7th Broken Illusion

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ Action : Neutron Diner : Late afternoon ]
[ Guess who's now on staff in the kitchen at the diner downtown?

If your answer was: "That boy who could probably start a grease fire by looking at the cooker the wrong way", you're halfway there!

It's not that Touma can't cook, or doesn't like to. He's had to do it while he lived on his own back home, and he does a fair bit of it around the house (when his "mother" lets him). No, he's pretty content (and by content I mean listless) as he works at filling orders and setting them up for others to take to the tables.

But things just happen around him. It's kind of like that clause in insurance policies that mention "act of God" or "force of nature". Except these kinds of acts of misfortune are not the sort he can do anything about, even if he does have his abilities back. ]

[ Right now the kitchen has been temporarily evacuated as the Mayfield Fire Department handles a bit of a mess in there and he is standing outside away from the drone crew, work uniform and apron on and looking just a bit scorched.

Looking at the building with despair, he sighs quietly to himself and hunches his shoulders. ] This is just my luck...

-----
[ Phone : Drone Filter : Evening ]
Anyone ever switch jobs? I literally woke up with one, and I'm not cut out for it at all.


((OOC: Open to action at the diner or 840 Hastings if you want to talk to Touma. If your character is part of the fire department, feel free to involve them more directly in the first scene!))

Comments

[ Action : Neutron Diner : Late afternoon ]

[enpatsushakugannouchite]

Mou, stop whining, at least you're not on roller skates like me. [ Growls an angry little voice from outside, where she's standing watching the crew work. ]

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ Whether or not the air seemed hostile outside, at least it was fresher than in here. Touma steps out and regards the flat-chested girl with a flat look. ] I'm pretty sure I'd end up with my face halfway through a broken table inside of five minutes, and they know it. [ Does he know how to use skates? It's hard to say. The concept is there, in his mind, but this would be like that time he hopped on a bike; he'd have to try it to know for sure. ]

[Phone]

[frothymilk]

What? Jobs? Are we required to... work?

[phone]

[guardiandragon]

Not by asking to, no. Why, what's up?

[ phone ]

[normality]

I think we're more or less stuck with them, unfortunately.. But I suppose you could get used to any job over time. They randomly forced one on me too, but it turned out to be not that bad after all.

[action]

[eveningcalm]

[Izumo has been staring at the fire and just happens to overhear Touma.]

You did that?

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ A new person? ] If that's what the city wants, then yeah.

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

The place I was working at today might have caught on fire. That's all.

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

It's not a matter of getting used to it at all. I'm saying I'm not fit for the work, not the other way around. [ It sounds more complicated than it is. ]

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ Pushing the despondency aside, Touma gives the girl a flat look. ] Don't say that like I burned the whole diner down. It's just one frier.

[eveningcalm]

How did you even manage it? It looks like a lot more than one frier.

[guardiandragon]

Might have caught fire?

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

There was a lot of smoke, and I didn't stick around to see if there were flames.

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

I think they call that "self-incrimination". [ Which he's not about to do. ]

[guardiandragon]

Well, y'know, where there's smoke... Where was this, anyway?

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

The Neutron Diner. Ever visited?

[guardiandragon]

...Holy crap. I was just a waitress there.

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

You mean before...? [ You know. Droning. ]

[guardiandragon]

Yes. Before. [GDit moving on from that so quickly]

What the hell happened?

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ Not blaming her, or stopping her. He just thinks the coincidence is an odd one. Maybe if she had been an employee there it wouldn't be as bad...

Just his luck, right? ]

I dunno, exactly. Everything was fine until something inside the frier shorted out or something. Like I said, I didn't stick around to investigate.

No one got hurt, and the diner's not shut down or anything.

[guardiandragon]

Oh, thank god for that, then... [She lets out an audible sigh of relief at the good news.]

That's really weird, though. If I've noticed anything about this place, it's that at least the trains all run on time. Everything works how it's supposed to. You don't think that's a sign of something coming, do you?

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

[ Oh, it's a sign, all right. Just not of what she's thinking. ] No, uh, it's probably just a fluke. "User error" or something like that. I wouldn't read that deep into it.

[guardiandragon]

Dude, that's the thing about this place. Flukes don't just happen. It's so predictable, it's unnerving.

[punch_illusions_get_harem]

Then maybe it was just my fault. It was my first day of training. [ An unseen shrug. ]

Phone

[kinship]

Ah, no, I'm afraid not. I know other people who would like to change jobs through unsuitability and are still stuck with them.