fandomtownies | Waffle House, Monday Morning

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arden finch,
raiden

Waffle House, Monday Morning

Okay, yeah, there were lots of weird changes in town that made no sense when you thought about them (and gave you a headache when you did, space didn't work like that!), but none of those mattered in the face of the glory before Arden.

There was a Waffle House.

A for-reals Waffle House.

And where there was a Waffle House, there was sweet tea.

Practically floating, Arden made her way into the restaurant, taking a seat at a booth that was somehow already slightly-sticky, a tear in the vinyl held closed by duct tape, and glanced at the menu that needed to be pried off the surface of the table. Habit and tradition, not because she actually needed it. Several minutes after she sat down, a server drifted over, pack of cigarettes clearly outlined in their shirt pocket, and nodded at her.

Taking that as her cue, Arden said, "Can I get a pitcher of tea to start?" No reason to specify, this was a Waffle House. "Two eggs, biscuits and gravy, and a serving of hashbrowns, doubled, covered, and smothered?"

Finally the server spoke. "Want 'em scattered?"

"No thanks," Arden said respectfully, since these bad bitches didn't play.

A nod and then, without writing anything down or with any further sign that they'd actually listened to or cared about what Arden had ordered, the server drifted slowly back to the counter, leaned over to speak to the cook, then headed outside for a smoke break.

"This really is a Waffle House," Arden breathed, leaning back against the booth (careful not to let it touch her hair) and waited for her order to be up and/or a fight to break out.

Perfection.

[It was always in this comm, tyvm.]

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Waffle House? Waffle House! Raiden had never been so happy to see this much vinyl in his life, except for the last time he had been in a Waffle House. He sighed happily as he settled into a booth he barely fit in, and placed his order after barely glancing at the menu (All-Star Special, bacon and sausage, hash browns all the way, biscuits and gravy on the side).

"Anything else for ya, hon?" his server asked, bemused by how he was ordering that much food while not even ridiculously hungover.

"Not right now, ma'am, but ask me again after while," he said, and went back to mentally poking Gray to, Wake up already, Waffle House is here!

(I saw nothing. Nothing, I tell you.)

Okay, so the reason Waffle Houses were built so small was to encourage conversation and/or limit the size of fights, so Arden felt absolutely no shame in leaning over and asking, "Wait, are you still drunk?"

Because if he wasn't ridiculously hungover, it was the only other possible explanation.

...Which was how you could tell she was still a newbie.

Wow, Arden, did you just ask a guy that size in a Waffle House if he was drunk?

Good thing that guy was Raiden, and would not know how to take offense if someone handed it to him. "No?" he said, making it into a question. "I'm just really hungry." Always.

Look, she just kinda figured that you had to be drunk to decide to eat three thousand calories before noon.

"And there's nothing quite like a Waffle House breakfast," she said with a nod. Which was a true statement no matter what time you sat down to eat it.

"I still can't get my hash browns as good," Raiden admitted. "I think it's the griddle." Next time his family moved they were installing an industrial griddle in the kitchen. He had decided. "Well, that or the cheese." Raiden wasn't sure you could buy Waffle House cheese in stores. Or maybe he was just buying too expensive cheese.

It was a good decision and his brothers should be grateful for it. The griddle, probably not buying Waffle House quality cheese.

"But, like, just checking...this definitely wasn't here over the weekend, right?" Arden verified. "I didn't somehow miss a Waffle House this whole time?"

Raiden had to think about it. "I don't think so," he said finally. "I mean, I think I would have noticed it..." He would definitely have noticed it. "The Starbucks is definitely new." Which one?

"There's more than one," Arden said. "Somehow. I'm also pretty sure that at least one of them is somehow between two buildings that had previously shared a wall, but I'm also trying really hard to not think about that, because I haven't accepted whimsy in my life enough yet to make that make sense. Does this kind of thing just...happen?"

"I've only been here a year," Raiden admitted, "but I don't remember anything like this...except for that house that appeared in the woods and kidnapped people a while back, and then I guess it moved to over by the lighthouse. But that was just one house, I think." That people lived in on purpose now, which Raiden still thought was kind of wild.

Arden was one of them! And so far adored the house!

"...I'd rather be kidnapped by a Waffle House than a Starbucks," Arden said thoughtfully. "Or a Dunkin'. Which is a stupid name for a donut place."

~~Dear FBI agent watching my laptop, I am roleplaying, please don't report me to the staties.~~

"I'd rather not be kidnapped by any of 'em," Raiden mused. "But if I had to, I'd definitely pick Waffle House. Have you tried the pecan waffle? Divine." He was something of an afficionado, despite having made his home prior to this island in northern California. "And I don't know why they dropped the 'Donuts.' It sounds dumb now." And if Raiden thought it sounded dumb...

~~If the FBI agents haven't been concerned by the amount of discussion of burning down a Walmart I've done for this plot, we're golden.~~

I'm pretty sure MA law allows people to murder to in defense Dunkin's honor, though.

Even if Dunkin' is a stupid fucking name!

"Oooh, normally I go for the chocolate chip ones," Arden said, "but I could maybe try a pecan waffle." She considered how hungry she was and whether or not there was room for one more thing... "If I order one, you want half?"

~~Listen, as long as Ben Affleck doesn't find out, I'm sure we'll be fine. I hope.~~

"Duh," Raiden told her. "I never turn down delicious food." It wasn't in his nature, you see. "Oh, I'm Raiden, by the way." Names. Names were good.

~~If he does, I promise not to narc. Which has everything to do with my personal integrity and nothing to do with how idk where most of you live.~~

"Oh! I'm Arden, hi!" Because, right. Names. People. She was so good at this. "I'm guessing you don't go to the school...?"

Not that she had any idea for real, though.

"Oh! No," Raiden said. "My brother is, but I'm...not." Because when they got here this was a high school, and only one of them regularly had people suspiciously ask him if he was old enough to buy alcohol. "I run the Pizza Planet." Expounding on the many virtues of pizza in a Waffle House would be disrespectful, but they all knew it was God's perfect food, right?

"I mean, who needs college when you've got your own business?" Arden asked, since she had only bothered with college as a means to get away from her legal guardian. "I haven't been in, but we ordered delivery from there for a movie night and it was really good. There was, like, fig and goat cheese on one or something. Fanciest pizza I ever had but so good."

She went through her fellow students in her head and then hesitantly asked, "Is Gray your brother?"

"He is!" Raiden confirmed with a smile. "He's the baby of the family." Youngest by six whole weeks, as best they could figure, and after multiple millennia he was still the baby, because that was how siblings worked.

"Oh, I'm so glad you liked the pizza! I like to change up the specials, try to keep it interesting. There are so many delicious pizzas out there and your standard menu only has room for so much, y'know?"

Sloth was the last one to show up. That tracked.

"It was delicious," Arden assured him because there was something about Raiden that just made you want to pat him and reassure him that everything was great, both with your order and also the world in general. "I didn't really have pizza much growing up because my foster mom didn't like it. So it was a sometimes treat for nights when I was with Duke and Grimm, which means it still feels like something special when I have it now. Even though I can have it whenever."

Did you hear the record scratch in Raiden's soul, Arden? Could you hear that? "Your--your foster mom didn't like pizza?"

"Probably still doesn't," Arden said, offering him a chagrinned smile. "Yeah, she...kinda sucks."

For more than just the pizza thing, but it made a good shorthand.

"That's so sad! She doesn't know what she's missing! I'm so sorry you had to grow up like that!" A tragic, almost pizzaless existence. He couldn't imagine, except that he could, because once upon a time long ago pizza hadn't been invented yet. It had been a dark, dark time for humanity. "And I'm so glad you're here now where we have pizza!" And Waffle House!

Arden had actually heard variations on the 'I'm so sorry you had to grow up like that' before, but this was the first time it had ever been expressed - sincerely no less - for her lack of pizza. And, somehow, she found herself wanting to apologize for causing him distress.

Forget Gluttony, Raiden's real power was being a precious himbo cinnamon roll, too pure for this world.

She offered him a smile. "I'm glad I'm here, too," she said. "Once I get more spending money, I'll make sure to make pizza more of a regular staple than a sometimes food."

"You should! Pizza is an always food. Like hashbrowns. Hashbrowns should also be an always food." Mmmmm, hashbrowns.

Raiden's grasp on proper nutrition wasn't strong but it didn't need to be, really.

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Waffle House, Monday Morning

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