14943/Mystics and Mandarin

Mystics and Mandarin
Date of Scene:	16 April 2023
Location:	Hot Dumpling Restaurant, China Basin
Synopsis:	And mahjong!
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Fate, Phantasm (Drago), Kit Killovarras, Black Widow (Belova), Doctor Strange

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Doctor Fate has posed:
In this world, everything is attainable, providing one has the resources, or the sheer dumb luck. The "Hot Dumpling" restaurant is one such locale. Unmarked, save for a small Mandarin Chinese sign advertising that Hot Dumplings are sold on premise, it really did appear to be a hole in the wall from the outside, and not a very appealing hole at that.

But upon a brief traverse through a narrow hallway, it would open up to into a cosy little semi-private restaurant. The blue-gray smoke from the mahjong game permeated the room, in clear violation of Gotham's health code, but good luck enforcing it. The city may not even be aware it exists.

There was a waitress, very cute, very slender, with a silver cheongsam, and a white flower pattern, tending to customers. In the kitchen, a burly man wore a white apron, also smoking a cigarette, and quite stained from the days cooking. Or was that the week? He didn't exactly look like he had washed his clothes in some time.

A few customers occupied seats, but there were scattered. The main group seemed to be the three Asian men seated at the mahjong table, one looking like James Hong, another like Simon Rhee, complete with eye patch, and a third like Jackie Chan. Their fourth player, did not fit the mold. Instead of a senior citizen, he was a younger man, perhaps in his mid twenties, and he was a blond Caucasian.

They were currently speaking in Mandarin Chinese, ribbing each other, with some extremely colorful metaphors being employed. It would seem that the James Hong looking man had won that round, and the others were all angrily voicing their frustrations.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
While Nick has developed some ties to SHIELD, he is most definitely not law enforcement. This is likely a good thing as he sets foot into the establishment. Having heard of the amazing food this place offers through other social circles, tonight seemed like just as good a time to try it while he was in the area.

The rockstar, who had a concert tour canceled without explanation a few years ago, steps in to the building, and after giving a brief glimpse around, is soon led to a table where he is handed a small menu to peruse. The young man, while thirty, seems younger than that to the point that he ends up being carded when he puts in his drink order.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
While it isn't his normal type of haunt, the allure of something tasty and possibly spicy? Yeah that's going to get the attention of the teenage foodie that is Kit. The obscure location doesn't seem to throw him off and neither do the birds in various states of being.

For some, it could be a little weird to see a hyena walk into a restaurant, dressed in dark clothing - black jeans and a hoodie - but that's the reality that the servers are going to have to deal with today. At least he's sporting a friendly smile?

Doctor Fate has posed:
The waitress's English is heavily accented, suggesting that she either recently immigrated, or has been sheltered in Chinese-American culture for some time. The menus were only in Mandarin Chinese, though when they get English-speaking customers, they do have a few copies to provide them. Rather than immediately giving Nick Dargo one of the menus she had in her arms, she would show him to his seat, go to the back, fetching an English language copy, and provide that instead, making the educated guess that he did not speak Mandarin.

The mah-jong game continued, though the blond would glance in Nick Drago's direction more than once, curiosity getting the better of him. They didn't even look up when Kit Killovarras arrived, though both the chef and the waitress did. The blond would cast a glance a moment later. The waitress was in the process of serving Nick's drink, and would head back to a counter, grabbing another English menu, since she made a similar assumption.

Approaching the hyena-man, she would lead him to a seat, and explain the specials, treating him as if he were any other customer. This place must deal with all manner of customers.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
While Nick waited for his drink, the musician catches a glimpse of Kit coming in to the restaurant. Recognizing him, he smiles and waves him over, effectively giving the permission to redirect the hyena towards his table. Of course an entertainer would know of the more interesting characters. Must be an industrial quirk or something.

Maybe he's trying to be EDGY or something...

If Nick picked up on the blond man glancing his way, he doesn't give any appearance of it. Immediately. But one can only double and triple take before you get caught.

Nick's head tilts, looking to the blond curiously. Eventually he looks down to the menu, momentarily disappointed that the English and Mandarin menus were separate. It could have been a good practice opportunity.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
There's a bit of a relieved look when Kit manages to get a table so quickly and the wave and redirect from Nick? That's an offer he's obviously going to take. Small world! There's a brief glance over the menu he's given as a small slip of paper is produced from the pocket of his hoodie, the claws he's gripping the paper with starting to glow with a faint violet energy.

It's a simple spell that writes his order out bit by bit as he sees something on the menu he wants, nothing special but it does lead to what looks like an order meant to feed a small family, not just one skinny hyena. The slip and the menu are eventually handed back to the waitress with a warm smile and a simple, "Xiexie," with a very obviously, 'still learning' sort of accent. Then Nick is given a warm smile and a cheerful, "Hey, long time no see. How've you been?"

Doctor Fate has posed:
With Nick and Kit at the same table, it was easier on the waitress, but harder on the chef. Such was life in a restaurant. Kit's order would be taken by the waitress, who at first thought it might have been a phone number, or other social media contact. She was used to being hit on. But when it became clear that it was an order, she noted it, and would ensure that it was prepared. Though there was a brief look to the order, back to the hyena-man, and then back to the order. She inclined her head, then shook it. If that's what he wanted, it was what he would get.

Kent Nelson was fortunate to be in a position that when he looked directly ahead, he could see Kit and Nick. But it would seem his glances were still caught. When Nick regarded him, the blond man was in the middle of upping the stages of his game of mahjong, much to the annoyance of his fellow players. He seemed to be doing well. It was a little difficult to tell who was winning, but were anyone to watch closely, it had largely come down to the James Hong looking man, and the blond.

Black Widow (Belova) has posed:
Yelena Belova comes in the front door of the restaurant, a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes. She's wearing a relaxed outfit: black tights, canary yellow croptop, an Army Surplus jacket with lots of pockets and doodads. Is she here to kill someone? Possibly. But more likely she's here for dumplings.

Despite any blonde stereotypes, Yelena surprises by speaking in fluent Mandarin to the girl behind the counter, even exchanging a few jokes and laughing, smiling pleasantly, ensuring she gets the service she wants.

Then her face goes flat as she turns away and goes to slink to her chosen table, not far away from where...well...those are unusual individuals.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick is a bit more purposeful with his selection, skimming through the menu before he sets his finger upon one item upon the listing. He tilts the menu just in case he is wrong with the word usage. "...Tang cu rou ... jiaozi?" He gives a questioning glance to the waitress, to see if what he said made sense or not.

Doctor Fate has posed:
What a place! There seemed to be two blondes fluent in Mandarin Chinese, a rarity for a restaurant like this, or really anywhere else. The waitress would laugh at the jokes, smiling back, and seem to be comfortable with Yelena. Perhaps she's a regular? But the girl in the silver cheongsam with the white flower pattern would get her drink order.

Soon, she would be at one table, not too far from the one Nick and Kit shared, while four men, one of them Kent Nelson, were at another, playing mahjong, and creating quite the cloud of second hand smoke. The waitress would also bring them another round of drinks, without being prompted too.

The waitress was having quite the busy time, nodding her head to Nick, "Sweet and Sour Pork Dumplings, you want full order, or half?" Since his friend had quite the appetite, she may have wondered if Nick did too.

When Kent Nelson won the next hand, there was another round of swearing in Chinese, something about male pubic hair, tortoise egg, and wearing a green hat. Sometimes profanity came from unusual places, and didn't make much sense with a direct translation, but they felt that they had laid some truly cutting insults.

Black Widow (Belova) has posed:
Yelena Belova ordered drinks liberally, intending to get niceliy wasted before going back to her cheap motel room to fall asleep watching old American game shows. The really old ones were so funny. Men in Moscow still dressed like that, sometimes, thinking it made them look important, with big collars and giant ties. Like kids in grown-up clothes.

She killed a lot of men dressed like that.

She takes a hard sip of her drink when the swearing happens and she can't help but laugh a little, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You tell him, girlfriend!" she yells in her Russian-accented English.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick pauses for a moment, thinking about the appropriate answer. Granted she switched to English so that's very much an invitation to cheat. But then he wouldn't get the practice in. "Yiban. Qing."

Hearing the cursing, Nick looks over to the man making the comments, blinking for a moment before he looks back to the server, handing the menu back. "Xiexie." Nick may not have been able to pick out all the words said, but he got enough of a gist of what was going on.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
The sudden outburst of Chinese swearing gets the aardwolfs attention for a moment, causing him to glance over and tilt his head, but he just gives a little shrug. The woman clad in fairly unique attire? She gets a moments study before going back to waiting for a response? Well, no one said that hyenas wouldn't be socially awkward.

Doctor Strange has posed:
The doors opened slowly. A man in a long-sleeved jacket (in this weather?!) and gloves, with a matching light scarf, stepped forward. When asked about a table, he pointed his head towards Kit and Nick, dark hair and sharp eyes.

Stephen Strange stepped over to the table, took an empty seat, and apologized to the waitress in confident Mandarin, briefly, before swapping over to English. "House special noodles, and another water."

There was Mahjong going on. With a few seconds of watching, he muttered to the young men he had ambushed at their table. "Looks like a shark over there."

"How are you doing?" Strange asks the two casually.

Doctor Fate has posed:
Kent Nelson looked at the girl who had encouraged his "friends" in Russian-accented English, as if to say, et tu, Brute? Though he wasn't entirely surprised that the Russians would side with the Chinese against him. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The waitress, hearing Nick's plea, would come over to him, asking in English, "how can I help you?" When it became apparent that he only wanted to hand the menu back, she would take it. She would disappear, heading to place any orders, checking on ones that were ready, and then attend to the new arrival. So many people today. It almost felt like there was some kind of a convention going on at this secluded, and definitely off the beaten path establishment.

At the arrival of the Sorcerer Supreme, the blond man definitely took notice. For now, he would continue his game, as Dr. Strange's order was placed, but when their eyes made contact, he give a gentle mimed tip of his hat to the man with grey temples.

Black Widow (Belova) has posed:
Yelena Belova dismisses all of it with a flick and a wave of her fingers before returning to her alcoholic beverage of choice. She flicks her eyes to the arriving strange, crossing her legs as she sits back in her chair, balancing it a little precariously but somehow assuredly, just there on one leg of a chair in a Chinese restaurant. Halfway to drunk and looking at a bunch of strange, strange men and a creature that she had decided was actually there and not just something she was imagining.

"I feel like, this is familiar to me somehow, is like...scene from movie. Right? Famous movie. People in their pajamas. Robots. Spaceships. A bigfoot with a gun. But there is a restaurant with a band and a lot of strangers and I might even have a laser gun here somewhere...no, no, I left that in the taxi, shit!"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
When the server looks back to him asking how she can help after he tried answering her question, Nick pauses. Well he screwed up answering her it seems.

He sighs, "Half. Please." He amends, switching to English.

Okay, that's enough practice for one night it seems.

With the menu taken, Nick shakes his head, frowning before reaching over to pick up his drink.

The hands just brush against the glass before the view of another familiar face coming in distracts him. Hand retreating slightly, the musician boots up another smile to the sorcerer who appears to be heading directly their way. A chair pushes out before Strange gets there, beckoning him to sit down performed with the ancient magical art of - using his foot against the chair leg to slide the chair out. Crude. But effective.

"Hey Strange." Nick greets, glancing back over to Kent to the description of someone being a shark. "Hmm. He was looking over here earlier but not sure why."

He could come up with theories, but they'd probably all be wrong.

But back to topic. "Well, I'm doing better than I was a year ago around this time. And you two?"

Kit Killovarras has posed:
"Pretty well all things considered," Kit said with a little chuckle as he glances between Nick and Strange, "managed to get nearly blown up a few times in the last few months, but yeah." there's a little shrug, as if what he just said isn't weird in the slightest.

Doctor Strange has posed:
"Been working." Kent gets a smile from Strange, who replies to Nick calmly. "Big stuff going down. Had to do some research. Might need to ask people for some help, down the line." Which is weird.

Strange never asks for help.

"How goes your own practices?" Strange asks Nick and Kit, casually looking over them. "Are you blowing yourself up, or are other people blowing you up? I mean, both are bad for the health."

And then, a look back at Kent, before turning to the two. He's not whispering. "Have we seen him somewhere before? Is he like, some celebrity?"

Doctor Fate has posed:
The waitress made an 'ah' sound, understanding what Nick had said, and would helpfully explain, partially in English, and partially in Mandarin, the different pronunciations, and how they change the meaning. It was a difficult language to master for a native English speaker.

Kent Nelson was not really a known celebrity, at least not to most people. He may well have caught the attention of Dr. Stephen Strange through medical conferences, journals, and the like. For now, he seemed to be mysterious. Another game was starting, though it seemed that the one that looked like Jackie Chan had to be talked into staying.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The musician nods to Kit's summary. Being nearly blown up is not a typical thing. For most people. But then again Kit's not talking to normal people. Strange's comments gets a nod in agreement. "At least with the first one it's usually the result of your own choice. It's incredibly frustrating when it's the second one."

Nick looks over to Strange curiously. Strange NEVER asks for help. Except for the time with the lab. And the time with that weird dimensional glo-

Okay technically he didn't ask, Nick just got drawn to the right place to essentially help get the goop off his face keeping him FROM talking- And then the-

Ok Fine. Strange NEVER asks for help. Unless it is necessary. Either way the severity of the potential situation is very much stated. "Well, when the time comes, ask away. But I do reserve the right to say no."

If there's any perk to the past few years, he's learned the value of having the ability to say such a word.

Strange's inquiry to Kent's status gets a shake of the head. "Not that I know of." Nick answers, "I haven't seen him before but this place isn't part of my usual routine and he was here before I came in so I'm not... particularly worried that he's following. Maybe he's a closet rock fan." He glances to Kit, "Or it could be that we're having dinner with a Hyena and he's not used to that concept."

...It's probably that.

He looks to his drink. "...Although that we all up and decided to come here on the same evening around the same time without consulting each other could hint to something else."

Kit Killovarras has posed:
Kit just scratches the back of his head with a sheepish grin and admits, "Umm, a bit of both, if I'm being honest?" he says, then adds, "I may have inadvertently opened a rift between several dimensions that nearly swallowed a section of a town? But it was dealt with pretty well." Nick's comment about having dinner with a hyena does get a chuckle from Kit and a toothy little grin as he muses, "Yeah, not many people would be too used to seeing that." before sticking the very tip of his tongue out at the man.

Doctor Strange has posed:
"Hyena, makes sense. I just tune it out. You see weirder things in the depths of Hell." Strange admits, drinking his water once it's served.

He closes his eyes as he sips, before continuing. "Maybe a medical journal...could be a doctor." And then, to Nick. "If you refuse, that's fine. But if you do, I expect it'll be because it's out of your league. We're talking big problems, here."

Doctor Fate has posed:
It would seem that the last game didn't go for very long. No wonder one of them had to be cajoled into continuing. The blond man had won again, and the other three men would pay up, one handing a large wad of bills, another handing over what looked like a memory stick, and a third even gave up his watch and the keys to his car. There was much swearing again.

By now, some of the other patrons might have gotten used to it. All four would get up, with one heading to the men's room, another going over to the waitress, who gave him a kiss on the cheek. Father or uncle perhaps? The third went straight for the exit. But the blond, he collected up his winnings, placing them into the pockets of his jacket.

He would head towards the waitress as well, and curiously, hand something over to the man who had lost, though what was hidden from view. Afterwards, he seemed to head on his way, though he was going to straight past the table with the hyena-man, Sorcerer Supreme, and the rock star, which does sound like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it?

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Or in people's dreams." Nick adds on to the list of seen things that are weird to see than a Hyena having dinner with people. To the explanation Kit gives to the blowing up statement, Nick turns his head to look to Kit, brow arching. A rift between dimensions? "How did y-?" Nick stops. Nope.Probably don't want to get into too many details in the restaurant.

Hmm. Wasn't Lucifer and Nathaniel talking about personas being split acr-

Wait, no that was handled as well. No need to go down that road.

Nick looks back to Strange. "Well, we'll see if you do ask. But I wouldn't be too concerned. You know how I am with helping."

There'd have to be a very good reason for Nick to say 'No'.

Nick sets curious eyes upon the blond man, wondering what his deal was. But, being that he's already made himself out to be an idiot once tonight, he might as well take the hit this time around as well.

He waves the man they had been debating about earlier over towards them, giving one of the most pleasant expressions he can manage for speaking to a stranger. "Hey, you seem familiar but I'm drawing a bit of a blank to why. What's your name?"

Kit Killovarras has posed:
Kit just gives Nick a tilt of his head and a little chuckle as he muses, "That's the thing, I'm not entirely certain how I did it.. I was asleep through the whole thing." giving a little wince through the last part of that comment.

When the others wave the other man over, Kit just studies them for a moment with those mismatched eyes of his before giving a little wave in greeting. Apparently he's been oblivious about half the conversation?

Maybe it's due to the food, or perhaps the various smells, but the hyena seems ever so slightly distracted tonight.

Doctor Strange has posed:
As the man passes by their table, Strange turns to Kent. "Good hustling. Congratulations on your score." And thenn, he's going to turn back to his food unless addressed, listening to the name question closely. TThere's a second he turns to Kit, though. "You getting enough sleep? Try melatonin. Works wonders."

Doctor Fate has posed:
It was curious to be asked one's name, while near simultaneously being praised for hustling. Somehow, the hyena-man at the table was the least curious aspect of it, and that was saying something. But in order, he explained, "Dr. Kent Nelson, Empire General Hospital, perhaps you were a patient?" He would say to Nick Drago. He returned the wave to Kit. And to Dr. Strange, he nodded, but then gave Kit a closer look. "Melatonin is good, as its an unregulated supplement, but if it persists, I would advise you to consult with your GP. Ramelteon, for example, generally has mild side effects, and is not habit forming. Trazodone can make you sleepy during the day, headaches, and others issues, whereas Doxepin has even more issues. Best to get yourself looked at."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick pauses, seemingly in consideration of the hospital name. But considering how many hospitals get bought out, have name changes, alter their networks and whatnot, that's a losing task. "Hmm. Maybe that's it. Could have seen you in passing."

Nick glances over to Kit. For a dream walker, he too might have some general observations of sleep. He gets as far as getting out a 'Pr-' sound before opting not to. Being they're in public, there are two medical doctors giving advice, MAAAAAAYBE listing the various things he's rotated through, or the possibility of magic is not the best course of action. That could lead to either a very uncomfortable discussion or a very boring one.

Instead he grabs his drink and sips silently, 'gracefully' bowing out of the discussion.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
There's a puzzled look across the hyena's face for a moment as he looks at the others, then shakes his head and laughs, "Not quite what I meant, but okay? No, I've been sleeping rather well lately to be honest. Well, ever since then at least."

As for interesting or awkward conversations? Kit isn't nearly as subtle with what he is, but then again there are likely also people who seem to accept him more as a 'magical' talking hyena than just a mutant. "I'm pretty sure the ancient relic I was using to experiment with was the main reason I couldn't wake up during that issue.."
Blunt as a spoon?