22:53. Monday, November 20th, 2023. Mag Mell Diner, Midport.
Mag Mell Diner was an institution in Midport. Called M&M’s by the locals, it was an Irish diner founded in the 50’s and covered in chrome as preserved as a fly in amber. Bright red seating and checkerboard patterns could be everywhere. On the walls were black and white pictures of Midport throughout the ages, including pictures of the outside diner itself showing it not having aged a day.
It was supposed to anyway. The inside was definitely looking a little weathered. Areas with a bit of dust that hadn’t been attended to in a while. Laminated menus covered in permanent marker crossing out items that were no longer available and handwritten messages.
The place was in the heart of Fair Hollow, the Irish enclave in Midport. The same area that the park was in, so it hadn’t been much of a walk. Graveyard Bash in general had a good relationship with M&M’s.
Even at the height of their delinquent days, they would come to the diner to hang out still in costume. Ghoul 6 even used to work at the place part-time, and the owners and regular wait staff were probably aware of their real identities on some level.
When they really started to come around, however, was when they were being threatened to be put out of business from some chain “fast casual” place that had opened up nearby just outside of Fair Hollow. Poltergeist couldn’t remember the exact details but Ghoul 6 had explained that they were fucking over M&M’s and taking a lot of their nighttime traffic.
They were even considering closing at 8pm, and for Graveyard Bash, that would not do.
So they launched a campaign to ruin the other restaurant. A little bit of graffiti, a few threatening notes, and even one ‘accidental’ talent usage from Poltergeist (which was probably quite the mess to clean up), and soon whatever corporate overlord in charge decided that the restaurant was not worth the trouble. Leaving M&M’s the only late night diner in Midport once more.
It could have been that, or the fact that they later had Mag Mell Diner start catering their haunted house, and no one from the restaurant has ever testified against them.
Poltergeist had ordered a side order of soda bread, and together they were splitting the “Irish Republican Breakfast”. It consisted of a cheddar cheese omelet stuffed with -- of all things -- corn beef hash, a side of boiled potatoes and cabbage with white sauce, and of course, some thick Irish bacon.
This had been their usual since highschool whenever the group went out. Mummy would eat the potatoes and omelet. Poltergeist would eat the cabbage and bacon which, with the soda bread, was pretty filling.
Poltergeist was drinking hot tea, while Mummy had cola.
Mummy’s bandages were wrapped around bloody knuckles. Pharaoh's Fist was a powerful technique but all of the force that didn’t go straight into his opponent’s body went back into him. It was a recent innovation of his, something to help if someone ever closed the distance. He joked about needing to wear boxing gloves now, but he probably should.
“You probably broke his ribs, he was holding his side and breathing weirdly when him and his friend left.” Poltergeist said as she buttered her soda bread.
“The little shit had it coming. Hopefully a few broken bones is a small price to pay to keep him out of our hair for a while.” Mummy said. He took a sip from his drink.
“How old do you think he is? I thought he was like nineteen but after seeing the goofy costume his friend came in, he might be closer to highschool age.” Poltergeist said.
“I know what you are doing, but I am not gonna feel bad for going so hard on him. The fact that he felt comfortable running his mouth in front of you like that? That isn’t good for us, Pea.”
“He really didn’t forfeit at all?” Poltergeist asked. It was hard to witness the whole thing because of the kid’s dumbass idea to run straight into the woods, so it was hard to keep up. As soon as Poltergeist saw the two on the ground she called the fight in their favor and Mummy dutifully relented.
“I told you, I would have let up if he had said uncle or went limp but he didn’t. I think he was too proud or something.” Mummy answered.
“I still don’t understand how you two ended up in that position.” Poltergeist said.
“He had tried to trick me and I barely managed to avoid it because the little shit thought it would be a good idea to run while wearing a tinted helmet at night.” Mummy said.
“Well that tracks.” Poltergeist said.
Mummy went to take a bite out of his omelet and winced, dropping his fork. He grabbed at his wrist.
“Hey! You okay?” Poltergeist asked, a little concerned.
“It’s fine, Pea. I just had a small fuck up during the fight. Do not recommend punching Messenger's helmet.” Mummy said, rubbing his wrist.
“Fuck, I hope you didn’t break anything.” Poltergeist said.
“Pea it’s fine. If it still hurts in the morning, I’ll head to the doctor.” Mummy said.
“Okay, if you’re sure… Here.” Poltergeist said, holding out a forkful of his omelet. He took the bite without saying anything. It was a rare moment she was actually glad she had trouble using her powers for delicate tasks, so she had an excuse to do it herself.
“Shit, my soda!” Mummy said. Poltergeist hadn’t noticed but Mummy had spilled a drink when he went to grab his wrist.
“It’s fine Dare, I got it.” Poltergeist said, using an old pet name she had for him. Poltergeist started to clean up the spill with a napkin and ordered him a new drink. While she was at it she had Mummy use his talent to wrap up the ice cubes from his spilled drink so he could ice his wrist.
She saw she spilled some on himself, and moved over to his side of the booth to lightly pad him down. When she was done, she didn’t move back. She continued to feed him his omelet, which still, he didn’t comment on.
“Ice feeling better on your wrist?” Poltergeist asked.
“Yeah, it was a good call. You never fail to always find ways to turn bad situations around.” Mummy said, a tad wistfully. Sometimes I wish psychic’s could really read minds. Can’t tell if he was referring to turning things around for Graveyard Bash or for us. Instead I just have to talk and shit.
She didn’t ask him though.
Instead she asked him if she wanted her to put on some music. He nodded in response. She used the remote to put on some showtunes.
“Ha, they put on this musical freshman year. I fucking hated it. Honestly, still do.” Mummy commented.
She didn’t change it though, because she liked it. It was a typical ‘I want’ song, where the leading lady sings about her hopes and dreams. And deep down, she knew mummy probably liked it too. He always would rag on the music from the club put on, but she always caught him humming along with it backstage.
“Weird to think back then, psychics were just fantasy. And we were just kids.” Poltergeist said.
“Yeah… I ever tell you when I got my powers?” he said. He hadn’t told her, and he knows he hadn’t. He was always evasive whenever she asked, but since she wasn’t particularly forthcoming about her villain origin herself, she couldn’t really talk.
“I was taking a shit.” Mummy said. She couldn’t help it, but she laughed. It was the kind of laugh that burst forth from deep within her and even started to cough.
“Yup, I know, I know.” He said. He put up the hand who’s wrist he was icing up in mock surrender. Poltergeist drank some of her tea to calm down her now severe cough. “You done?” He asked.
“Yeah, yeah. I am done.” She said, weezing a little. She lightly put her head a little on his shoulder.
“Yup, everytime Franken-fuck asked if I could use my powers to help teepee someone’s house, and everytime Zomb-bitch implied i should use my talent to wipe my ass, they had no idea that they were so close to the truth.” Mummy said.
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“So how did you learn to control bandages then?” Poltergeist asked.
“I might as well just tell you the full story.” Mummy answered. Poltergeist gave a ‘go on’ gesture for him to continue. “So this back in highschool, which you know, of course. Powers had just started to become a thing, and we didn’t even know how they even worked yet.
“Anyway, I’m shitting my guts out. I think it was probably food poisoning, but I don’t really remember. Anyway, of course the nearest roll was way too out of reach. And there I was just wishing it would come closer to me when, what do you know it did!” Mummy declared.
Poltergeist stifled a laugh, though Mummy was probably trying to be funny at this point.
“And of course, do I unlock general telekinesis like the girl I had a crush on? Nope. My power worked only on ass wipes. So for months, while the news is plastered with stories about how cool these psychics are, and here I am too embarrassed to tell anyone about it.” Mummy said.
“Wait so how did you get it to work on gauze bandages?” Poltergeist asked. Mummy was a subject targeter, there were methods people used to expand what areas their talent’s could target, but those didn’t wouldn’t have come about till later.
“Well, I was desperate right? I needed this to work on something, anything else. Or else I would be the toilet guy forever. So I grabbed a bit of beige gauze and…”
“You wiped your ass with it.” Poltergeist interrupted.
“And told myself it was no better than toilet paper, yeah.” Mummy said, finishing the thought.
“Dare, in all seriousness you were probably the first subject targeter to ever expand your talent like that.” Poltergeist pointed out. Timeline wise, the first methods to subject expansion weren’t popularized till a few years later.
“Yup, and I would rather blow my brains out if anyone found out about it.” Mummy said.
“So why are you telling me?” Poltergeist asked.
“I don’t know. I guess I figured you wouldn’t tell anyone else about it.” Mummy said.
“What about when we were dating? Darius, I have literally seen your dick.” Poltergeist said.
“Ha ha. But, I don’t know, I was gonna, but then that thing with Zombie happened and you got all weird on me. Feels right to tell you now, with all that shit in the past.”
“Yeah… I know I already said I am sorry for how I treated you, but you really did deserve better.” Poltergeist said.
“It’s good. I’m over it. Still pissed Zombie never apologized but whatever. But we’re good.” Mummy said.
Mummy never got along with Zombie, even before the drama. In fact, not getting along with Zombie was something Mummy and Poltergeist had in common. And bitching about their mutual friend was something of a shared pastime when they first started dating.
But then Zombie came out to the group. And when Poltergeist started sorting through her own feelings, she realized that wasn’t just jealous of her, she was attracted to her. And when Poltergeist and her started to get along, she made a move on her, which Zombie reciprocated.
The guilt made Poltergeist come clean to Mummy the morning after, and soon they were broken up. The group almost fell apart after that, but for whatever reason they pulled through.
She was happy they did, and if the price of that was that the two people she was closest in the world had no chance of ever getting along, she would pay that price. Even if she knew it was her fault.
Still, I wish he didn’t blame Zombie as much for what happened.
“So I gotta ask.” Poltergeist said.
“Ask away your vileness. Your humble general shall always answer!” Mummy said, with a mock bow of his head. He was mocking Zombie, since the fancy talk was her schtick. He was more the ‘who are we fucking up today, boss’ kinda villian.
“If you control toilet paper, do you use your talent to wipe?” Poltergeist asked.
“Wouldn’t you?” Mummy answered, plainly.
“Duh!” Poltergeist declared.
----------------------------------------
After they paid and left a tip, Mummy started to walk her home. It wasn’t needed, of course, she could kill him and anyone else if she really wanted to. Hell, if a car tried to hit her only thought would be if their insurance would cover the dent she would give their bumper.
But still, it was a good excuse to stay together for a little bit longer, and her place wasn’t too far from M&M’s.
She pulled out a bogey, and had mummy light it for her.
“This was good.” Mummy said.
“Yeah, it was. You should beat up teenagers more often.” Poltergeist said. Mummy gave her a light shove.
“So why did you wanna come here? Usually we just debrief and go home.” Mummy said.
“I don’t know.” Poltergeist lied. Moment of truth.
“I’m getting tired.”
“Yeah, it is pretty late.”
“No, like, tired. Of this whole villain thing.”
“You’re always saying that shit, Pam. But you love this more than any of us.”
“I’m serious. I am the strongest psychic in town and what do I have to show for it? I work a dead-end job at a warehouse with no health insurance.” Poltergeist said.
“You keep the small fry out of town. If you need money we could start hitting up businesses. They probably wouldn’t want you to quit if it meant scarier mother fuckers would try to run the place.” Mummy suggested.
“Like a protection racket? Tell me smartass how am I supposed to file that shit on my taxes.” Poltergeist said.
“God, when did we start caring about that shit?” Mummy said.
“When it started mattering Darius! Seriously, we aren’t teenagers anymore. Everyone’s moved on. I have no idea why the rest of you even bother to stick around, especially Zombie.” Poltergeist asked.
“Because we all like you. And we like doing this shit. Zombie get’s to larp, Franky gets to practice his weird powers and the ghouls get to hang. Everyone wins.” Mummy said.
“Yeah, and what do you get out of this smartass?” Poltergeist asked.
“Pea, you already know.” Mummy said. She did. He may not get his dream of working in fashion, but he could help her dream of getting back at to the world. He said as much when they were together.
She was so mad at everyone, at everything. Her shitty parents, her shitty school, her shitty world. And she wanted to break it, everything. She wanted to just be free with her friends. And she had the power to make it happen.
But she was so tired now. It didn’t matter if she was angry enough she could lift a car with her mind. She still had to pay rent to a shitty landlord. To go to work for a shitty boss who didn’t care if her power could hurt people if she wasn’t careful.
“Listen, if you need money. New York or Stamford isn’t that far away, I am certain someone there is running a few tournament arcs or some other shit.” Mummy said. Tournament arcs were a variation of the costume game that was like monster of the week but bigger, and occasionally with prize money.
“That won’t get me health insurance through. And there is a good chance I end up hurt. And an even better chance that I end up hurting someone else. And again, taxes.” Poltergeist said.
“Fucking taxes. Whatever. I am not really the guy to talk to about this shit. Why don’t you bring this up to Zombie or Frankenstein?” Mummy asked.
“They would both just tell me to get registered so I can get a better job.” Poltergeist said.
“Why don’t you?” Mummy asked.
“C’mon, I thought you were with me on this shit!” Poltergeist yelled.
“Well you keep talking about quitting! I’d rather you register than pissaway all the shit we’ve built!” Mummy yelled back.
“Fuck.” Poltergeist said. She shivered from the cold and paused to think about it. “That is actually a good point.”
“Mind repeating that into a microphone. I need proof you said that so I can rub it in Zombie’s ugly face later.” Mummy said.
“Whatever asshole.” Poltergeist said, punched him in the arm. She noticed. He was still icing his wrist. It must have been cold.
“Ugh, it isn’t fair. All these psychic powers and I still have to walk places.” Poltergeist whined. It was true, her powers were much better at throwing other people in the air than herself.
“You’d save on car payments.” Mummy said.
“Wow, the man makes one good point and suddenly he starts thinking practically about the world. That’s some good shit.” Poltergeist said. She tossed her cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out.
“Ha ha.” Mummy said dryly.
“It really was a good idea.” Poltergeist confessed. “I think I am gonna go tomorrow to get registered.”
“That sucks, but good I guess.” Mummy said. He shivered. He used his talent to unwrap the bandage covering the ice and breathed into his hands to warm them up.
“It’s pretty cold out.” Poltergeist commented.
“Yeah.” Mummy agreed.
“Instead of walking back to your place, wanna warm up and just crash at my place tonight? I have the day off tomorrow so I can just drive you to work in the morning.” Poltergeist said.
“Then run off to willingly put your name on the government’s shit list.” Mummy said.
“Dare, stop talking about the errands I am gonna run. I’m trying to see if you wanna fuck.” Poltergeist said, cutting straight through the bullshit.
“...Oh.” Mummy said.
After that the two capped off their evening together. But though Poltergeist, or really, Pamela, would get in contact with a staffer from the Harmon Telekinetic Affairs Commission she would not end up getting registered. Instead, two weeks later, Pamela Gallagher’s workplace would report her missing.