14174/The Wonder of Cheeseburgers

The Wonder of Cheeseburgers
Date of Scene:	09 March 2022
Location:	Mel's Diner - Breakstone
Synopsis:	The Connors (or Baums) have dinner and discuss potential threats in their area. Look out Werewolves, here they come!
Cast of Characters:	Cameron, John Connor, Sarah Connor

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Cameron has posed:
Not all of their lives was fighting killing machines from the future.

In truth, most days for the Connors family were normal. They lived their lives, tried to avoid trouble, went to school or work. Everything a normal person might do. Certainly, they kept their heads on a swivel and watched for anything out of the norm that might indicate they had been found, be it by machines or law enforcement.

Thus, that evening the Connors kids went to hang out with Mom at work. Because they wanted some of the best burgers in town for dinner. Mel's was the place for it.

Cameron entered first, taking a quick scan of the grounds and finding nothing that set off her sensors. Then she held the door until John followed. A moment later they were in a booth off toward the door that led to the kitchen but not right next to it. Each had a view of an entry to the room they were in and it gave them an exit in the opposite direction if needed.

John Connor has posed:
In the Connor family, or the Baum family as they were known, the women walked ahead of the men. Certainly in front of this young man. John had spent all his life around one hard as nails woman, or another. So he was used to it. But it did mean he had somewhat skipped learning about chivalry, where a gentleman was expected to hold a door open for a lady. He saw that in movies, but it rarely happened in his life.

And so, he came in behind Cameron, after she had approved it for his presence. That kind of thing could get to someone's head. For John, it was mostly frustrating. But he managed to hold those emotions in check, most of the time.

Booths were another issue. If he were on an outside seat, he was a target, with a clear line of sight. If he was on an inside seat, it was harder to escape. And so he had adopted a plan of sitting inside, trapped by Cameron, when there were three or more people, and inside, alone, when there were two. The first option gave him the greatest protection, and she could move quickly to help him get free. The second gave him slightly better protection, while not blocking his escape route.

Knowing his mother would be off work soon to join them, he sat on the inside booth, next to Cameron, leaving the opposite side vacant for his mother. "So, wanna split a tower milkshake?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah caught Cameron's eyes when she looked over the diner before allowing John to enter. "You really forget I work here?"

An almost grin crossed her face. ..Almost. Very rarely did Sarah smile.

She picked up two menus. "My treat." As if someone else should pay! "Give me.." A quick look at the clock gave her 15 minutes to go. "Enough time to get your meals, and cash out." While she waited she looked outside. Always looking for trouble. Especially with John here.

Cameron has posed:
Cameron's brow tightened and she looked a bit confused. Because being in public, she was being more expressive than she would normally be if they were alone. "I did not forget. It is why we eat here." Which meant the joke went straight over her head.

She looked over at John even as she picked up her menu. She looked at the milkshake he mentioned. "Split? Instead of getting our own?" Not that she needed to eat so splitting saved money. "Sure, why not. We can order another if we decide it isn't enough. And a cheeseburger. Fries." She set the menu back aside.

John Connor has posed:
"Not for lack of trying," John replied back to his mother in the way that only a teenage boy can. It was nice to see that partial grin. He rarely got to see her smile, or Cameron, for that matter. Any kind of positive emotion that didn't come from John was savored in this family.

Taking the offered menu, "sweet, double chocolate fudge, chocolate pecan pie, salted caramel brownies, and better have some milk to help wash it all down." Pausing, he considered Cameron, and then leaned in, brushing a hair away to whisper, "she was being sarcastic, and she is happy to see us." He didn't need to brush the hair away, or lean in, with Cameron's hearing, but he had always treated her as if she were human. It felt right somehow

"So, two cheeseburgers, one plate of fries, and a tower milkshake? Do you want strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, or Cookies and Cream?" It was always interesting to see how Cameron would make choices that had no impact. Was there a randomizer in her programming, or did she have a genuine preference. He could never tell. Then he added, "There are many things I can share, but an American Cheeseburger is not one of them."

Sarah Connor has posed:
Cameron's order was fairly simple. She liked certain things and didn't stray from the few things she'd knew and liked. But John? Sometimes he chose the weirdest things - probably because Cameron and Sarah usually didn't.

Going down the list, as he was, Sarah lifted an eyebrow. "I should get you one of everything when you list them" Just because.

Was Sarah making a joke? Two in one seating??

Of course she took the *actual* order. Leaving John and Cameron alone while she did it.

Cameron has posed:
If John expected an explanation from Cameron as to why she chose what she did, it would probably be the end of forever before he got it. Or perhaps in his very far future, if they didn't manage to stop Skynet in this time.

She didn't even seem to notice when he slipped that hair out of the way to share his message.

At the second joke, Cameron smiled a little. Not because she got the joke but because that is what one did when the person was done taking an order and went toward the kitchen. Or so it had been in her experience.

"We may need to get more fries. We'll see." Because Cameron did seem to enjoy those. Or maybe her programming had it set so it seemed that way.

John Connor has posed:
Secretly, John was hoping that they would get all the desserts that he had listed. They all sounded great and tasted even better. But they were far from healthy, especially that many. Unless of course they got three to share among the three of them: then it was like a sampler for each of them.

But then there was a second joke from Sarah Connor. John suddenly began to look concerned. Was she all right? Had she been replaced by a Terminator? He glanced at Cameron, who was better at telling these things. Human intuition was great, but she was able to see and record pupil dilation, breathing, so many things that a human may be able to guess at, but she collected hard data.

"You can never have too many fries. If we have leftovers, we can get some cheese curds, and gravy, and re-heat it at home."

Sarah Connor has posed:
Of course, Sarah had already added 'extra fries' to their order.

She used to be adventurous.. once upon a time.. before getting pregnant with John. Before she knew about Terminators. Before every meal could be her last; or was on the road. She really didn't have the time to worry about various foodstuffs - Was it food? Was it passably warm?

She learned fast to only have a few choices. It made life simpler, leaving her choices for other things.

But she always threw in extra fries for John.

In time, their plates were up, and she gave them to the 'kids' and checked herself out for tonight.

Cameron has posed:
As soon as the food was in front of her, Cameron claimed one of the plates of fries. She had a cheeseburger in front of her but that second plate of salty greasy goodness was pulled in easy range. Then she grabbed the ketchup dispenser to squirt a liberal amount on her plate with the cheeseburger.

Preparation was rewarded when she picked up a fry, dipped it in the ketchup, then blew on it a moment because it was still a bit hot to go directly into her mouth. After a few seconds, she popped it in and chewed carefully, as though it was scorching her tongue.

It wasn't. But she played the role damn well. "How was your shift?" she asked Sarah when she joined them at the table.

John Connor has posed:
John preferred his fries with salt and nothing else. So he eschewed the condiments, and simply plucked a fry up, and into his mouth. This time, it was scorching hot, and burned his tongue a little bit. His taste buds would suffer. But it tasted so good. So maybe it was worth it?

He then picked up the burger, and took a bite into it, not speaking as he chewed his food. Once he had swallowed it, he smiled, "thanks mom." He would have asked how her shift was, but Cameron beat him to it. While waiting for the answer, he went for the two plastic straws in paper wrapping, undoing them, and plopping them into the tower glass of Cookies 'n Cream milkshake, one straw angled towards him, the other to Cameron. Then, he took another fry.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Hrm. It was quiet."

Sarah had noticed a reduction in clientele these past few months. It could be the lousy weather this winter. Or it could be something else.

She banked on it being the weather; the pessimistic side of her really worried about the 'something else'. After Faith brought her up to snuff on who else lived in the neighbourhood..

Taking the ketchup and leaving a pile on the plate of fries - careful not to have any dribbles on the french fries themselves, (after all they were technically John's fries), she dipped one. "I figure we might canvas the neighbourhoods again."

Cameron has posed:
That had Cameron fully focused on Sarah. She popped another fry in her mouth, this time not bothering to feign the heat was bothering her. Instead she focused on the words. "Canvas again? Here or another area?" As Sarah had said neighborhoods, Cameron wanted to be certain what she needed to plan for. "Anything specific?" Voices were kept low although there wasn't anyone really in earshot.

She did lean forward to take a sip of the shake, which took a moment to get the thick mixture to finally agree to climbing up the straw.

John Connor has posed:
At least John didn't like something weird on his fries, like barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, or vinegar. He usually had the widest palate, though when it came to fries, potato, oil, heat, and salt, was all that he really needed. Though he wasn't above trying some ketchup, dipping a fry into it, and popping it into his mouth. Once again, he thought just salt was better.

While taking another bite of his burger, he listened for the answer to Cameron's question. His mother was always on about being vigilant. He'd long since given up on trying to get his mother to relax. He knew that he was never safe. But he didn't let that drive his every waking thought. All he could do was his best. Obsession wasn't good for anything.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Well.." Sarah used her french fry hand to point across the road - to everybody here, except John and Cameron, it was as if she was talking with her hand. Not pointing. "Apparently there is a tribe of werewolves just over there."

Then again it had been a while since she had talked to Faith. They could be eliminated by now.

"Things are popping up - not Terminators, though there's that too. Apparently we picked next door to a hellhole as neighbours."

Cameron has posed:
Cameron didn't look that direction with her head but her eyes shifted that way to get a glimpse of the building in question. Which she was already calculating, recording data.

Until Sarah finished her sentence.

Now Cameron's focus was on the woman and the confusion was there for anyone to see. "Werewolves? Those are a myth." Of course the world she came from had no superheroes in their past either so was it that far fetched something else would be different in this world?

John Connor has posed:
John wasn't sure whether to be sceptical, or intrigued. "R-really?" He asked, thinking about the ramifications of werewolves being a real thing. His uncle was from the future, his protector too, and she was a robot. He had dealt with a lot of weird things before, so werewolves wasn't really that farfetched, and yet, it was different, so he still kind of regarded it the same way as anyone else would. It seemed like fantasy.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah shrugged.

"I was attacked by vampires.. Don't ask. I find it better to pretend you understand and pick to truth from the lies later. We live in a world with mutants. It could be mutants. It could be werewolves. It could be a sack of shit. We don't really know until we canvas the neighborhoods."

"Which we should do anyways. The terminators keep getting smarter. Faster. More deadlier. Consider this spring training." And she eats her fries.

Cameron has posed:
Vampires. Cameron filed that away for the future since she wasn't sure that it mattered. Since John existed in the future, he hadn't been eaten by vampires. Neither had Sarah for that matter. So her concern over those was low.

Terminator machines were the wildcard since they didn't belong in the time.

It was just how her machine mind worked, not that she didn't believe Sarah. But she verbal doubt, taking a sip of the shake.

"I can do a preliminary check tonight. Then we can all do more in depth tomorrow?"

John Connor has posed:
Seemed that John was in for a lot of practice, training, and nights spent patrolling the neighorhood. If his mother would let him. Sometimes he got out of these things because she was worried he would get hurt. His mind was running through what he knew about vampires and werewolves, all from books and movies, and comparing that against what he had seen. Could he have seen a vampire or werewolf and not known it? How much of the public awareness was accurate. And of course, yes, there were mutants, metahumans. When John got quiet, there were two reasons. Either it was a situation that called for it, or he was thinking. More often than not, it was the later.

Looking to Cameron, he nodded his head in agreement. "Sounds like a plan." He had somewhat lost his appetite, and so sat quietly, talking, taking the odd bite of his burger, drink of the milkshake, and French fries. After a while, anything that was left was put into a to go box, even the milkshake was put into a to go container, and they would head back to the Baum House, some for sleep, and another for a nocturnal patrol.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sure Cameron doesn't worry about the vampires and werewolves and what have you. But Sarah does. Sure not as much as the terminators but maybe similar to the F.B.I. warrants out for her arrest.

"Great. Tomorrow."