- what?" Duke frowned at her. Working here? He'd come here, like, once. Maybe twice? Not more than that. "Uh, yeah, I think maybe you've got me --"

"Great, perfect," Regina said, interrupting his little ramble by thrusting the keys to the diner into his hands. "It's all yours. Paperwork's in the office. Honestly at this point it practically runs itself. You should probably try to hire more staff, though."

She looked off into the distance with a broad smile. "I'm coming, Henry!"

And vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"-- Confused with someone else," Duke finished, then coughed and waved his hand to clear away the smoke. "What the fuck just happened?"

"Oh great," the dishwasher said. "We've got yet another new boss."

"What do you think the specials should be?" the cook asked.

Duke looked at the keys in his hand, then around at the diner. "Is this a joke?"

The staff gave a chorus of "nope"s and headshakes. Duke rubbed his forehead.

"There is something deeply wrong with this island."

Kathy had fought her way to the diner for lunch, not willing to risk a delivery person out in this.

"That's how I got my store," she said, wiping away a streak of clown blood from where it had spattered her cheek. "Last manager freaked out and quit, flung keys at me, and suddenly, there I am with a store."

Was she going to mention how weird it was, seeing this new guy randomly inherit Eliot's diner? No. No she wasn't.

But it was.

Duke looked at her. "You all say stuff like that like it should mean there isn't something wrong with this island." He shook his head. "Hi. Welcome to . . . apparently my diner. Because sure, why the fuck not."

"Thanks," Kathy said, offering a hand. "I'm Kathy, I own Dite's Decadent Delights over on Mallard. And on a scale of Fandom, suddenly owning random businesses is on the pretty light end of weird."

A clown pressed its face against the glass window, smearing greasepaint as it hissed at them.

"Case in point," Kathy sighed.

Duke jumped. "Jesus fuck. That is not okay!"

Sorry Kathy, Duke was still far too new to be properly jaded. Especially when spooky carnival music started up from the back hallway. Along with the sound of slow, squeaky shoes.

"Wait, hang on, you own the sex shop?"

Eh. Just wait till he came back from the dead a few times.

"That would be me," Kathy said, casually shifting into a fighting stance as the squeaky shoes got closer. "Not what you expected?"

Kathy, you did generally give off the 'wholesome' vibe.

Edited 2019-10-30 19:00 (UTC)

"Definitely not. I had this whole mental image of a middle-aged white lady. Probably the alliteration."

"That describes the original owner," Kathy admitted. "According to the original records, she referred to herself as Aphrodite. Which, given the island, means she has a chance of actually being the Aphrodite of myth." Kathy paused and sighed. "Or she was exactly the kind of middle-aged white lady who would use that on official correspondence. I don't think I'll ever know for sure."

She'd have to ask the owner who inherited it from her in the first place, but she was off being Queen of a magical kingdom in another world, or something.

This island.

". . . Yeah, I could totally see that go either way." The squeaky footsteps had reached the door to the dining room. Duke shifted to one side of the door, axe up and ready. "I'm Duke, by the way."

"I'm Kathy," she replied, shooing the curious busboy back into the kitchen. "Nice to meet you."

She stayed where she was, in the middle of the room, easily spotted by anyone coming in through the hall. She pulled her hair up into a loose bun and loosened her neck. "Done this a lot, then?"

"What, fought evil clowns or been handed free diners?" Duke asked. "I mean, either way, no. But still."

"Oh, you must not have been on the island long," Kathy said with a nod. "Don't worry. You're going to be fine. Monsters like these get to be pretty easy after awhile."

She was a helper!

"Okay, again, you all keep saying this stuff like it makes it okay."

The clown burst through what turned out to be a double-hinged door, smacking Duke in the face.

"Ahh, hell!" Kathy yelped, blurring towards the clown that was already turning towards Duke.

She jumped up into the air, aiming a spinkick towards the clown's temple. She winced as the clown's upraised knife sliced into her calf, but her foot remained steady. Its skull wasn't any harder than an ex's, and her heel crunched the thinner bone there.

The clown slumped, vanishing before it hit the floor.

Duke would have been impressed to see all that, were it not for the small splatter of blood -- red this time, from Kathy, instead of clown-orange -- that hit his cheek as he dodged around the door.

The blood vanished, and his eyes turned bright silver.

Duke let out a small, shocked groan as the same wave of -- whatever -- from his argument with Nathan washed over him. He grabbed onto the edge of the door, the wood cracking and splintering under his grip.

"You okay?" Kathy asked. Shit, had the clown stabbed him before she'd gotten to it? Did it have two knives?

She laid a hand on his arm. "Duke, where does it hurt? There's a first aid kit in the--"

Edited 2019-10-30 23:19 (UTC)

People really needed to stop trying to touch Duke when this happened. He lashed out instinctively, shoving her away -- and all the way across the diner.

Kathy cried out, flying backwards with incredible force. She hit the wall with a crunch, but instead of falling down the wall...

She bounced. First down to the ground, then up to the ceiling. Then over to the other side. And then--

Look. There were gonna be some bruises.

"Holy shit." Duke pressed back against the wall, hands shaking even as the rush faded. "What the fuck was that?!"

Finally, Kathy crashed into a booth and clutched at the table to keep her from bouncing up again. "Owwwww," was her only real contribution to that.

"No kidding." Duke approached carefully, axe forgotten on the floor. "Do you -- do that a lot?"

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