(Loyalty Is,) Diner Destination

[James Turner]

John was letting Sonnie take charge here, this was her OP as it were he was here to provide backup, he could help her get this guy out of his shell maybe but it was delicate, he was frazzled, on edge and it had to be done delicately.

“We just want to talk. It’s been a hard day, we get that. We're here to listen if you want.”

John offered a soft smile, his low energy and sympathetic personality contrasting but hopefully complimenting Sonnie’s approach. There wasn’t a lot they could get into right in the middle of the diner but they could talk in generalities or gain enough of his trust they could speak in private.

He didn’t know what was going on other than this new Lost seemed absolutely heart broken and John couldn’t help but empathize. The only time he’d ever really felt connected to anyone else…

Yea let’s not go there.

[Saber Sloth]

The waitress huffs, "If she does, then why the hell is this the firs - no, no. Sorry, dear. Neither of you came for that, now, anyone need more coffee?" bringing her coffee pot up, with a forced smile on her face.

Also, I'm gonna say that 2 of Titania'a bashing have healed.

Sonnie sees what James had, the Elemental is depressed. Heart aching. Though now, that he's interacting with her and the Winter, there is some life in his posture. "Too bad, we coulda made for some sweet Lannister laughs, eh Mai Ling?" his eyes shutter. Opening, "Bobb - Robert. Just call my Robert." he breathes. "Nah, I ain't one for Funderland." he announces, eyeing his fellow Spring, and the Winter. "So you two can just, " he waves them away, eyes falling back to his cold coffee.

[Sonnie Wu]

Leaning back in her chair, Sonja smiled kindly at the Elemental. The man was in pain, and that made him a touch sympathetic, though she was still going to be careful of him. She was glad John had decided to join her. "Ah, yeah. Not quite the kind of family union I prefer. Jaime really should have stayed with Brienne, but that whole last season was a hot mess."

Her head tilted to one side, expression curious. The reference to Funderland was notable. He knew of the freehold but avoided it, eh? Interesting. "Well, Roberto, we're not exactly recruiting. More just keeping an eye out for... whatever. A lot of things, I guess. Safety first, right?"

There was a slight shrug of her shoulders, "Like, for instance, we're looking for a friend of ours. Okay, friend might be a strong word. He was kind of a dick. But he was a member of the club, you know? He seems to have wandered off recently. Not unheard of, but we'd like to check in on him." The Claviger continued studying the Fireheart's reactions as she spoke.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-24 11:02:22		Sonnie Wu rolls 4 to Read Robert? Wits + Empathy (10 Again)		9, 9, 8, 5		3 successes

"His name's Abraham. Good looking dude, flowers in his hair. Likes to tell stories and carry a sword around, if you can believe that. We last knew him to be going to a motel near here. The one that burned down. Don't suppose you've seen him about recently?"

[Bugul]

Bugul didn't react much to the waitress.

"Just water," he replied, "Thank you."

The Goatman would remain where he was. There was no reason to draw the diner's eyes as John and Sonnie may have done.

[James Turner]

John was mostly quiet as they conversed, eyes soft but he was reading the Elemental, this was familiar territory though it was normally another Winter doing the interrogation as he watched from the shadows. He was there to keep everything above board, that was his duty, his curse.


"A bit rushed, sure, but the show had problems from the jump. Not enough nuance."


He had to keep from cringing when Sonnie dove right into it, though to be fair it was far subtler than he was expecting. He watched the Elemental as she spoke, read his body language, looked for the micro expressions trying to read fear, anger, hate. Our base emotions had ways of betraying us.


There was a lot of information dumped here but the picture was incomplete, John had to make a lot of inferences and do a lot of guesswork from what amounted to nothing but hearsay. He wasn't a member of the Freehold, that much was clear and he seemed to hold no love for the Freehold.


Considering his welcome he couldn't really blame the guy and he couldn't really blame the freehold. Then Sonnie got really, really specific about this guy...Abraham, flowers in his hair...Fairest. Spring Court judging by the Mantle of this kid and Sonnie's interest.


My first thought and concern had been Robert was a Loyalist selling out our people but that wasn't guilt I had read on him it was sorrow...it was loss. Did he kill his friend? Was there an accident? Were they being hunted and there was an accident?


Oh crap, I hadn't been reading him I'd gotten lost in my thoughts. Shit. Pay Attention John, Theorize later. Oh shit. It's my turn to talk.


He looked between Sonnie and Robert and offered him a sympathetic frown.


"Do you want to tell us what happened? We're here to listen and to help if you need it."

  failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-24 20:06:06		Reading Robert rolls 8 to Wits + empathy + Adroitness (10 Again)		2, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7, 7, 2		failure

[Titania]

That's the problem with her socially challenged Australopithecus friend companion, she's entirely lacking social savvy. She doesn't even bother to turn around to look at what's happening, because they're loud enough to let her know what's happening.
"Tea... with milk. Thank you", rudeness had to be contagious, because even the server had been spoiled.
"Well", she flips her nacre pocket mirror open, her attention pouring over the quickly disappearing traces of the fall. "What do you think, my friend? Should we..."

[Saber Sloth]

The waitress nods, taking a half step away, then a full one. Her gaze doesn't seem to leave the Robert, Sonnie and James. Even as the man the Elemental's lips pull from his teeth.

"A fucking sword." He pulls his coal eyed gaze up to Sonnie's golden one. "Yeah I met a someone with a sword. Broke into my motel room waving that thing around. We invited him into our bed." he says a shadow of a roguish grin, the pitterpatterhiss of the rain falling then steaming up increases, "He wanted to use the blade." the elemental's face more like an inferno. Devastated grief and an echo of remembered rage. "He killed my wife." he says, bitter and dangerous, "My Heartsworn wife." he tells them.

Meeting both Sonnie's eyes and James', small triumph in his grin.

"So I killed him back."

[Sonnie Wu]

It wasn't exactly rage she felt. There was anger, to be sure. Indignation, probably. Confusion and fear, also. Whatever the mixture of emotions swirling in her heart at the moment, Sonja's expression faded from idle friendliness to... something less than that. The smile was gone. Her shoulders hunched. The hair on her tail raised up.

Abe took one of them with him. Good.

The thought had no real time to register. It passed through her brain quickly before being sucked into the vortex.

Her breath started to quicken, and her hands under the table curled into fists.

Kill him.

Not here. Not yet.

KILL.

The urge was annoying. She didn't even like Abraham that much. Some simian instinct was pushing, though, to destroy the threat to her 'troop.' Gritting her teeth, her eyes dashed to Titania. Stop me before I do something stupid, said the look.

The golden irises were back on Robert in an instant.

"Why?" she growled, not even certain of the purpose of her question. An attempt to keep the angry gorilla in check, maybe. Distract herself from the desire to slam the Fireheart's smug face through the window. "Why were you there?"

[James Turner]

“Listen we all know that’s why Robert Baratheon hated Aegon Targaryen, he blamed him for stealing Lyanna Stark and sent Ned and company to rescue her making them unwitting assassins. Nice quote though…”

He nearly elbowed Sonnie, Sonnie was looking at Titania for help and he flashed her a glare letting her know this wasn’t the time or place. They were in the middle of a diner and she’d pushed the conversation over the line. Well over the line especially since no one else was running interference with the waitress.

He sighed and brought his fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose. This was a mess and he couldn’t do a lot without help or more information. Sonnie was upset that this guy got revenge? Why? Was the other guy not the loyalist? Was this…

He needed more information and he had a way to get the absolute truth out of him but not in the middle of a diner.

“I don’t blame the Bratheons for going to war for the woman he loved, it only makes sense. Revenge is an easy motive to understand, especially when he didn’t have all the information. I can tell you’re an avid reader and watcher, I’d like to talk to you more about the tragedy of Robert Baratheon if you’d like.”

Fuck. There's no good solution here. We need the information but I can't be the last one seen with him either. God damnit Sonnie what did you drag me into.

[Bugul]

Bugul offers Titania a slight smile as he is called 'friend'.

"It's time to go," he said quietly, "Go ahead, I will take care of the bill. I'll get it to go."

Things were getting out of hand and the last thing they needed was the mundies hearing their business.