Participants:
| Scene Title | WWYD? |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Three people at lunch get ambushed, in a very special way. |
| Date | February 5, 2011 |
Greco Restaurant, Brooklyn
The Greco in Brooklyn is busy, the restaurant is nearly filled and waiters are attentive with the clients who are seated at the tables in their many stages of consuming what emerges from the kitchen. The delicious smells of food are everywhere, tempting the senses, ice clinks in glasses, liquid gurgles out of coffee pots and conversation is constant. Fans sweep lazily across the ceiling forcing the warmth in the restaurant down and keeping the room at a level of general comfort.
Families dot here and there with their children, elderly couple, two person tables, four seat tables, White shirt and black vested waiters emerge from the back, giving out ordered food, bus boys clean up used tables to prepare them for the next client. It's a misty, soggy saturday in Brooklyn.
Soggy days are inspirational. Savannah took a brief few days of 'vacation' involving her not writing, but hot on the heels of her newly finished book already on its way to the presses… she's working on the sequel. She does her best writing when out at restaurants, though she's classier than writing on napkins. She's got notebooks. A black hard-covered notebook sits by her right hand as she scribbles notes in it, idly sipping at her drink while she waits for her food.
ORDER: It is now your pose.
Tahir Avery Dunham is looking as stylish as he always does. Decked out in his classic and favorite gray suit, he adjusts the matching tie as he walks past an ederly couple, two families and a newlywed duo in order to get to the table that has been reserved for him and his client. Of course, Tahir has made it here first, which is why he's on his cell phone at this very moment, muttering something about mustard stains and silk. Frown.
The midday meal is almost as important as breakfast. Almost. It's what tides you over until supper, after all. Which is why today's lunch time places Koshka breaking from a much needed shopping trip and waiting for a seat to open up. With her back resting against a wall near the entrance, one hand tucked casually into her coat pocket while the other clutches a bag. Eyes flick over the patrons already seated, bored, but people watching.
A waiter shows Koshka to her seat after a quick question of whether it was her or if there were others in her party. But party of one, she's brought to a table near Savannah who waits. Tahir's shown that way as well and sat on the other table adjacent to Savannah by a pert little blonde with an ass to die for, black pants tight enough he could quite possibly make out pantyline. Because Tahir would notice these things.
One other thing to be noticed is a man and woman at a table near them. In a carseat a happy chubby infant, starts to make noises and the good looking brunette that is the mother breaks off her conversation with her husband to pay attention to the infant, tickle the baby.
At another table, that newlywed couple, the groom reaches over to take his wifes hand but accidentally knocks over the glass of wine at his elbow enciting a flurry of waiters descending to take care of it all while another trio approach Savannah, Tahir and Koshka respectively to take drink orders.
Looking up from her scribbles, Savannah smiles warmly towards the waiter. The water glass she was sipping from is ignored, as she makes an order for a real drink. Her eyes catch on the brunette and her baby, a tiny smile given in their direction too. Mostly because babies are adorable. And Savannah has a (not so secret) love of babies.
Tahir ends up hanging up the phone in mid-conversation. Either because he was frustrated with the other person on the line or because he has managed to spot tight black pants that show off pantyline and that is all she wrote. He's sliding a hand through his hair when the waiter comes at him for a drink order and he orders a delicious Mojito to start things off with. And he also puts in an order for that pert blonde to have a 'whatever she wants' on him. Oh yeah, it's on.
The bag is placed under her chair, set out of the way and unlikely to be bothered, then Koshka sets herself in the chair. Her jacket is unzipped and arms pulled free of the sleeves to reveal a layered short and long sleeved t-shirt beneath, meanwhile she casually takes in those distant dining companions. The spilled wine draws a smirk, serves them right since it's not even 5 PM. When the waiter comes by her table, it's lemonade that's requested.
One mojito and a perky blonde, one lemonade, and what Savannah orders. THe trio of waiters/waitress's ease off at different times to go fulfill the order. At the table with the baby, fussing is becomes a bit more high pitched. Other people are looking and some not so happily. They don't seem to share Savannah's love of all things baby.
But within a few moments, the baby's cries are quieted with a subtle little ball of soft light that starts out like a pinprick above the infants carrier and eventually spreads out no wider than a palm, dividing up into little wriggling tendrils of multiple colors, attracting the infants attention and keeping it. The source: The mother.
The smile from Savannah widens as she watches the mother and the baby, as well as the use of ability. While, theoretically, there's nothing against that, the gears are turning in her head. Her gaze flickers to others in the immediate area. How would they react?
Tahir is trying to pay attention to the Perky Blonde when there is some stuff going down out of his peripheral. There is some light, which is obviously an ability of some sort, considering the way that baby's mother's hand is wiggling the tendrils. And it is right after Tahir's silent 'huh' does he go back to licking his lips at Perky. It is time to get those digits.
It's more the baby no longer crying that draws Koshka's attention to it. She'd seen the family in passing, just before sitting down, but passed them off as a typical family. So when the crying stops, the teenager becomes curious for why. The lights and tendrils brings a small grin to her face. Cool trick, and look, makes the kidlet happy too.
Savannah can see her waitress, in conversation with Tahir's waitress when she glances around. The two are talking, Tahir's server pointing to the couple and the baby, to the display of her ability in the air above the table. It's not good, she looks angry. The two part, one going to fill drinks and Tahir's server heading for the table that the trio are at.
Other people are paying attention too, the display of power not really something common but none seem to be unhappy with it. In fact a few kids at the other tables are riveted at what they see. It's fascinating more than the infant. The server quickly moves past Koshka, bumping into her table, sloshing over water and comes to a stop beside the woman. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you need to stop that or I'm going to have to ask you to leave" Her attitude, is evident.
The blonde author's eyes flicker quickly over to the waitress, and Savannah quirks an eyebrow. Well, restaurants have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason, but… then again, if there's discrimination, there can easily be a lawsuit. She shifts in her seat, trying her best to stay quiet, but she can't quite stomach it. "Excuse me, is there a problem?" She questions, her eyes glancing between the waitress and the mother.
Tahir is somewhere in the middle of trying not to pay attention to the dramatic stuff that is starting to go on not too far from him and his more important matters. But it's like a train wreck or something, because he can't keep himself from seeing what Savannah is going to be attempting when it comes to dealing with this Waitress of Doom. The Perky Blonde is going to have to go on the back burner for a moment. It's showtime.
"Whoop — Hey!" Koshka's apology at her shaken turns to protest and she half jumps as she pushes back to avoid the spilled water, only marginally successful. She's not completely soaked, but the walk home isn't going to be pleasant. Her brow furrows as she stands and brushes at the legs of her jeans, turning out a frown that's aimed at the waitress. The words the woman speaks only adds fuel to her already soured demeanor. Good thing Savannah had spoken up first, for now the teenager just glares.
The tendrils of glowing light don't dissipate, the mother doesn't do as requested by the waitress just lets her jaw drop in surprise at the audacity of the waitress. "Pardon me? Stop this?" The tendril'd ball of light moves up then back down within reach of the infant. "Sorry, I won't, it's keeping my baby quiet" Her husband bristles, thumb tapping on the table top as the two women talk.
But Savannah's inquiry causes the waitress to turn, focus her attention on Savannah. "Yes, there is. She's using her ability and it's making me uncomfortable. As you can see, she's refusing to stop it" She looks over to Tahir - pert blonde is parking her butt in her chair, settling in to talk with her girlfriends, compare nose jobs one might imagine. "I don't serve people who can't refrain from using their ability, it's just rude. WHy should they do this in front of me?" Back to the new family she turns, scowling at the light. "Ma'am. Really. Why are you doing it. You need to turn it off right now. This is ridiculous, you can't be doing that in here. You're offending me, and our patrons"
Savannah's eyes study the waitress to really take her in as she feels out the situation. "Her ability clearly isn't harmful, and I believe most of us over here would be more offended by a noisy child than from someone using a harmless ability to calm a child. If you're uncomfortable with the use of abilities, perhaps you can ask one of your co-workers to switch tables with you. I'm not sure exactly what you find so offensive or rude about it."
"Excuse me, ladies. I'll be right back after this brief commercial break." Tahir's initial words are to the pert blonde and the nose job brigade, before Tahir is getting himself up and starts to make his way over to where the commotion is likely to start. "Ladies, ladies, ladies. Let's see if we can't figure out a compromise here, before this gets uglier than Nell Carter as a Zombie, okay?" Tahir flashes his entertainment weekly smile. "I actually have already come up with the perfect solution to this problem." Dramatic pause. "Jello." Oh Tahir.
"Your face offends me," Koshka mutters in retort, arms folding across her chest. "What's rude is your behavior, and the way you're treating that family." Not to mention the spilled water. "There's no law against what she's doing, if anything — " Breaking from that train of thought, the teenager looks at Tahir, brows raising. Lips press together into a thin line and blue eyes return to the waitress. Let's see her answer to Jello.
"She's an evolved. Bad enough I have to serve them, but to have to go to her table while she is using her ability and just flashing it around and shoving it my face?" The waitress cocks her head, hands now on her hip, trapping her ordering pad there between hand and hip. THe mother still doesn't desist in her actions, it's garnering more than some attention from others, whispers at tables, even the nosejob quartet are looking.
But that might be because Tahir is joining into the fray with his offering of Jello. "Jello will not solve this issue Sir. She's using her ability. I want her to stop it offends me, and my behavior isn't rude. I can refuse to serve someone and ask them to leave if I feel like it and this woman and her family are offending me by flaunting her ability in my face"
Savannah clears her throat. "Ma'am, if you don't mind, can you please repeat back to me what you just said, replacing the word 'an Evolved' with your choice of the following words: Black, mentally challenged, or gay. That's discrimination against her as a human being, and frankly, it makes you a bigot. I respect the right of a restaurant to refuse to serve someone for any reason, but I believe everyone around me just witnessed what you said as clear discrimination and I very much doubt your place of employment would appreciate a lawsuit." Her eyes briefly flicker to Tahir, making only one remark in his direction. "You aren't helping."
"Technically… she's flaunting it in her kid's face. I'm just sayin'!" Tahir raises his hands up and tries to look as innocent as humanly possible. Which is pretty possible for someone with the Dunham Pout. That's right. He's pulling out the cuteness card. "Listen, I know you're tryin' to be all Pro-Evolved or whatever, but if this lady is feeling threatened, then don't you think that calling her names and telling her you're going to sue her place of employment is just going to make things worse? I dunno, I'm just asking." That was for Savannah, because Tahir is turning towards the Waitress of Bigotry next.
"And you, Ms. I'm Mad As Hell And I'm Not Gonna' Take It Anymore, I think you need to take a personal day. It's obvious that this woman is doing nothing but trying to keep her baby quiet, as to not disturb everyone else in this fine and totally awesome eating establishment. If that means she has to do a little light show, then let her do her light show. If you can't deal, then take the rest of the day off! Go out and get some fresh air! Meet a guy! And let some of us get back to trying to line up dates for the rest of the week!" Tahir looks back over his shoulder at the Nose Job Brigade.
Wink.
"Uh.. you don't have the right to not be offended," Koshka puts in. "And you can't just ask someone to leave because you feel like it. You need to have cause to tell someone to leave. And the little light show isn't hurting anything. Besides. Like she said," this is added with a nod toward Savannah, "you really want to risk your job over something like this? Or your boss' reputation?" Which, of course, could put her job at risk anyway.
It looks like the waitress just might retort, the mother at the table looks on the verge of breaking into tears and the husband/father pushes his chair back, prepared to start getting into the face of the waitress who's so obviously being a bigot.
And then from behind the door that leads to the kitchen, from down a hall adjacent to the bathroom comes a portly gentleman, black haired Mexican-American news correspondent for ABC with a jovial smile on his face, flanked by camera's.
"Hi" He comes to stand beside the waitress and in the midst of the small group that was starting to possibly turn nasty. Possibly. "Hi, I'm John Quiñones, this is for a show called What Would You Do?" He offers his hands out to Savannah, Tahir, Koshka.
The blonde author seems almost entirely shocked as Tahir keeps speaking. Your mouth is talking, Tahir, you might want to see to that. Savannah's eyebrows raise at him, a slight look of disgust crossing her features as she attempts to ignore him and focus on the mess at hand. And then, suddenly, all in one fell swoop, it's staged.
Savannah takes only the briefest millisecond to look almost as disgusted as she did in response to Tahir, before she offers a smile and a handshake to the news correspondent. She's seen things like this before, but if there's one thing about being in the public eye, you learn how to smile and fake it when you need to look good. And you always need to look good.
"OH HELL YEAH!"
Tahir Avery Dunham is moving right along to being all up in the camera at this point. Especially since he's slapping a five to the hand of John Q that was offered. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about! That's how you do it, baby!" Tahir moves around to throw his arm around John Q and even works on grabbing at the microphone. "Everybody! I want you to know, that this guy right here, is the man! That's all I gotta' say!" And now he's blowing kisses at the nearest camera. Oh brother.
"… wait do I still get the chicks? were they fake too?"
Mouth opens then closes again, and Koshka resorts to shaking herhead. Tahir's excitement over the outcome earns himself a look, are you serious?. The look becomes rather dubious as it turns to the host. "Great," she offhands, stooping to gather up her bag.