Mike's Diner - SoHo - Manhattan

The diner is a simple affair. The food here might not be great, but it's not bad, and it's not horribly expensive either. Vinyl booths are set up, back to back, along the plate glass window overlooking the street. Old school jukeboxes are mounted at each table, with a selection of songs (none more recent than the early 1980s, however) available for only a quarter apiece.

Opposite the long window, a formica counter is set up, spinning stools lined up along it. Behind the counter is space available for the waitstaff to wander, and a large blackboard above the passthrough to the kitchen lists off the food available here along with the prices, for those who can't be bothered with the menus offered at each table.

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The diner isn't terribly busy, the dinner rush having ended about twenty minutes ago. The door opens and Fox enters. He's not wearing his usual army gettup, but is instead wearing a button down khaki shirt with the top few buttons undone. A bit of bandaging can be seen beneath his shirt, indicating he may have injured himself recently. He frowns up at the menu for a few moments before the waitress stops by. He smiles at her "Heya darlin' don't ya offer beer at this joint?" His voice carries a strongly Australian accent, but most people mistake him for British. The waitress just laughs at him, assuming him to be flirting.

Rogue is here already, sitting at a booth near the counter, idly playing with her fork so that it clangs repeatedly against the table. As the man enters, she looks up out of an absent sort of curiosity. When he tries to order a beer, she arches an eyebrow and lets out a bit of a snort. And then she gets a little over-enthusiastic with her fork and accidentally catapults her knife right off the edge of the table with a clatter.

Fox gives the waitress an annoyed look and tries to get her to shut up as she prattles on about some friend of hers that...Oh he doesn't care right now. He raises his voice a touch. "Would ye shut yer bloody trap, miss?" There is the clatter of a knife hitting the floor which causes Fox to turn around, assuming that his mild outburst caused the knife tossing. He looks to the girl at the table and smirks a bit, jutting his thumb at the fuming waitress and shaking his head. He turns back to the waitress, holding up his hand to silence her. "Look, sweet-pea, just get me a coffee. Spit in it and I'll have yer head, got it?" She just glares at him as he stands up and heads toward Rogue's table. He bends down and picks up the knife. "Drop this, miss?"

"Thanks," Rogue replies, reaching out to deftly pluck the knife while keeping her own glove-covered hand as far from his where he holds it, but doing so with such practice as to make it seem just a little off. "You got a real way with the ladies," she adds with a bit of a smirk, nodding her head towards the counter. "Ah dunno if Ah'd trust that coffee to be entirely spittle-free." Her voice is rich with its own accent, hers Southern in nature. But for all her drawling about the plight of the waitress, she can't be said to care overly much.

Fox chuckles a bit as she takes the knife with extreme care. "Aw now miss, I don't bite." He turns to look at the waitress again, realizing she's right next to him. She slams a coffee cup down and pours him a mug. "Asshole" is all she mutters as she turns and walks away. Fox smirks at the girl "Aw thank ya, miss. Have a grand day." He looks back down at his mug, which the waitress has placed on Rogue's table. "Erm...Mind if I have a seat, miss?"

"That ain't what Ah'm worried about," Rogue replies simply and slightly mysteriously, but then she just watches with vague amusement as the waitress storms about getting the man his coffee. She considers his question for a moment before shrugging and just waving a gloved hand towards the empty side of the booth. "Maybe Ah'll pick up some of your tricks on how to win friends and influence people."

Fox sits down, staring incredulously at his coffee. "Ah yeah, I'm a real charmer." He grins at her. His lower lip is slightly swollen. Add that to his bandaged chest, and one would probably correctly assume that he was in a fight recently. Fox decides that his coffee is probably not poisoned and adds a bit of sugar before taking a swig. "Ah, how refreshing." He sounds a little sarcastic. "I mean honestly. Why don't you Yanks offer beer at places like this? What if I wanted some grog with me..." He glances at the menu quickly "With me eggs n' toast?"

"Watch who you're callin' a yank there, Jeeves," Rogue warns lightly as she brushes a white strand back from her face. Giving up playing with her cutlery, she instead stirs the straw in her soda absently. "As for why there ain't no beer, well, 'fraid some folks never quite got over prohibition, Ah guess. Ah'm sure it's hard to get through a plate of eggs without alcohol, but Ah reckon you'll make it alive." Her gaze flickers keenly over him, no doubt taking in those badges of honour from the recent fight, but she says nothing, just allows her lingering look to speak for her there.

Fox chuckles. "Sorry there, miss. Assumed you was from the states." He makes a slightly confused face. "Jeeves, eh? Naw, me name's Fox." He takes another draught of coffee, noticing that Rogue is looking at his face. He runs his hand across his mouth, checking to see if he had food stuck in his facial hair or something. His feels his swollen lip and chuckles a bit. "Ah, yer noticed me mug, eh?" He shakes his head. "Got into a bit of a scrap last night. Some speedy little bastard. Got in a few punches 'fore I knew he was comin'." He shrugs. That wasn't quite the whole story...but it's all she needs to know.

"Ah'm from the South," Rogue half-explains, putting particular significance on that Southerness. "If you're gonna call me a yank, Ah'm gonna call you Jeeves. Otherwise, my name's Rogue." And if there's any recognition of that being a strange name for a young lady, she doesn't even pause to show it. As he explains the fight, she just nods knowingly - until, that is, he gets to the 'speedy' part. That gets an arched eyebrow before she shakes it off. "Speedy, huh? Well, can't say Ah don't know what that's like."

Fox nods, rubbing his face a little still. "Ah, Rogue then. Nice ta meet ya." To him, Rogue seems like a slightly odd name, but then again, he is from Australia. Perhaps naming your children odd adjectives is all the rage in America. And apparently the south is not in America? Fox is mildly confused, but decides just to sip his coffee as the girl talks. He makes a contemplative face as she mentions that she knows what it's like. He sniggers a bit at this "Oh no miss, he was really quite fast...Er maybe I was just really too slow. The OTHER place actually HAD beer." He shoots the waitress a nasty look as he says this, though she is not paying attention to him in the least.

Rogue's eyes narrow with a slight sort of suspicion now as Fox insists the other man's speed. "Like ... unnaturally fast? That sorta fast?" she inquires, seeming to be going somewhere or at least drawing some sort of conclusion awfully quickly. "And by other place, you mean a bar? Or did you actually find a diner that served beer?" She leaves off stirring her straw to sit back in her seat, watching Fox expectantly. "Maybe you were just drunk," she suggests helpfully, as to why he was too slow.

Fox shakes his head and contemplates how to answer these questions, deciding to answer the second first. "Naw, 'twas a bar. If I found a place that served eggs n' beer I'd never leave." He smirks and looks the girl over, hesitating before answering the first question about the boy's speed. "And erm...Yeah, actually I was probably a bit tanked by then." Something about his answer is unconvincing. He avoids eyecontact with Rogue and drinks a bit more of his coffee.

"You're a shitty liar," Rogue states flatly, as she watches Fox unwaveringly. "So the guy, he /was/ fast," she concludes, beginning to look a little, well, annoyed. "The hell were you two fightin' about anyway?" she asks as she fixes Fox with that unflinching stare, just enough threat to her expression to suggest she expects to hear the truth on this one. "Lemme guess: somethin' stupid?"

Fox gags a bit as he inhales some of his coffee, caught a bit off-guard by Rogue's reaction. He wipes a bit of coffee off his chin and narrows his eyes at the girl. She was asking allot of questions about this boy, and it sounded almost as if she knew who Fox was talking about. He leans forward slightly, studying her expression. "What's it ta you, miss? And why'zit matter how fast tha' bloke was, eh?" He fixes her with an equally intimidating stare.

Rogue doesn't quail in the slightest as Fox fixes her with that stare, just arches an eyebrow slightly as if to express skepticism. "Let's just assume it matters," she replies simply, studying him as he studies her. "And while we're at it, let's assume it's somethin' to me. You got beat up by someone uncannily fast, and for whatever reason, it's somethin' to me. Now Ah'm wonderin' what it was you were fightin' about."

Fox stares at Rogue for a few minutes longer, trying to decide what to tell her. "Well..." He looks around the dinor, making sure no one is within earshot, but still decides a vague answer is best. He leans back a bit, to his previous relaxed position, smirking a bit at the girl. "Let's just say...I mistook him for somethi...er...someONE he wasn't." He takes a long swig of his coffee. "An' once I realized who he was, things were just peachy." He watches her closely, wondering whether she'll accept that answer. "An' again...I never said he was luncannily fast.l" He makes little air quotes.

"Right, right, your ass is covered, whatever," Rogue dismisses his air quotes without much concern. "You /mistook/ him for something. Which means he wasn't that. Which means either Ah'm barkin' up the wrong tree, or you were ... lookin' for something most people ain't." She can also play at the vague game, and she plays to win. She meets his gaze levelly, at any rate, studying him right back in turn. It's like a very intense poker game or something.

Fox shakes his head, swallowing the last of his coffee before answering. "Actually I said he was someONE I thought he wasn't." He stares right back at her. Interestingly, no one seems to be paying attention to their odd little staring contest. "But hypothetically, let's say I was lookin' for someth...someone who this bloke turned out to not be. Who says I was lookin' for someone that was out o' the ordinary. If I mistook someone for somethin' they turned out not to be, and what they turned out not to be was, in fact, not a normal person, then was I in fact looking for someone who is not what most people are in the first place?" He wonders if that was clear...or just severely confusing to Rogue.

"Ah never meant that you were lookin' for someone outta the ordinary for sure. Ah meant that either you were lookin' for somethin' most people don't go lookin' for. But to cut short the bullshit, either this guy's outta the ordinary, or Ah was thinkin' of the wrong someone," Rogue replies, apparently managing to at least figure out where that was supposed to be going. "But you already didn't not say that he was uncannily fast. Guess that means you were lookin' for somethin' - or someone - who weren't."

Fox plays with his empty coffee cup a bit, contemplating what she just said. "Well..." She was thinking of someone. "This would indicate that you know someone who is 'uncannily fast', yourself..." He narrows his eyes again, looking at her white lock of hair as though trying to decide something. "But what was I lookin' for? Just a bit o' fun is all...From someone decidedly slower than the one I ended up with." He nods. "And like I said, once I realised he wasn't what I were lookin' for, things cooled down a bit."

"And so what if Ah do?" Rogue asks challengingly, her expression still unwavering, but she can't help subconsciously tucking that lock of white hair back behind her ear again as she sees him eyeing it. "But if we're talkin' in hypotheticals, let's say Ah do know someone fast, and this someone is also exactly the sorta someone to end up in a barroom brawl over somethin' stupid. And maybe Ah'm gonna hafta kill him 'cause he should know better than that." Seems she's pretty much made up her mind as to who it was. Her eyebrow arches again. "A bit of fun? Ah don't get it."

Well, Fox has to admit that she seems to describe the guy pretty much as Fox remembers him. He smirks slightly, deciding a name couldn't hurt. "Well...It wasn't exactly in a public place. This was after I got out of the bar. He seemed a bit too young to be enterin' a pub. He looked abou'" He looks Rogue up and down quickly "Well he looked to be abou' your age anyway." He nods. "And let's hypothetically..." He stops for a moment. "HYPOTHETICALLY call him Sid." He eyes her again. "And my idea of fun is...Well...Involves." He looks around again. "Its complicated." As an afterthought, he adds "But I kind o' deserved to get socked around a bit, I s'pose." Just in case she does know the boy, and just in case she does have homocidal tendencies.

"Sid, huh?" Rogue replies, smirking and rolling her eyes heavenward. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Hope you didn't tell /him/ he looked too young to be in a bar." Then again, she knows it ended in fisticuffs, so how much worse could it have become? "Complicated? That don't really explain much at all. But Ah guess you don't owe me any explanation. Sounds like Ah was right 'bout it bein' a stupid reason you two were fightin'. Though Ah can't say that Ah don't relate. Whatever you might have deserved."

Fox chuckles and pretends to be interested in the drying contents of his mug. "Actually...I may have called him...Um...A scrawny little kid or something. " He chuckles again. "Granted...I kind of expected him to...not beat the bejeezus out of me." Upon realizing that Rogue seems to know 'Sid', and realizing that she knows about his speed issues and seems not to care, he decides to elaborate slightly on his 'complication'. "Well...my fun sometimes involves...Picking on people assume to be unworthy. I just made a mistake this time. Thought he was...a less advanced individual." He flashes her a grin.

"Oh Christ, you're lucky you can still walk upright," Rogue says, shaking her head a little. "Ah guess maybe you did kinda have it comin'," she allows readily. "You really /do/ got a way with people, doncha." She listens to his explanation, that eyebrow lifting again as she considers this. "Huh," is all she says for a moment. "So you're ... advanced? Or just one of those self-hatin' sorts?" She doesn't seem too concerned about him picking on people, though she also doesn't exactly chime in to agree either.

Fox chuckles again. "Well, I didn't exactly walk away untouched." He rubs his chest a little and upon hearing her question as to whether or not he's 'advanced' he makes a quick decision. He reaches over tentatively and knocks over the salt shaker spilling a bit of it on the table. He looks around a bit, nonchalantly. Pretending to stretch as he does so, though this just causes him to wince a bit from his injuries. Deciding the coast is clear, he leans forward again, holding his hand out over the salt grains. The salt begins to move around a bit, not much, just enough to be noticeable. He doesn't want to do anything that may look too odd to anyone who might happen to look over. "You might say I'm a bit 'advanced'." He stops swirling the salt and throws a bit over his shoulder, grinning at Rogue.

"Yeah, well, Ah think you mighta got off light, considerin'," Rogue replies with a shrug, though this seems to be more an observation than an opinion that he should have been hurt worse for it. She sits back again, watching his demonstration impassively, though her eyebrows do lift a bit at the end. "Just a bit, huh?" She studies him a moment, before, without breaking eye contact, picking up her Coke to have a drink. "Ah guess Ah can see how you two mighta hit it off after things were made clear and all."

Fox 's grin widens a bit. "Yeah, well I can take care o' meself. If I'd been expectin' him to move that fast, I'm sure things would have ended differently...Or rather...Wouldn't have escalated in the firs' place." He scratches the back of his head. "An'...Actually I think I may have confused the bloke." He brushes his chest a bit with his hand. "Used to a few bangs an' bruises here an' there. I think he wasn't expectin' me to be ok with the fact that he cracked me ribs." Fox shrugs and brushes his hand across the table, sending the remaining salt to the floor, though without the use of his powers this time.

"Ah dunno. He's pretty wily," Rogue says simply, though she does seem to have a certain degree of faith in this unnamed person's fighting ability. "Sounds to me like you both were confused. Suppose it's just as well you figured a way to work it out. Ah'm sure the last thing you need is to get outed over a stupid bar fight. And Ah /know/ that's the last thing he needs." Because then she'd have to kill him, and that would be awful inconvenient.

Fox nods agreeably, "I s'pose that would have turned out badly...Though I try to make sure no one's within eyeshot of me when I go all cranky...Usually." Granted he did just display his powers to a stranger. Though she seemed fine with mutants and it was such a small display of his powers that no one nearby could have feasibly realizes what he was doing. He raises his eyebrow a bit at the way she speaks about 'Sid'. Fox chuckles a bit awkwardly. "Well...Like I said, was kind o' my fault there. Don't go castratin' the poor boy on my account, eh?"

"You wanna pick fights with folks, that's your business. But you might wanna be careful there. People round here are just sorta lookin' for an excuse to lynch someone unusual-like. You gotta be smart about it," Rogue advises, leaning in a bit and dropping her voice a little. As to Sid's plight, she just sits back with a shrug. "Ah ain't decided how Ah'm gonna deal with him yet, but you can rest assured he'll get what he deserves and deserve what he gets. But it's good of you to step up like that, anyway."

Fox nods a bit, hoping Sid wont come hunting him down for making his friend or sister or wife angry. He smirks at the girl. "Oh I'll keep that in mind...The bein' careful part anyway." He shakes his head. "I tend to...only do that when I get in a bad mood." He looks a bit shifty. "I'd been reading some o the old newsies from 'round here and was a bit pissed off, honestly." He offers a weak smile.

"Well, Ah wouldn't know nothin' 'bout bad moods, clearly," Rogue states wryly. "Can't say Ah blame you for bein' pissed off. Just, y'know, make sure'n pick your battles and all. And maybe try'n not attack someone who ain't who or what you're expectin'," she adds with a smirk, taking another sip of her Coke and then rattling the ice cubes a bit. "Then again, Ah sorta gotta be careful as a matter of course," she allows with a shrug, flexing a gloved hand as she sets the glass back down.

Fox chuckles slightly. "Well, next time I cross someone, I'll make sure they deserve it...rather than just assuming they do." He notices her flexing her hand as she mentions her own need to be careful and inquires, "Oh, 'sat so, eh?" Come to think of it, it is a bit warm to be wearing gloves, but fox is wearing a pair himself. Maybe she's a biker or something.

"That sounds like a wise plan," Rogue comments with a bit of a smirk, shaking the glass again before slurping up the last bit of Coke and melted ice. "Yep," she replies simply to his question, her expression now gone inscrutable. "And Ah should probably be gettin' back. No rest for the wicked and all that." She digs in her pocket and comes up with a crumpled bill and a few loose coins, enough to cover her drink and a very modest tip.

Fox nods, accepting her answer and inquiring no further. He looks over at the window and notices that it's getting a bit dark. "Right-o, miss. 'spose I should head out, too." He digs out some change from his own pocket, pulling out just enough for the coffee and no tip. Like that waitress deserved anything more than a slap in the face. He stands. "Well, 'twas nice ter meet ya, miss. Try not to kill Sid, eh?"

"Probably not this time around, but Ah make no promises," Rogue states simply, as to whether or not she's going to kill dear Sid. Her tone is light but she's not entirely joking either. "Take care now," she bids as she rises from the table, and tossing off a quick wave, heads for the door.

Fox stretches and turns to head out as well...But not before shooting the waitress a venomous look.  He doubts he'll come back to this place. Fox decides maybe a beer is in order.

Current Mood: cranky