Bluff Stern Greasy spoon

Work ran long. Work always fucking ran long. She was all sweat and grease as she threw herself at a table near the door. A pile of cooling onion rings sat coagulating on a plate, a shapeless splatter of horseradish sauce on the side.

Smearing a somewhat softened hunk of breaded onion into the horseradish, she fixed her eyes in a squint on the door. She didn't know this person's name, or what they looked like, or anything. But she didn't need it.

Grace could pick out another psychic from a mile away, almost predatory in her keenness. Her irises were a dark grape purple, betraying the supernatural focus happening here. She just needed someone to roll in with that wave, some near ripple around them like the air above hot asphalt.

The moment she spotted him, Grace thrust two fingers into her mouth and gave a shrill whistle.

It didn't disturb the din of this shithole one bit.

"Ayy-eeee! Over here."

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outfit, but that blouse ain't that clean

outfit

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He was not sure how well he fit into this place. A little out of touch with the rowdy crowds that mingled past and around him. He supposed it was a good thing he was not here to mingle with them. Although it did summon some small concern for what sort of person he might be meeting.

Then someone was whistling at...him? Maybe? No one else seemed to be paying them much mind. So hesitantly one hand would raise to point a finger at his own chest as he stared at the stranger.

He hadn't texted anyone yet so it certainly felt odd to be singled out.

Was that like, a sports coat or the regular kind? He was young and decently tall and a dude. Fucking nose ring buddies, except she had hers out for work. (Tips were better that way.)

She gave an enthusiastic nod to his questioning gestures. Yes, you. If this wasn't the right guy she'd drag him into the conversation anyway.

"Guy from the email?" she asked, picking up an onion ring and finding nine others stuck to it. She shook it free, sitting perched at her table but leaning in a little toward him.

Grace distrusted men, but he looked like a soft one. She flashed him a big smile before she put the food into her mouth.

Guy. Email.

That would be him, wouldn't it?

Sheepishly he'd smile back as he moved through a few crowded clumps of people. "Yes." He finally responded when he was close enough to not have to whistle or yell over any noise. "You are...." Trailed off as he finally realized he didn't have a proper name for her. While she had called him "Guy from the email" he didn't feel so bold as to call her "Girl from the email."

There was a smile! She wiped her hands against her apron, upon which there curiously already existed dirty hand marks. Wonder why!

"Grace," she said, offering a freshly cleaned hand out to shake. If he took it, her grip would be fierce, hecklingly so. She could crunch soft types between her teeth if she thought about it enough. "Expert on all psychic bullshit. Tell me what you want to know and I'll even give you an onion ring."

She slid the plate closer to the center of the table, an invitation for him to sit.

"Somchai." Returned as he'd kindly partake in the handshake. Although his grip would not compare to hers at all, hardly a fraction of the power she had.

Just like a well behaved dog, he'd sit when the plate was moved forward. Sort of...mindlessly following her lead in all of this. Far more malleable than he wished to be, than he knew he was. "I suppose I just...do not truly know where to start." Which stung to admit some. Especially with how he had worked to have Fin place some trust in him. "The proper steps to take to insure safety for anyone involved in things." Maybe he was asking for too much. However she did say she was an expert on all psychic bullshit.

Somchai. Sumchai. Samchai. She chewed on his name in her brain a little, finding something nice in the unfamiliarity of it.

His questions were very Serious Man Questions. Worried about safety and all that. Grace folded an onion ring in half before smearing it in sauce and crunching it into her mouth. She thought and chewed for a few seconds, considering.

"Step one, you figure out who you wanna pact with," she said. "Don't waste your time with rookies unless you want to be holding them up forever while they learn their powers and shit."

There was fun in that, but not if you wanted a pact.

"Then you all gotta practice together. Not just one time, but like, a lot. Test powers on each other, on other things, whoever. Figure out what everyone's side effects are because that's important later."

Was...was he technically a rookie? He used a power to understand her, but he also seemed to have developed something new that he did not have a full grip on. He didn't say anything, though. Just stayed silent and listened as she laid it all out. So confident and informed that maybe it settled in some sort of jealousy that was a mere ember.

Then she went on about side effects and the importance of them for later. Although before he explored why those were important, he supposed he should elaborate and ask something else.

"And if someone had...multiple powers and side effects?"

Were there special circumstances for such a situation?

Have an onion ring, shy boy! She nudge the plate forward more, a wordless offer, but an increasingly pushy one.

"They'll all show up," she said, wiping her greasy palms against her apron again. "But you learn to be clever. Like, I start to zone the fuck out, so I started tying my hand to someone else's so that I couldn't accidentally let go and break the chain if I started slipping."

Zoning out was the polite way to describe the kind of utter confusion she could fall into. Grace was known for being real polite!

They all show up. His face would go numb, his skull would ache from a migraine and he would overall be smothered by exhaustion. It would be an awful time. Although he supposed it could be worse. Surely he wouldn't need to resort to tying his hands to someone else.

Delicately he'd take an onion ring then indulged in it. It was awful when eating a little something reminded you how hungry you were.

"I take it you are not a 'rookie' then." Meant to be a compliment as he hummed it with a tiny smile.

She felt a little like she was feeding a wild animal. C'mon, buddy, the onion ring won't hurt ya!

Somchai used her words (or word) and she grinned. Grace hadn't been given a fuckload of powers, but she had a damn good handle on the one she'd been given.

"Nah. Spent a lot of time and practice hours getting my shit together," she said. "What about you?"

"I am able to communicate with you due to my power. Plenty of practice." An almost playful smile creeping over his features. Although a handle would raise to rub his jaw gently. The creeping of a numb feeling was never welcomed.

"However I have something new recently...Perhaps I am a rookie again?" Which would be a horrible way to be labeled and perhaps keep him from going forward with any sort of pact but...that might be for the best. Then he could just focus on him and Finn.

That was something. Communicating with her because of a power? The power of human speech? They all had that, buddy. She was pretty sure these were telepathic magic messages because the sound was different.

"What. What all powers you got?" she asked.

Also, look at this tall lanky motherfucker smiling. Grace brought out the best in everyone, obviously.

He did not know any sort of actual names for what he did. So...he would risk boring her with his clumsy descriptions.

"I, uh, automatically know most languages it seems. No learning." Which proved to be a useful thing to flip on and off sometimes. "And recently I..." Could he prove it now? A moment of thought given before he found no real pathway appearing. "Can communicate in minds." A fickle thing.

Grace's eyes bulged. Mind reader in any language. That was unbelievable, and she gaped before the excitement rolled in.

"Fuck, dude. Can you read my mind right now?"

She was thinking "Eat more onion rings, motherfucker" in various sing-song loops. In case you were wondering.

He wondered if it was easier when asked to do it. As if that already opened up some sort of path that was hidden from him. Truthfully, he didn't have a clue. Still he closed his eyes and put some deeper thought into it. It almost felt like forcing his way through a crowd.

Only to be greeted with a loop of Eat more onion rings, motherfucker.

Which was a bit harsh! However he tried to close down the reading as quickly as he good. A dull ache already mounting in the back of his skull. Was it from the power usage or perhaps the tone she had been mentally chanting in?

"Eat more onion rings, ah, motherfucker." The end a bit more hushed as he let a small smile linger on his features. Tired and impressed. More focused on bragging than doing as her mind had said.

Her brain focused on that steady chant as he closed his eyes, the cartoon picture of someone concentrating. She stared him down, interested, purple-eyed, impatient and patient all at once. The din of the restaurant around them fell irrelevant in this moment of focus between them.

And then he got it, that little smile sticking around.

"Fuck yeaaah, Somchai!" she crowed, raising a fist into the air. "Can you tune into a whole crowd or would your head explode?"

His face would heat and blush from some mild embarrassment. He wasn’t sure he had ever been praised in the way she had. However he’d try to smush down the feelings with another onion ring. A small one that seemed sadly overcooked. Not that that had deterred him any.

"I do not think I can read a whole room. I imagine it would make my skull split, though." Partially literal and partial theoretical. If a migraine was bad enough could it truly do such damage? The pain might lead him to believe so.

"I’m glad you’re impressed." It always felt nice to be appreciated.

She could only imagine a whole room's worth of thoughts. Or maybe it would be a bit like it was now: a lot of voices of varying volume and flair. Trying to listen to every single one at once was a lost cause, but focusing on one particular speaker could bring out lurid details.

Grace could assume this skull splitting was pain, though. She'd seen that kind of pain before, pushed people into it, through it, past it for the sake of magic bullshit. She bet she could bully Somchai through it too, if he let her.

He was getting all sheepish about it and she smirked, crunching another onion ring in half, letting some slithery, tender strand of onion get sucked out of the crispy half-circle and into her mouth. Chomp chomp.

"Mind reading's fucking impressive," she said. "So why you asking bout pacts? You got something in mind?"

"I would like to be a part of one. If it can be done." No hesitation and all honesty. He had already considered this. It was why he had put out the feelers and sought to learn more. "I found one other but...I worry that he might not work now. I think he fits the rookie idea you gave." Which was utterly a shame, really. He adored Finn from what he knew of the other man. However he didn't wish to possibly push him too far or cause any damage. He seemed like he was still getting the hang of his animal control or that was how Somchai had interpreted it.

A bit of an uncomfortable crossroad to be at.

She nodded, then dipped the empty tube of fried batter into the horseradish and folded it into her mouth. Then she began to swipe her hands together to clear the crumbs, talking through what little food remained in her mouth.

"Gives you two options. Let him hang out and get stronger when he can and focus on getting you into a pact. Or you try to give him your best Rocky training montage and see what he can do."

Swallowing, Grace gave a shrug.

"I tend to lean toward the first one unless he's real ambitious."

How awful to decide someone's possible fate when they weren't even around. Although he did not understand her second option entirely. The reference lost on him but the meaning clear enough.

"Do you think I would be able to help him better if I was in a pact?"

She crunched her face up for a second before shrugging and shaking her head at the same time.

"Probly not. His chance of getting better is on him more than you. Some people don't want to push hard enough."

Grace didn't have a lot of fondness for quitters, but it remained to be seen how much of Somchai's friend's deal was inexperience.

"I see." It made sense. He supposed he just liked to think that there was more he could do. Provide something that maybe someone had been missing until now.

"Would you keep me in mind? If you start something?" He would understand if she wanted someone else or even had others lined up. Still, he hoped it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Grace decided she liked Somchai. Soft spoken men were a lot easier to tolerate than loudmouths. He seemed to have a grasp on his shit, and he was looking out for this rookie, too.

Good signs.

"Hell yeah," she said. "Hit me up if you want to practice anything, yeah? Even with your rookie."

"I will, I promise." His smile now broad enough to show teeth. Even if she had a certain streak of boldness that he could not rise to, he appreciated her all the same. "Thank you, Grace." He'd hum before he'd seek to depart with a little nod.