Scene #9654: I Did Promise Not To Shoot You

Owner	Pose
Schneider Greco	'Schneider Greco' is a name whose referent is located at a specific point in time and space. For a while it was located in Sicily. For most of the Roaring Twenties it has been located in Chicago, Illinois. Lately, with Unification, it has jittered between worlds, but if you are searching for it the Windy City remains your best bet. 'A near-empty diner at 8 PM on a Sunday' is deeply unlikely. But the beauty of life is that anything is possible. On April 19th, 1929 (or April 19th, 1999+13), that happens to be where 'Schneider Greco' traces back to. No-one who knows her face from the Walden would stoop to come to a humble, incandescent-lit, tacky place like this, with its wooden counters and its checkerboard floors. No-one who knows her name from the criminal underworld would connect it to this face. And so the waifish body that hunches on a high stool over a little soda-and-ice-cream, slurping it through a straw, with scarlet feathers and a black coat not covering the bruises on its legs and the bandages on its hands, is comfortably invincible in the fact that no-one here who looks at it can see 'Schneider Greco'- Chicago's youngest mob boss; the Manus's favorite show-gladiator- nestled in its skull. No-one except...
Regulus	No-one except Regulus!! Through mascot power! Regulus's first experience with Schneider was trying to stop her from shooting guys who really seemed to be jerks but Regulus has a strange philosophy in which she thinks people are, by and large, entities that shouldn't be shot. Because of this, she got shot! Since then, though, Schneider has ranged from fine to helpful and more to the point, she has learned something that triumphs over all complaints: Namely, Vertin confessed to Regulus she kissed Schneider and like she shouldn't make it her business, sure, but she isn't just a believer in peace, she is also a champion of love! And sure, she was Told Some Things that made her pretty sympathetic to Schneider, so--okay, so what if she got shot? She can let bygones be bygones. The arm doesn't even hurt anymore and your gunshot wound no longer hurting is a good first step towards forgiveness. But she's really been scouting around Chicago to get a feel for things more than actively seeking anyone out. As someone who can be invisible and as someone who has a knack of getting out of trouble, Regulus can do this! She's not seeking anyone out, naturally, but he is keeping her own eyes open and when she gets a knackering for some soda pop she ends up, wholly coincidentally, passes by the very same diner that Schneider found herself at. Yawning as a little jingle announces her presence as she steps through the door, she lets the door swing shut behind her when--- slurrrp She skids to a stop as she sees the very person that's been on and off her mind just sitting there having a tasty refreshment. Be casual, Regulus! "Dr. Pepper is the best soda ever invented you know." Regulus moves forward, intent on nonchalantly sitting in the chair next to her. "It's even healthier, that's why it's named after a Doctor." Okay that last part is just a joke. She bites at the inside of her lip as the bruises and bandages are impossible not to notice. "Um I come in peace?"
Schneider Greco	Schneider's eyes slide to Regulus with almost the same motion as a bulge under her jacket, beneath the level of the counter where the proprietor (older; balding; skinny; striped waistcoat) can't see. It might take a second to realize that that's a gun pointed at her. There's no 'click' before the potential 'bang'. Schneider keeps them always cocked. "Dr. Pepper is the best--" "Who's with you, my-la-dy?" Schneider says, a long long way before Regulus has a chance to talk about peace. (Uh-oh.) The man behind the counter glances over from his business cleaning a glass; judges the two young(?) women to probably be friends or something; and goes back to cleaning until he's called upon. Schneider's seemingly-smooth demeanor doesn't give the man much reason to panic, besides. But if Regulus freaks out too much, she might cause a scene! At the very least, Schneider gestures 'down' with the gun-silhouette beneath the dark fabric, indicating she should sit. "Mmh, and whose peace is it? That can make all the dif-fer-ence, right? The Foun-da-tion... I do not like their doves. Coo, coo~..."
Regulus	''Who's with you, my-la-dy?'' "Oh uh--it's just me?" Regulus pauses, her heart jumping in her chest as she notices the gun. "I don't know Dr. Pepper personally--" She's definitely freaking out a little bit because otherwise she wouldn't be quipping about THE Dr. Pepper when she knows full well she's talking about the Foundation. "I--I mean I'm not with the--the doves or the Foundation in the first place, you know, just Vertin." A bead of sweat drops down her face and she breathes a sigh of relief when the gun shifts to being pointed down, which is one of the better directions to aim a gun according to Regulus if one has to be in the equation. rShe plunks herself down and her shoulders droop as she catches her breath--she wasn't expecting the gun being aimed at her! She thought they got along alright the last time! r"Actually, it's thanks to Vertin I even got that choice otherwise I'd be--" She lowers her voice. "Washed away by the Storm or um.--under the Foundation's thumb. Probably the former. She--" A flash of guilt behind her eyes before she's able to push her shades back up ."--she got in trouble for it, so I owe her." She has such big eyes wow.
Schneider Greco	Schneider stares into Regulus's eyes for a long moment, as she seats herself. From how she acts, you'd expect Schneider's eyes to be fiercely bright. Instead they're usually dim, with only a faint glimmering of smoky personality in them. A burned-out bulb might bear more current than a live one. Swishhh, softly, like air-across wings, and the shape of a gun disappears. Schneider draws a black 'feather', glinting like a knife, from under her jacket where the gun was. "Ah... my-lord Ver-tin... and I did promise not to shoot you, right? My mem-or-y, sur-prises are not good for it. I'm sorry, my-la-dy." She's still eyeing the street, like she half-expects a Foundation team to come bursting through the glass any minute now. But so what if they do? Slurrrrp. "The doc-tor Pepper, he does not agree with me. 'Moxie' is, mmh, more my tastes? Or 'Nehi', but a little too sweet," she says, leaning over the counter now and lazily batting her eyelashes aside. "So what message did you come to bring, little debtor?"
Regulus	"Oh... I didn't know you cared for soda at all honestly. I figured you'd be more into liquor." Regulus admits, wondering if that's a stereotype or not of mob bosses. Schneider doesn't really fit a lot of mob boss stereotypes otherwise, actually, as far as she's aware but this is ancient history to Regulus. "You did!" She says emphatically. "You did promise no shooting Reguluses. This is a good and important thing to remember." She almost mimics Matilda's speech pattern there a little bit. "It's--okay, I'd much rather have a gun aimed at me than fired at me, haha...hah..." Regulus ends up glancing to the street like she's also expecting a Foundation team to come bursting through but, like, not for Schneider but for Regulus which might not make a lot of sense but she's gotten chastized SO MUCH. "Oh I just uh--happened to be in the area. And I guess I could've pretended I didn't see you but --- did you want me to pass something on to Vertin?" She pauses a moment. "I--I mean, it's Vertin I'm loyal to okay? Not the Foundation and ... I want Vertin to be okay. I wasn't the first person she tried to save, you know? I'm just the first one that got lucky." She rubs at her neck, sheepishly. "The Foundation's got all these stupid rules and--" She exhales slowly, lowers her head, leaning it against the counter. "Well there's good people there too. It's not just the stupid rules and people who see our lives as numbers on a line. There's people there who really do try. If I were her, though, I'd have bounced a long time ago, let it be all their trouble, but because she's--who she is--" She trails off. "So um--no official message from me! I guess I thought it'd be nice to talk to you properly, though, that's what she'd do right?"
Schneider Greco	Schneider arches her eyebrows slightly at the idea that Regulus just happened to be in Chicago. They stay pretty far up on her forehead for the next ten or twenty seconds, throughout another slurrrp of her ice cream. "I do pre-fer the liquor, my-la-dy. But... I know not how long until I leave Chicago," she says, turning her eyes to the older proprietor's back- the Foundation is a known institution, but it's best not to mention Storms so openly around someone like him. "And I thought, it would be a shame not to try them, right?" Slurrrrp. ... "Mmh, it is al-right," she says noncommittally. "Don't be talkin' 'bout alcohol where I can hear it," says the older man, finally turning around. "It's no business of mine and I want to keep it like that." Schneider slides her eyes to him, clicking her tongue. "Get the lady a Doc-tor Pep-per, hmm?" she says, sliding him a whole dollar bill. He looks startled, then pockets it, and grumbles. "You look like a nice reputable lady, now. Don't hang around types like her too much," he says to Regulus, sliding her the drink. Schneider utterly ignores him, and smiles while leaning her cheek on her hand. "Mmmh. Ev-ery-where, there are people 'really trying', and living their lives. That is true of my people, too," she says. "If you wish to ask things of me, my-la-dy, what did you wish to know?"
Regulus	''Schneider arches her eyebrows'' "Well I was looking around but I wasn't ''aiming'' for anything--" ''Don't be talkin' 'bout alcohol where I can hear it. It's not business of mine and I want to keep it like that.'' "Oh I forgot--" Regulus blurts out, a little stupidly, but liquor is very much not illegal in the 1960s. ''Get the lady a Doc-tor Pep-per, hmm?'' ONE HUNDRED PERCENT FORGIVEN. SCHNEIDER IS A SAINT. Regulus gives the man a bit of a look and a quirk of her head before looking back to Schneider. She feels compelled to disagree more out of spite than anything because she got called a nice reputable lady. "I look ''reputable''?" Regulus asks Schneider, clearly hoping Schneider will reassure that she looks like a scoundrel. "I wear sunglasses. I'm a pirate--" ''I know not how long until I leave Chicago.'' It should be a while still right? The last Storm was so recent. She didn't say for, like, a week or something. "There's sodas other places too." She says instead of saying 'other times'. "But it's good to enjoy the small pleasures while you can." ''That is true of my people, too.'' "Are they going with you?" Regulus asks. "I guess you're a little bit like her yourself." ''If you wish to ask things of me, my-la-dy, what did you wish to know?'' In truth, Regulus doesn't want to ask about Manus Vindictae plans. She certainly doesn't want to 'wipe out humanity' or anything like that but it's really not what's the big thing on her mind right now. "Um, you seemed to get along really well with Vertin at the Motherlobe." Regulus says. "Do you like her?"