[FIN] Welcome to Hell

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sunlight reflected off vehicles as they drove through the city, blinding unsuspecting - or dumb - passersby as they hurried along the sidewalks. Normally Sync didn't pay attention to such people, but he did today, if only for the sole reason he didn't have to worry about it because of the nice pair of sunglasses he'd lifted from some sap. If he couldn't pay attention to his things, he didn't deserve to keep them. They were the only new thing he had that day - well, new for him - and even though he'd done plenty of window shopping on his day off, he hadn't seen anything he wanted. Not that he would buy anything even if he did.

It was around lunchtime by then and so he instead began idly scanning the street for restaurants as he walked along, hands shoved in his pockets. Hmm, where to eat, where to eat... Price didn't matter too much, given he wasn't really planning on paying anyway - or if he had to, not much - and so each restaurant or cafe he saw got equal attention.

Until he saw Meat Palace, that was. He halted and stared up at it, a wide, amused smirk slowly forming on his face. Meat Palace? Seriously? They seriously named a restaurant Meat Palace? Really?

Decision unquestionably made, Sync headed towards the restaurant, debating on his approach as he opened the door and entered. He carefully smoothed his expression into one of mostly quiet amusement as he removed his sunglasses and hung them from the collar of his shirt, and looked around the interior of the place.  

[TawnyAngel]

So far it had been a pretty awful day; Sarah was off sick and the new guy who was supposed to start today hadn't shown up, trying to call people up last minute so far hadn't worked and so everyone on the floor was running around like mad. They were keeping their heads above water though and so far today the tips had been okay so that was a plus, also adorable middle aged ladies who he was convinced were a couple no matter what John said.

Taavi had just finished cleaning down a table when a new customer walked in and seen as everyone else was epicly busy he hurried over to the green-haired man. "Hello there, welcome to Meat Palace! I'm Mark," ugh, "and I'll be serving you today. Will anyone else be joining you today, and do you need any seats for small pokemon?"

As usual for work Taavi had his hair pulled back in a thick plait and was dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt with the dark red apron of Meat Palace around his waist; he was smiling too and not even in a plastic sort of way, more in a slightly harried and faintly hopeful way. Please let this guy not be an a*****e! He looked kinda... ehhhhh... welllll... smug? Kinda. Maybe he just had a naturally 'amused at your expense' set to his face though.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh dear, they looked quite busy - either that or understaffed, or possibly both - and like some of them were running around like headless Pidgey. And here was a poor little Pidgey come to seat him, and apparently serve as his waiter. Poor guy didn't know what he'd just signed himself up for. Should he use his idiot brother's voice? Yes, yes he should. The idiot was here in Kodo somewhere, and since this guy didn't seem to recognize him in any way he could only assume they'd never met. That would make their first meeting - second for this 'Mark' guy - quite interesting. Sync was almost disappointed that he probably wouldn't see it, if it even happened. "Thank you," Sync said in a voice that was distinctly his youngest brother's voice and not his own, and tried his very best to not seem rude -- yet. "Just me, thank you," he said and folded his hands in front of him, looking prepared to follow Mark to wherever he'd seat his new customer. Meat Palace though, seriously? Sync decided either he needed to say 'Meat Palace' a lot, or get Mark to. Would it make him uncomfortable? Hm, maybe not - he didn't seem terribly new, so that might not do much.  

[TawnyAngel]

Just the one? Well that always made life a little easier; Taavi smiled and nodded acknowledgement. "Okay, this way then please!"

Taavi led the way to a small table off to one side of the restaurant floor and indicated it to his guest. "Have you ever been to Meat Palace before?" he asked, and he wasn't sure why you always had to ask because it wasn't like it was complicated; choose your food, wait for your server to come over and take your order, wait for food. Oh well, the powers that be said he had to and he didn't plan to wander off the script.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sync followed after Mark quietly, internally debating how best to mess up this waiter's life - or at least his next forty to sixty minutes, preferably with longterm repercussions - so when they halted beside a relatively small table on one side of the restaurant, Sync offered Mark his very best 'sad apologetic puppy idiot' face; he'd had a lot of practice with that one too. "Would it be all right if I had a bigger table? At a booth, preferably," he added, then a moment or two later added another specification, "in a corner or against the wall, please. And no, I haven't been to," ha, "Meat Palace before."  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh no, really? Really? One person wanted a booth all to himself at lunchtime? There was a free booth nearby but it was meant to seat four or five... but The Customer was King, he couldn't really say no. "Oh, um, sure thing," Taavi replied, looking only slightly taken aback by the request and gesturing to the empty booth. "Would this be alright for you? Um, and the menus are on the table there for you. Our special deal this week is a free upgrade to curly fries or waffle fries with any meal."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Hm, he hadn't seemed too put out by the request, and even had a free table nearby. That was almost a little disappointing, given he could've given him s**t for not having the table he wanted ready yet, but then again they almost assuredly wouldn't kick a group of customers out just to satisfy one customer, so maybe this was better. "That's perfect, thank you," Sync said as he moved over to the booth and sat himself down right in the middle of, and stretched himself out a bit to be comfortable. Free upgrade to curly or waffle fries, hmm? "I see," he said curiously as he picked up a menu and looked over it for a moment or two, then put it down and looked up at Mark expectantly. "What dishes would you suggest?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh great what was he now a lifestyle coach? Uuuuugh. There was nothing to do but grin and bear it though, be super super helpful and maybe it would all be over soon. He really needed a new job. Why didn't anywhere call him back?

"Oh, um, well...." Taavi took his notepad out of his apron pocket and flicked back through a few previous orders for ideas. "Well I guess it depends how hungry you are? Um, the mixed grill is good but that's pretty big. I can recommend the half rack of ribs too! You can get that with wet rub or dry. The Royal Burger is very popular too; it comes in a brioche bun and you get get brie cheese, blue cheese, or chedder on it instead of normal burger cheese. You can get fries or a side salad with all of those, and the mixed grill also has mushrooms and tomatoes." Hopefully the guy would just go for one of those but Taavi's initial hope that this would be an easy table was dwindling rapidly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ohh, he didn't have a list of suggestions memorized? Didn't restaurants normally have a list of suggestions they shoved down their waitstaff's throats to regurgitate to the customers on demand? If they didn't, then this was quite an interesting restaurant - or a really low-scale one, but really, Meat Palace? - and if they did but this guy didn't know them off the top of his head... Well. "Ah, I see," Sync said as he raised his menu again and slowly found each of those suggestions on the menu, taking his sweet time as he did so, then pointed out a couple more items on it, none of which were the ones suggested, "What about these ones? Are they any good?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Yeah, this was going to be a rough one wasn't it? Ugh, why had he had to spot the guy and take him on? Not that he'd wish a trial on any of his coworkers but... egh, just get it over with.

Taavi focused on being patient and explained each item as it was pointed out; a pulled pork sandwich, the enormous Mighty Tauros Steak, and a couple of others. "They're all good," Taavi concluded with what he hoped was a helpful smile, "but, um, but careful of the chicken wing roulette if you're not into spicy food! The Inferno Wings that are hidden in there are seriously hot." He loved the things, a fact that had apparently won the respect of several of his colleagues. Quite why eating ridiculously spicy things was something to respect he'd never understood but he wasn't going to turn down cool points!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well well, he'd somehow managed to get through all of that without faltering too much. Sync managed to keep a perfectly straight face as he innocently asked, in Ion's voice of course, for one of the very first things Mark had suggested in the very beginning. That, coupled with a soda with light ice, completed his order -- for now. Internally he debated whether or not to put this guy through hell over dessert too, but wasn't sure if the waiter would last that long.

After the waiter finally left with his order, Sync watched carefully for wherever he went, waiting patiently for him to come around again - specifically to walk past his table - and once he came close enough and wasn't looking down, the grunt darted his foot out across the floor for a brief moment, just long enough to try and trip him, then retracted it just as quickly. With any luck, he'd completely trip and drop everything he was carrying - bonus points if any of it landed on other customers or tables - without even realizing what happened.  

[TawnyAngel]

Well that was over for now! It could have been worse really he guessed, the guy was just a bit spoiled maybe? He didn't have time to think any more about that though, they were still insanely busy.

For a little while Taavi carried on working as normal; an order of burgers went to one table, he collected empty plates from another, and then set out with another tray of food for a table of six. If he hadn't been carrying a heavy tray in both hands he probably would have recovered his balance when his foot caught on something but as it was-

Crash!

Food and plates went everywhere as Taavi tripped over and sprawled on the floor with a yelp of surprise and pain. He sat up quickly stammering apologies to the guy who'd got slaw all over his shoes, his face burning with humiliation because the whole restaurant seemed to have stopped to stare at him. After a few moments Gary hurried over to check he was okay and help him to start cleaning up before hastening into the kitchen to get the orders on again.

Very much wishing that the ground would just open up and swallow him Taavi gave profuse apologies to the table that had lost their food, then the guy with the slaw who was pretty annoyed and would probably end up getting a discount that would come out his his paycheck. His wrist hurt but he could still move it so there was no way he was going to say anything about it, he'd spotted Tony come out of the back and could feel the man's eyes burning into him. Tony had never liked him, he was going to be in trouble for this as it was and complaining about his arm wasn't going to help his case.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

As Mark tripped and fell to the floor in what almost seemed like slow motion, it took nearly all of his willpower not to burst out laughing. That was awesome, and he even spilled food on someone. Ohh this was almost too easy. Waiting once more for Mark to walk by with a tray full of food - not for the same table, as that would be a little too obvious - and waiting until he was certain Mark wouldn't see, he quickly slid his foot out just long enough to trip the waiter up again before retracting it just as quickly, all the while donning an innocent expression.  

[TawnyAngel]

He tried to just carry on as though nothing had happened but it was really hard, he still felt like everyone was watching him and when he checked in with a family the father felt the need to make a joke which he laughed at hollowly as he took an order for another coke and a sundae for the hyperactive kid who'd already made a big mess of the table. Also his wrist really hurt and Tony had said they'd 'have a talk' later about taking proper care at work.

Carrying a tray of drinks this time Taavi tried not to think about any of that, he just needed to get through the next hour and his shift would be over. Whatever Tony had to say would probably be awful and condensing, and he'd call him Mark the whole time, but he'd get through that too and then he'd go home and-

He tripped again but managed to recover his balance, only slopping the drinks a little bit thanks Arceus. Once he'd recovered his balance, cleaned the tray up and distributed the drinks to the correct tables he turned and headed back towards the table with the green-haired man to give him his soda. He was trying not to be suspicious, he wasn't a naturally suspicious person but he wasn't clumsy either. Tripping over something unseen twice by the same table? It seemed a bit too much of a coincidence to him, but why would the guy try to trip him?

Taavi put the soda down and smiled, whatever vague suspicions he might have he knew he had to smile. "Sorry about the wait, here's your drink! Your food won't be long now. Can I do anything else for you right now?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Damn, he didn't fall that time - that would've been even better, given he was carrying drinks. Those would've gone far, and maybe even soaked some customers. Looking not the least bit disappointed, Sync nodded his head when Taavi came back, but offered his best sad puppy look. "Oh that's okay," he said, then pointed to his drink, "thought my drink has a bit too much ice in it."