She was amazing, and he wasn't going to let anyone tell her otherwise.
x
It wasn't to say she hated the tavern, really. Not the workers themselves, or the owner, or even the building and its location. Actually, during the day, she kind of liked the Sagittarius. It was nice and well-lit, and there weren't drunken morons bashing each other in the head all the time.
And her outfit was cute too.
"Hi there." Smirk.
Rita glared.
Too bad it was evening.
"Hello?"
"I'd like to order."
"Can someone take my order?"
"Hey!"
"I don't have time for this," Rita growled. Notepad in hand and pencil in the other, she spun on her heel and practically ran in the direction of the first voice. Already, she'd forgotten about teal eyes and purple coats. Instead, she was focusing on dish names, numbers, and never ending orders that took a long, long time. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
How many times had she gone back and forth now?
Up at the counter, Rita wiped the sweat off her brow with her sleeve. How could people eat so much food? It was just... just... weird!
"I'd like to order."
"Hello?"
"Can someone take my order?"
"S'cuse me! Kitty cat waitress!"
She stiffened. That son of a-
"Kitty cat waitress! Over here!"
Raven grinned as Rita stomped up to his table, fuming. Surrounding patrons took no notice as she slammed her hands on the table, the sound muffled by the chatter and clink of drunken customers and beer mugs. She glared. "What the hell do you want?"
"What, I don't get the kitty cat special?" He pouted.
"I'm gonna clobber y-"
"Heeey, owner! I gotta complaint here! Yerrrr kitty cat waitress is-"
For a fleeting moment, Rita panicked and slammed her hands down on the table again. She... actually liked being a waitress, and she was not going to let him pile up complaints about her (ignoring the fact that yes, she did get complaints from plastered fools but they didn't count because what the hell did they know?). With a blush, she muttered something incoherent and Raven leaned in, a hand to his ear.
"Whassssat? I couldn't hear ya'."
Rita looked at her hands and tried to hide her face behind her bangs, but it was pointless when all she could hide were her eyes. "... I said... what can I do for you tonight," then in an even quieter grumble, "... meow?"
Raven blinked and sobered up for a moment; he didn't think that she would actually do it, but... he'd only wanted to press her buttons a little!
"I... uh... need a refill..." He watched her as she stalked up to the bar, grabbed a bottle at random, and returned with the tavern's hardest liquor (which wasn't even what he was drinking but he wasn't going to complain). "Thanks, I'll get tha-" He began, looking up and reaching for the bottle, but she'd already poured it into his cup and shoved it in his face. "Uh..."
"How much have you had, anyway?" She eyed the bottles on his table; he'd gotten there an hour after she started, and she'd been working for four hours already. "Go home, or something!"
"Drunk? Nahhh, I ain't drunk." He waved a hand at her flippantly, emptying his cup and pouring himself another one with pursed lips. He wasn't listening. "Juuuuust a li'l buzzzzzz, maybe, but I ain't... I ain't drunk..." He buzzed like a bee at the end of the word "buzz".
"K'nda crass, ain't she?"
"Yeah man, and she- she ain't even got jugs! So mean annnn'- an' cranky."
"Where's thaaaat-" The drunkard moved his hands in an hourglass shape. "-busty babe?"
"Yeahh, yeah!"
"Don't listen to those guys, Ritaaa." He looked at her gravely- yep, he was drunk (because would he really embarrass her like that if he was sober- no, wait, yes, yes he would)- with a finger in the air and downed his glass in one swallow. "Those guys don't knowww what they're talkin'... about." The men behind him laughed loudly and pointed fingers at the mage.
"What a meannnnn girl. 'f I owned this plaaaaace, I'da fiiiired her an'- an' got some'n purdier an' wi'JUGS!"
"All right, that's enough!" Rita jumped as Raven slammed his hands on the table and stood up to face the men. In a sudden jerk of motion, he flipped their table upside down- how drunk was he, anyway?- and pointed a condescending finger at them. "Ya' can't talk about her like that! She saved the world an' she cannnn totally kick yer asses! So tell her yer' sorry and that she's amazing or I'll kill ya'... orrrrr somethin'!"
Rita stared blankly that the drunk men grovelling at her feet. "... What the hell, old man?"
"Ya don't need ta listen to drunk guys puttin' ya downnnn Rita darlin'!" Grabbing her cat ears and putting them on his own head, he propped up a foot on his chair and pointed at her, never mind the fact that the whole tavern was watching him. "Ya' know why? It's cause yer' amaaaaaaazing! Juuuuust the way you aaare!"
Lips twitching upward, Rita slapped a palm to her face as he fell down on his.
Raven never forgot the day he made her laugh so hard she cried.
x x x
Hello again! Just doing another alphabet compilation, only this time I'm going for a whole bunch of scenes longer than those in Miscellaneous. That's right. 26 chapters that don't make sense/aren't connected to each other! Woohoo! If you have ideas for the next words (y'know, B to Z), go ahead and suggest them. I don't have every letter planned out, and I might use your idea so... yeah.
You know what song Raven is referring to, right? I've just heard that line all the time and never the whole song so I just went "eh, what the hell."
(I've got too much free time, and have been obsessed with these two lately. Did I mention that in my previously updated/published story/thing?)