|
     |
Time: 2:22 am, Too-early Thursday Morning
Location: The Bronx
Under the cover of darkness JP piled the gang intothe subway looking too pleased. All he was saying was this was an important job. Usually there was a prep talk on the train or back at base, (a.k.a. The Garage), but not entirely this time.
It didn't take too long to go from the subway to the back allys of the Bronx where a more industrial setup was trying to take shape. So long as they were quiet the liklihook of them being spotted was very low.
Vitale rubs at his eyes, trying to wake up entirely on the subway. He still isn't sure what on earth they are doing at the ass crack of dawn but he supposes that they'll find out soon enough. He had expected JP to clue them in but he's been quiet, he nudges Elmo and nods at JP, asking silently if he has any clue what's going on and why JP is smiling like he was taking them to the world's biggest gold mine and also looks to catch Sev's eyes as well, to see if there's any reveal there either before he speaks and ruins the silence in case it was neccessary to their cover or something. "JP? You going to tell us what the job is?" He asks, but whispers it.
Elmo just hikes his eyebrows back at Vitale. There's no difficulty in pretending he has no idea what JP's up to. He does it for reals all the time. He can't quite stop grinning, but that's pretty normal for him on a job, too. And he always dresses up, so that he's wearing a magneta shirt with black trousers and suspenders and tie to match? Super normal.
Severin is a rabbit, and thus has no expression to speak of save for the twitching of his nose. He rides the subway with that entirely unflappable expression of: yes, I'm a fucking bunny on the subway. What's it to you? You know what rabbits also don't do? Answer questions. And so Severin, the sleepy rabbit, provides no insight into what the hell they're doing. He just sleeps on his brother's lap the whole way.
Nate had really just flown straight up to the back alleys of the Bronx, using his telepathy to be able to psionacally pin down both Elmo and JP! Landing beside the two of them in a very quiet manner, as opposed to previous landings, Nate smiles. "Sorry I was late. Was taking care of something." He wore black jeans, nice boots, a nice collared black shirt, and a cool trench coat. Very business casual. Though he smiles. "So, what's the job?"
JP pointed with two fingers (first and last) down the back ally. "Job about one more block that way. Nate we get stragglers make em f'get we here. Elmo get the lights if we need t' I' get the door. If stupid come this way? Well throw the rabbit at it. I ain' seen a rhino tear through an industrial district b'fore. Ya know, standard op." What could be simpler?
As it was there were no lights on this side and no one around at 3am. But the door propped open and the smell of oiled wood was immediate. Bowling alley? They were robbing a bowling alley? That'd explain the brown geometric pattern carpet that was reminiscent of Las Vegas with epilepsy. Gearhead said , "Elmo, find us some lights?"
Vitale is given no orders, but everyone else is. Though, usually his job is to not get hurt so if anyone else does later, they can be fixed and well, he's very good at aim with his knife. He reaches over to run his fingers over Sev's little bunny head as he yawns. When they reach their destination, Vitale looks around a little confused. Why would they be stealing from a bowling alley? Doesn't seem like the place to strike. They aren't raking in the money are they?
"JP, what..?" Vitale doesn't even finish his sentence because he doesn't even know what he wants to ask. He doesn't usually question JP's decisions so he doesn't now. He just gets up and gets ready for… something.
"Got it, boss," Elmo says, casual like. He makes that beckoning gesture, like an orchestra conductor signaling for more volume, and LIGHTS happen. All kinds of lights! A damn rainbow of lights, in a dozen colors, twinkling and sparkling everywhere. The bowling alley looks like a radiant alien palace in the glow. He grins that manic grin at Vitale. "Happy birthday, pal."
Clearly Vitale's job is to carry Severin around, and apparently throw him if need be. Weaponized rabbit? Sure. But once they get to the bowling area, Sev hops down and goes running off for a moment. When he comes back out of wherever he ran off to, he's actually dressed. Wait. What? He had clothes stashed here? Evidently! He comes strolling back up behind Vitale and wraps his arms around him, "Happy Birthday."
Nate tilts his head to JP with a curious look on his face. "Well alright then. You can count on me." his eyes shift to Vitale with a smile on his face. "Happy birthday man. Glad you could join us birthday boy." his eyes shift to Elmo then, before Nate starts to focus. "Lets do it."
The lights whent on and no one was home which was good! JP went and pulled a box out with a cake in it that read: Happy Bar Mitsvah Hershel. He was so proud telling Vitale, "Got you one of them happy birthday cake things an' e'rything. I know it ain' you name but the guy gave me a discount." He looked to Elmo and said assuring he didn't rip off the Lower East Side, "I paid for it." He went over and slapped the ball return to spin up the mechanics in teh back that were attached. He grinned to Sev. This was worth it.
Vitale's eyes widen when Elmo 'hits' the lights, painting the wooden floors with dancing rainbow lights. Elmo turns to Vitale with that manic grin and Vitale finds a smile growing on his face despite the fact that Severin has jumped from his arms and hopped off. "I.. you guys…" Then Severin is back and wrapping Vitale up in a hug and Vitale returns it, sliding a hand up to Severin's cheek, and gives him a quick kiss. "This is amazing!" He smiles wider when JP shows him the cake. "A birthday cake? I haven't had one of those in at least a decade! You did all this for me?"
Elmo says, "Yeah, we did!" like, duh, Vitale, of course your team is throwing you a surprise birthday party. He whaps him on the back, affectionate, while Sev is wrapping him up in a hug. When JP proudly produces the cake, Elmo cracks the hell up, laughing into his hand. "Mazel tov!" he pronounces to Vitale, "today, you are a man!"
"I can assure you that while he may be a man today, he has been a man for some time now," Severin says after that kiss with a grin that is all kinds of cheeky. His brows waggle a little bit and he gives Vitale another quick kiss before moving out of the way. "You gotta blow out the candles an' wish for somethin' good."
Nate seems to smile as the cake is returned and he steps aside, giving JP a small smile as he crossed his arms and simply watched the festivities. "Happy birthday Vitale. This is all for you buddy." and he otherwise seems to happily be in the background. "Welcome to adulthood."
JP was SO PROUD! He was also pretty much functionally illiterate. He got Happy. He got to teh B in birthday and pretty much assumed from there. The smile was pricellessly confused looking to Elmo, "Quoi?" He really didn't know what happened. Thankfully he brought candles and didn't just light up 6 cigarettes and put them on there. Cakes were a special thing that needed to taste like sugar and not filters. "Bon anniversaire, Vitale. We know it been a rough year, but is one of those days you should celebrate wit' family." Looking to Nate he quipped, "An if calendars work different in the future I'll jes make you one. You included in that, Nate."
"Sev!" Vitale chuckles, only pretending to chastise his lover, giving Severin one last squeeze before he moves to the birthday cake. "I would say we're in polite company but, I don't see anyone here who's polite. Maybe Nate." He winks at Nate. "I have been waiting for manhood my whole life!" The smile on Vitale's face is so wide that it hurts. "A good one, huh? What am I gonna wish for? I got everythin' I want right here." He wraps an arm around Elmo and JP when he gets close enough and then of course, giving Nate a hug as well. "Alright, here goes."
Vitale closes his eyes and makes a private wish inside his head and it's nearly as sweet as the cake the candles are attached to. It's that they'll all stick together for another year then he blows them out in one breath.
Elmo accepts the hug good-naturedly, ruffling Vitale's hair. "You're Jewish now, too, I guess." Excited, he pulls something out of a pocket. "I made ya this." It's a lighter, anodized to a rainbow gloss, that when lit puts out a tiny arc of plasma. He could not wait to give Vitale his present. "Don't need any fuel. I can recharge it maybe, I dunno, every few weeks or so. Windproof too, the arc don't go out in a breeze."
Severin just grins at Vitale. Ain't no shame in his game. But he lets Vitale go so that he can blow out of his candles, hanging back with his hands in his pockets, just grinning. "Best damn birthday in a bowlin' ally I've ever seen," he declares. And he's probably seen a number of bowling alley birthday parties given the size of his sibling contingent.
Nate looks to JP with a bit of a chuckle then. "Well thanks." His eyes shifting to Elmo as he gives his present. Not bad at all! Meanwhile, Nate is the next one to give Vitale a present. It's a piece of future tech. an old holoplayer that he ewas able to rework. "Here. I had to do some digging, but I was able to recreate it. It plays your favorite song." it's a tiny, hand held thing, but it will in fact play Vitale's favorite song when activated, with the sound doing little vibrations (it's the hologram part). "Go on, play it if you want." Nate then stands back, letting others get their say in.
JP was still confused about why the celebration of the 'man' thing but fuck it, he let it go. The mechanic went and stopped at the gift Nate gave having seen Elmo work on teh lighter. There was a grin there but those eyes got huuuuge. Future tech was amazing. "Wooooah" he breathed. He handed , from inside his coat, a wrapped but wrinkled ball? Maybe something the size of a mushy tennis ball to Vitale. "Got this for you m'self."
Vitale doesn't even fuss at Elmo messing up his hair, which granted, wasn't in tiptop shape to begin with. When JP says there is a job, he doesn't spend the extra twenty minutes fixing his hair. "Well, I was already your annoying brother, wasn't I?" He teases when Elmo tells him that he's Jewish now. He takes the lighter from Elmo, flicking it on. "Holy shit, Sparks! This is amazing!" He lifts it closer so he can look at the plasma. "You made it? Anyone ever told you that you're brilliant?"
"Of course it is, baby, I'm here with you and the guys and you're still mine." Vitale says to Sev, big smile still on his face as he dips a finger in the icing and licks it off, raising an eyebrow at his partner when Nate hands him a present. He plays with it until it starts playing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. "Whoa! Nate, this is so cool! How did you get it?" He asks, setting it down on the table to vibrate the song into the room by the cake.
AND JP has a gift for him too. Vitale smiles and shakes his head. "You guys didn't have to go to all this trouble." He unwraps the gift and laughs. "Oh man, JP, this is what I've always wanted." He says, holding up Elmo's missing watch.
"Sometimes," Elmo says, modestly admitting that occasionally people accuse him of being brilliant—and not even because of his vivid suits, sometimes! "Nate, that is gevaldik as hell, I didn't know you tinker!" He peers at the little device, eyes big with interest. And…groans and claps his hand over his eyes when Vitale unwraps JP's 'present'. "So that's where that went. JP, ya gonif!"
Severin just grins as he stands back and watches it all unfold. "I got you something too, but we'll unwrap it later." He gives Vitale the most innocent smile that that face can muster (which means not very innocent). "So," he says, once all the presents are revealed. "Cake and bowling and booze? I'm guessin' one of you can get these lanes working."
JP winced and rubbed a hand over his face. Yeah, Jean-Pierre. Whoops. "Thaaaat… was the wrong pocket." He gave Elmo an apologetic look, "Ya shorted tha' one so I fuond this horologist… turn out they do not tell fortunes but they could fix the watch sooo maybe they do?" He dug around in teh other pocket and handed Vitale ANOTHER givt to open (his… presumably this time). JP shrugged, "I eman it ain' Elmo's but they had a nice one there so I, um, I bought it an eerythin. All legit like so… Happy birthday man." HE winked and ducked out of the reach of Elmo zapping him for pinching his goods (The watch, folks. the watch). Grinning to Sev he went and said, "Uhhh maybe?" He'd started up teh lane but held a hand to it to - YES! the ball return and pin setter was theirs! There were no lihts over the pins but they were being set down. "Game on!"
Nate seems to smile just a little bit, looking to Vitale. "Hm? Oh, I made that from scratch." he smiles. "I used to do it for the orphans in the future. Figure I'd put old skills to use." his eyes shift then to Elmo with a bit of a smile. "apparently." he doesn't even want to know what secret language is goin' on between Severin and Vitale. Nope! he does glance to JP then with a smile. "Heh." and Nate just crosses his arms, looking over the scene while keeping an eye out to see if there's anyone he needs to make forget.
"Oh will we?" Vitale responds, eyebrows moving up at Severin, smiling ever wider, though it turns something a little less innocent as well. Oh, yes, they will unwrap that later. "That settles it then, this very much is the best birthday ever."
He takes Elmo's wrist and slides the watch back on it, patting Elmo's hand afterwards and then takes the second gift from JP. He unwraps a watch all his own. "Hell, JP, this is gorgeous and you even bought it? Thank you." Vitale has given his share of stolen gifts in his time, that JP went and bought this watch meant a lot to Vitale. He slides it on his wrist and holds it out to admire it. "Going to go with all my suits." He pulls JP into another hug. "You're the best."
"They still got bowling in the future, Nate?" Vitale asks, jumping in excitement when JP bonds with the machine and the pins start setting.
Elmo lets Vitale do that, amused, settling the watch onto his bony wrist in its accustomed place. He tugs JP into a smooch. "I was gonna repair it, but." But the watchmaker's own watch is always broken, because he's too busy to fix it. "Thanks, Jeanushka. Fire up that jukebox. Dance with me, huh?"
The bowling is underway, and so Severin wanders around and selects a ball. He's already got bowling shoes on. Must have picked those out earlier while they were getting the joint ready. He heads on over to the lane and takes a swing, releasing the ball to make a graceful, lazy, arc, right into the gutter. Okay, so bowling is perhaps not Jackrabbit's sport. But he sure does seem to be having fun doing it.
Nate seems to tilt his head at all the affection going on! Nate's the odd one out. But that's alright! he might actually be the only straight person here, but oh well. He just smiles as his friends just have a good time. Eventually, it's Nate's turn to bowl. and with his mind, he shoots the bowling ball for a strike! "Easy peezy." of course, Nate was just tryig to get a few laughs out of the gang.
JP held up both hands to Elmo, "You the ELectric Mayhem. You get the Juke box goin. Speakers ain' mechanical. But inbetween frames? Sho. I can do this." And with that he hunted a black sphere of pin crushing goodness letting out a "WHOOO, Vee, I'm a take taht as a yeeees they do." Looking to his brother he arched an eyebrow, "So w e puttin cash on this game or what?" There was that grin.