A Place To Belong

I wonder if this is the place?

Hibari found herself having to find some place to seek employment briefly, during her time on earth that is. She was told to take some time off(forced too really) and had decided to go on earth during it. In the mean time, while she was here, Hibari wanted to keep herself busy. So with that in mind after doing some research, she decided to check out the Bronx. Maybe they could use a bouncer, she was more then qualified for something like that considering her job.

If not, I could settle for something else.

The young woman checked her watch, it read 2:23 PM in the afternoon. Not too early and not too late in the day. Deciding to make a good first impression, she went to the Bronx to talk to the people in charge and get something going.

Matt was at the front doors sweeping the entrance. They didn't open for another 30 minutes or so. He was just doing his job. His clipboard sat on his stool next to the door. Along with his sketch pad. The admittance rope was already up.

He had just finished sweeping when he spotted a woman walking towards him. "I'm sorry miss, we don't open until three." He said.

Hibari stopped when Matt announced they didn't open until three. It seemed like a oversight on her part and she was normally pretty intelligent but she was far from perfect. However, in hindsight it wasn't that bad as she could wait for thirty more minutes if need be.

"I see, I thought it opened earlier." Hibari sighed. "When does your manager usually come in and when would be a good time? I'm asking because I'm interested in getting a temporary job here. If there's anything open."

Matt smiled, He jerked a thumb towards a help wanted sign. "Good timing then. We've been short staffed since one of our girls got famous and started her Pop Tour." He said. "I'll walk you in." He said and moved the rope.

Hibari went to follow after the young man. "Thank you. I'm Hibari Faran by the way, may I ask your name?" She didn't care too much for celerberties and she didn't know too many of the earth ones. She didn't pay too many of the ones on Alus, either). "If you don't mind me asking, who left? Maybe I've heard of them."

Matt stepped aside so she could pass. "I'm Matt and the one who left was Konami Kasugano. She had been trying for years to get a record deal. We're all very proud of her." He said and moved to the door. He opened it and went through the archway. There was a short hallway that lead to the interior.

Once passed the hallway the central room opened up into a large oval like room. There was a large ring that had tables and chairs all around. The banister was brass in color and the central area dropped down for more seating. Directly across from the entry way was a decent sized stage and dance area in front of it. To the right against the wall was a bar. It was curved to match the flow of the room.

Next to the stage on either side were stairs leading to a balcony that encircled the entire up stairs. Just off to the side of the bar was a door marked privet. To the left were the restrooms.

At the bar were two girls one was of asian decent and was wearing what looked like a tuxedo with a mini skirt. She had roller skates on and was folding towels. An apron sat on her lap. Behind the bar was a blond woman with short cut hair. She also wore a tuxedo. However her shirt was only half buttoned and she had no bow tie. She was drying glasses and setting them on the back shelf.

Matt walked up to them. "Hey guys, This is Hibari Faran. She's looking for a job." He said and looked back to Hibari "Hibari, this Kay Kingsly and Ukyo Sakazaki." He indicated them in turn.

Ukyo looked up from folding towels. "Hi there." She said. Kay glance back and reached to a cubby hole under the cash register. She pulled out a sheet of paper. "Go ahead and fill out the application. When you're done I'll take you back to my office." She said and went back to drying glasses.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you two." The Ralphlim took the sheet of paper and went to a place nearby she could fill it out in peace. It wasn't too hard, she just had to remember certain details of things. She knew the talking in the office would be more or less a job interview so she wanted to be exactly on point whenever she was brought back in. It helped she brought a resume of sorts she could refer too.

Of course, considering she came from a place far away a few things would have to be amended. Or wouldn't apply here.

When she was done, she went to hand the application back to Kay. "I'm done with this for now."

Kay took the application and looked it over. She nodded her head towards the door marked privet. She unlocked it and walked inside. Behind the door was another hallway. At the end was an alley access door. There were three other doors. To the immediate right was one marked office. To the left was an unmarked door and a little ways further on the left was the basement.

Kay walked into her office still reading the application. She sat down in her chair and flipped the paper over. She read that side carefully and then set it on her desk mat. She looked to Hibari. "Have you ever worked at a night club before?" She asked.

Hibari shook her head a bit at that after taking a seat. "No, I haven't ma'am. I've only truly gotten into one job and stuck with it sense." She reached into her pockets and pulled out some papers and put them on the desk. "This could explain a bit better then I can, but if you have any questions about things then you're more then welcome to ask. I'm not sure what experience might be relevant to this job, but maybe you can find something."

On the paper was basically about her job experience, she was correct about it only being one job she had stuck with. Hibari was apparently part of the 'Honor Guard' on Alus--which was basically very skilled, trained and powerful bodyguards for various important people on Alus. Since earth and Alus did have trade and contact with each other someone from Alus visiting wasn't so odd.

What was strange was someone with that behind them was asking for a job here for.

Kay skimmed over the papers. "So, you've never worked at a night club, I'm guessing you don't have any drink mixing skills. Seems to me you are woefully over qualified for the bouncer position." She leaned back in her chair. *Come on Kay, you know you're gonna give her the job. Just don't make it seem like you need her that badly.* She steepled her fingers and looked at her for a long while.

Finally she stood, reaching into a drawer she pulled out a stack of uniforms. "You start tonight, Ukyo will show you the ropes, Roller Skates are optional. I'll get the rest of your paperwork ready tomorrow. We'll call tonight a trial run. Pick out a uniform that fits and get changed we open in 10 minutes." She said and left her to pick through the various sizes of the uniforms. Kay opened the door and paused. "Good luck." She said.

Kay left the young woman to her devices and walked back to the bar. Ukyo hopped on a stool. "Well? Is she gonna save me tonight?" She asked. Her brow furrowed just enough to make her even more cute.

Kay rolled her eyes, "Yes I think so." She said and tossed Matt the keys. "Let's get ready to open her up." She said.

Matt caught the keys and walked to the door. The establishment was non alcoholic and a smoke free zone. Matt liked that. The last thing he wanted was to break up drunken brawls.

Outside there were a few people gathered. Things didn't pick up until about 5ish so they had plenty of time to break in the new waitress.

Hibari took a uniform that seemed it would fit her form before going to find the restroom to change. She wasn't too crazy about the skirt, but it was a small price to pay as it was simply part of the uniform. The real reason she had taken this job even as a temporary one, was because she desperately needed something to do. Her superiors had gave her 'indefinite leave' because she worked so hard but she found herself not knowing what to do with the free time.

Work was where she felt the most secure in herself, that or at home.

How do they get used to these things?

Hibari managed to get dressed quickly, thankful that part of her training included how to hurry up and get ready at a moments notice. Compared to the strict exercises she had to do before. Once she was done and had folded her clothes quickly, neatly and squared away she felt she was good to go. For now anyway.

The Ralplim headed out the bathroom, looking around. While her face didn't show it she was a bit nervous. This wasn't the kind of work she was used to so she wasn't sure how she'd do.

Waiting outside the bathroom was Ukyo. "Hi there." She said. She had a smile that never seemed to fade. "You're gonna shadow me for a while. Just to get the mojo flowin." When she said "mojo" she leveled her hands at the elbow and wiggled her fingers. She seemed to glide across the floor. That was because of the roller skates. "Now, we don't get real busy until about five or six." She said and a few people walked in. She skated over to the bar and grabbed a tray and an order pad. "The job doesn't pay as much as you would expect, however tips are a girls best friend." She said and rolled over to a couple who were sitting down. "Hi there, I'm Ukyo, i'll be your waitress." She said and rolled off to the side. "This is Hibari she's gonna be shadowing me for a bit. So be nice." She said with a smile and wagged a finger at the couple.

Hibari wasn't completely socially inept.

She knew the basics, politeness, how to talk to people and the various other things you learned through life. What got her to pause was situations like these were she was thrusted forward in situations like these. Hibari had never figured out why these types of things threw her off considering she could keep calm while throwing down with something that looked like it came from the Alien vs Predator movies.

"Nice to meet you two." Hibari decided to watch the 'master' at work and take notes. If nothing else she was a fairly fast learner most of the time. The quicker she learned to do this on her own, the better.

Ukyo made some polite banter and then took her order. She coasted over to the bar "Kay I need an order of buffalo wings, a banana and orange smoothie and a Wham Bam!" She said and set the ticket on the bar. Kay took it and went to work with the drinks. "Tell them the wings will be about 15 minutes." She said and looked to Hibari "Can you cook?" She asked.

Hibari nodded. "I can and have. I'm not the best cook but I consider myself decent." Cooking was one of the skills she had to pick up. If she hadn't, she'd be eating a less diverse diet without one of those food replicators. She actually enjoyed cooking, it helped her relax. "Do you want me to cook?"

Kay put down the drinks and waved her behind the bar. "The kitchen's through there." She pushed on a false wall behind the bar and it opened up to a decent sized kitchen. Kay clicked the door into place so it would stay open. "We don't have much in the way of food, Chili Dogs, wings, pretzels it's mostly snack food." She said.

Matt walked up pulling on a pink A-Shirt that said "Bounsa" on it. On the back it had the logo for the Bronx. "It's not much, but you can live on it." He said. His face sported a half smile. He reached into a bowel and grabbed a small handful of pretzels. Kay swatted at his hand and he backed away chuckling. "I'll be out front." He said and walked away.

Kay looked back to Hibari, "Oh and we also rent rooms here. Just some small apartments. I reserve them for staff. So far it's just me and Ukyo living here. Matt has his own place down town. Employee parking is in the back." She walked into the kitchen and pointed out the various food stuffs and how to prep and cook them. There was a stove, two deep fryers a walk in freezer. Various open shelves holding things from cooking utensils to canned food.

"If you have any questions i'm just out here." She jerked a thumb towards the bar. "We have our normal cook coming at about 5, That's when things'll pick up." She said and walked out to the bar to finish with the drinks. Ukyo had already finished them so Kay went back to wiping down the counter.

"I will, thank you Kay." Hibari turned her attention to the kitchen. It looked a bit diferent from what she was used to but she managed. If nothing else Hibari was good at adapting with things like these.

((WARNING!! WARNING!! TIME SNAP IS IN EFFECT!!!))

Time passed quickly and soon it was around 5. A man walked in and took off his jacket. Kay nodded to him, "You're late." She said Cupid looked at his watch. "Are you sure? Hunh, Guess I need a new watch." He said and leaned against the bar. "Hey, you know what would help me get a new watch?" He asked.

Kay shook her head. "You're not getting a raise. Now get to work." She said.

He smiled. "Oooo.... feelin a little sizzle today." He laughed. Kay snapped a towel at him and he shielded his face, "Okay, okay. I'm goin, geeze." he said and walked into the kitchen. He spotted Hibari and smile. "Well hello there." He walked over taking off his tie. "I'm Cupid, nice to meet ya." he said and offered his hand.

Hibari blinked, noticing the newcomer. He seemed rather handsome, but there was something..different about them. She couldn't put her finger on it. Never the less she pushed it aside and shook his hand.

"Hibari Faran. Nice to meet you. So you're a co-worker?"

Cupid shrugged, "If you can call it that. I'm just the short order cook. I'm not very good at it but it gives me something to do." He said and put on his apron. He walked over to a box and pulled out some rubber gloves. "It pays the bills so i'm content. Also, no one's complained about the food...yet." He chuckled. He walked over and leaned in close looking over Hibari's shoulder. "Not much on the tickets tonight." he said and moved to the friers, "It'll pick up though. You had best get out there before boss lady comes lookin for ya." He said took the remainder of the tickets. He sorted them and got to work.

Hibari offered a very faint smile. "I've learned things can always be worse. Anyway, I'll talk to you later Cupid." Cupid was a strange name. In earth culture, that was the name of the Greek God of love if she wasn't mistaken. Maybe his parents were just very into that sort of thing, or just liked the name. She left the kitchen and went to find Kay, she probably needed her for something. If not, it wouldn't hurt just in case. It was her first day after all.

Kay spotted Hibari as she was coming out of the kitchen. The outer ring was full of people and the inner circle was starting to fill. "Hibari, I'm gonna need you on the floor." She pointed to the area where the inner circle was. "There's not that many people there so you should be okay. Drinks go directly to me and food orders go to Cupid." She pulled out an order pad and pen. "Most people here are regulars so they know what they want. The tables have numbers on the sides. Take an order record the number." She handed the items over. "If you have any trouble call for Matt." She handed her a pager like item. "That's a panic button. Press it and he's there." She finished as Ukyo rolled up with a few orders. "Don't take matters into your own hands that's what he's for." She finished and started to fill the orders.

Hibari was far from helpless but she could understand the general behind it, since she was a waitress and not a bouncer. There was probably also 'legal' matters to think about, since it was more likely bouncer would have slight more weight there then a upset waitress, unless it was purely self defense.

The Ralphlim went over to her first customer, pad and pencil at the ready. "What can I get you today?"

Mia had just sat down when a new girl came up to take her order. "Hey there, you must be new." She winked. "Don't worry I'll go easy on ya." She said and thought for a moment. "I'll have a peach smoothie with orange juice." She said and leaned back in her chair. "What's you name? I'm Mia." She said.

"Hibari Faran. This is my first day technically, I'm trial right now." The Ralplim quickly scribbled a few things down. "I'll have your order down soon. One second."

After that, she quickly went to Kay; remembering that drinks went to her and food went to cupid. As far as orders went. "One of my customers needs a smoothie with orange juice, her name is Mia and she seemed like a regular here."