mnt_mike | (no subject)

Sallie, by fate or happenstance or needing to find where she put the canned peaches in her pantry, ends up in the bar about fifteen minutes later.

Another five (would've been less if the map had been clearer) and Sallie is approaching that spot the X marked.

"Wèi, Mike."

It's not Mike's fault that Sallie isn't as adept at reading Crayon as Mike is at writing in it!

Mike is sprawled, shirtless, across a rock that juts out into the water. There's no sense of pent-up energy about him at the moment, which is kind of unusual truth be told. No, he's just chilling in nearly every sense of the word.

"Hey there, Pretty Lady. How's the day?"

"Well enough. Took a left at the bags of rice in my cupboard and here I am. Got your note, obviously." She holds up the map in Mike's scrawl.

"Not that I care in particular, but why did you want to meet out here?"

He props himself up on his elbows.

"And miss out on a day like this?"

The day? Isn't really all that great. But then again, this is a magical mock up of Scotland, after all. Days where the Sun comes up at all are pretty freakin' rare.

"Whatever puts air through your engine. Scoot over."

Sallie gathers the bottom of her aproned skirt in one hand, tucking it to one side as she sits on the end of the rock furthest away from the water.

"So. I've been thinking about it."

Mike does what he's told. He also does what he isn't told, and snags his shirt from elsewhere on the rock, slipping the outrageous Hawaiian style print over his head.

Mike and Wash: Brothers from different mothers, in that regard.

"Oh yeah?"

"You and the bar are connected," Sallie fumbles. "I don't get how, and I need you to explain to me if you can what that would be like with me involved in that too."

Is Mike going to be in Sallie's head now? Can Sallie even deal with that? Mike may look human but he's not. Sallie is. There's a difference there.

He cringes slightly.

"I...don't know that I can answer that. Like...the mechanics of it. I can tell you what my experience has been like?"

"Do the best you can with it."

He pulls a face.

"Okay...um. So sure. Okay, growing up we were exposed to things like astral projection and various forms of like, Chi focused telepathy. Mostly it was our Master who did this stuff, I could never get my brain fully around it. SO like, it wasn't as much of a shock to my system when Bar sort of...um...walked into my head one night.

Best way to describe it is to like, imagine it's like living in a house with someone where the walls are really really thin. You might not always be able to hear exactly what they're saying, but you know that they're there, and that they're talking. And you certainly know if they're pissed off or not."

"And you 'n Bernard were Barmen at the same time. Was it different when there was another one o' you? Like...could you hear him too?"

Mike nods.
"Sometimes. Especially if he wasn't concentrating on keeping his doors closed. Of course," and here he grins. "Sometimes it didn't matter even if he did. Sound travels."

Sallie raises her eyebrows at that.

Did she really want Mike in her head?

"Is this your decision or Bar's?"

His grin goes all sheepish around the edges.

"Thaaaaat is an interesting question you've got there...."

An easy one, too.

"It's always the women, Mike. That explains why we're meeting out here."

"That obvious, huh?"

"Just a little."

Sallie exhales audibly, readjusting the skirt hem still in her hands.

"I don't want to do it if she's goin' to take issue with me."

He blinks.

"But...we're not out here because of you. We're out here because of me. If she knew that I'd asked you to be Barman with me, she...well there might have been a chance she'd have freaked out. That...that I was leaving her or something. That's...that's kind of what she did the last time, with Bernard..."

That is a concern.

"Once you're in, you're in for good, is what you're saying."

But her expression clears as Sallie shakes her head. Bernard did leave, eventually.

"Not necessarily. I mean...Bernard's gone. And I don't think there was much issue when Sirius passed the torch to Bernard. Don't know that I ever really met the man though, to be honest. Plus, he was kind of her father so there's leeway there."

Mike sighs, flopping back on the rock.

"Bernard was kind of like...a drama magnet though? Like, everything was very POW and BAM with him. Not so much unstable as...unpredictable? Probably why him and Raph got along so well. But...that might have been why?"

Okay. That is kind of comprehensible.

"Why me? I get why you might've had your eye on findin' another Barman so you can leave and all, but..."

"Why not you?"

Sallie opens her mouth to retort with -- well, almost anything and everything. Too old? No, she runs her own business at home with (she thinks) just as much fervor as ever. Too female? Ha. No. Too human? There've been human barmen before.

She closes her mouth again. Sallie's thinking.

Finally: "I'm not giving up my land at home."

"Dang!" he says laughing. "My glorious plans are foiled now. FOILED! I say!"
He takes a breath before kipping up to a standing position.

"No one's asking you to. I'm just asking if you wouldn't mind giving me a hand keeping an eye on the land here."

"And give you the freedom to leave."

Don't think Sallie hasn't factored that in too.

"And give me the freedom to leave," he admits. "Though, that wasn't my reason for asking. I like it here. It...it's the only place Mel and I can be together, so I'm not exactly looking for the nearest emergency exit.

Don't even really know what made me think of asking you the other day either. It wasn't like...something I'd been thinking about at all. Just...poof. And there it was."

Most of Mike's ideas happen that way. He's not a huge planner.

Sallie never would have noticed.

"I'm nervous about it, but...yes."

Blink.

Blinky-blink.

Blink.

"Really?!?"

Sallie holds up a finger quickly, sounding for all the world like a scolding mother.

"If Bar is okay with me, and so long as I can still maintain work on my land. That is very important for me and I can't lose that."

At the sound of that tone Mike's hands immediately go up into defensive positions. Years of hearing that tone and having it quickly followed by a whack from a walking stick have left his reflexes strong.

"You won't! You've got my word! Promise! Like...Ninja Promise."

Hrumph.

"We're going to have another ninja versus pirate argument at some point, aren't we."

He grins.
"Maaaaaaybe. But don't worry, I promise to go easy on you."

Those hands? Still up.

Whatever, Mike. She can totally take you.

"How will this work? Getting Bar's approval, I mean to say."

Truthfully? Mike doesn't doubt it. Older people are the most dangerous, especially in Mike's old line of work. You don't live to be an older Ninja without first surviving being a Young Ninja. It's one of the reasons Mike retired.

"Yeeeaaah, about that. I have no real idea."

Sallie stands.

"C'mon then. I ain't getting any younger."

Sallie starts walking back to the bar without waiting to see if Mike follows her.

Mike watches her go, eyes getting wider by the minute.
"oh boy."

With that, he scrambles to find his shoes, and then as fast as he can he clambers to put his shoes on and catch up with Sallie at the same time.