Suspiciously Quiet

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

The carnage in the hotel ballroom disappears in a gut wrenching wave of nausea and blurryness. When she can see again, she's on her knees, surrounded by her fellow Exiles.

Raven braces herself for the worst. Zombies roaming the streets, the sun blotted out by swarms of locusts, a world where every restaurant is non-smoking. She opens her eyes and sees...a suburban strip mall.

A Best Buy anchors one end. The other end is held down by a Dick's Sporting Goods. In between, there are a couple of ethnic restaurants, some clothing stores, and, to her immense relief, a Cox Smoker's Outlet.

Comments

[marvel-citizens.livejournal.com]

"She got into The Academy." The mother is momentarily distracted by pride in her offspring. "I hate to see her go to a boarding school, but they have plenty of chances for parents to visit, and it's one of the top prep schools in the country, even without all the extra curriculars."

She turns to the man trailing behind. "Are you the, er. cameraman?" Her fingers curl into air quotes.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

A head shake.

"No, I'm the director. We're running a bit late here..."

Hungry, please. No chit-chatting with the locals yet.

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

Raven gives the mother an appologetic what-can-you-do shrug.

Wok and Roll is only two more doors down. It's a little early for the lunch crowd, so few of the tables are occupied. Inside, the back wall is plastered with larger than life photos of foods with combo order numbers beside them. A bored teenage cashier is texting while waiting for customers.

Raven shifts her features to appear Asian. Shewalks up to the teenager and says something soft in Chinese. His eyes widen, and he disappears behind the counter for a moment, reappearing with an elegant cloth-bound menu entirely in Chinese.

"Whatever they want," she says in English. Then she proceeds to order half a dozen things off the special menu.

[marvel-citizens.livejournal.com]

"That'll take a little time," says the kid.

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

"No problem. A couple friends may be meeting us here soon. I've heard good things about your place. I thought I'd surprise them."

[marvel-citizens.livejournal.com]

The kid glances at the others and chuckles quietly to himself. "Sure, sure."

He gives TJ and Spidey a surprisingly innocent grin. "And what can I get for you? Lemme guess - General Tso's chicken and an order of Sweet and Sour chicken?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Miguel sneers a little. "Everybody assumes I'm a gringo. I hate my father."

He clears his throat.

"Two orders of each of those, since we have to bring some back to our down-home white-bread friends back at the ranch, but... I'll have the Mushroom Shrimp in Black Bean Sauce, and some veggie mushu for later."

[marvel-citizens.livejournal.com]

"Sure. Have a seat." He gestures towards a round table in one corner. "We'll have it out in a minute. (http://community.livejournal.com/elseworldexiles/23627.html)