Less than half an hour since his meeting with Maka and his kinda-almost-sorta fight with Giriko, Harvar and the others veered into The Cackling Sun's parking lot. The building was short and long, though there was a slight distinction to show the difference between the interior levels. A neon light fixture buzzed on its front wall depicting a large, comical looking sun, it's too large teeth on full display as it laughed at the sky. The building was swathed in bright, inviting colors. All of which was due to Harvar's mother's insistence on it being painted twice a year, so the sun and the heat and the sand wouldn't bake away it's luster. Kilik swung the van into one of the many vacant slots in the empty parking lot, and the band piled out into the still hot desert night.
As they came inside, bells tinkled over the door and Harvar's mother immediately stood from a nearby booth, reading glasses falling from her nose to dangle from their chain around her neck. "Harvey!" The woman exclaimed, throwing her arms wide as he bent a little, allowing her to wrap them around his neck.
Harvar's mom, Charlotte, aka Charlie, was a spitting image of her son- all pretty sun-kissed skin and sharp cheekbones and clear amber eyes, though she was a little more than a head shorter. She planted a kiss on his cheek before moving on to the rest, smiling and talking breezily with her 'adopted' children.
"Are you kids hungry?" Charlie's hand, wrinkled and calloused from working, grabbed Jackie's face and squished her cheeks. "You look like you haven't eaten since the last time you came over!" She dropped her hand and turned towards her son, fists on her small hips as she glared at him accusingly. Jackie rubbed her cheeks as she pouted, drawing a laugh from Kilik and Kim.
"Ma, they stopped by last week-"
"Exactly! Go cook some burgers or something!" When he hesitated, she shooed him away with her hands, smacking his behind as if to spur him on the same way one would a horse. "Go! Go! Just because you're grown doesn't mean you can start ignoring me!"
"Yes, ma'am."
Kim laughed at Harvar's retreating figure as she looped her arm through Charlotte's, smiling kindly down at the woman, "So, what did you want us to come by for? Everything's okay, yeah?"
Charlie smile seemed to fade slightly, but she patted Kim's hand lovingly nonetheless, "Of course, of course. I'll tell you everything once you've eaten." She teased as she pinched the girl's side, "Look how skinny you are! Isn't Jackie feeding you?"
"I usually cook, actually. Jackie has a pretty bad habit of burning everything."
"Hey, I do not!" cried the bassist, coming up on Charlie's other side as her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I made you a cake on your birthday a few weeks ago, and that came out fine!"
"Babe, you burnt the water for the mac 'n cheese last night, and I love you for it."
Once burgers had been successfully cooked and served, Harvar and the gang squished themselves into a large corner booth, bottles of ketchup and mustard and various other condiments being passed around as their voices clamored together. Kim, Harvar and Jackie took up the middle, with Kilik and Charlotte tapering off the ends. While plates continued to clatter and Harvar began tossing fries in- or rather at- Kilik's mouth, Charlie stood up and tapped a stray fork against her glass, calling for attention. The table suddenly fell quiet, Harvar's final fry smacking against Kilik's forehead with a small thwap. His mother shot him a vicious glare and he immediately sunk in his seat, his friends pressing their lips into tight lines as they tried to suppress smiles. "Alright, I-I think it's time I told you all why I wanted you to come over tonight."
They all sobered quickly, smiles dropping and humor draining. Charlotte wrung her hands worriedly and Harvar reached out and grabbed one, dark eyes searching her face for any indication of what was wrong. "What's going on, Ma?" His thumb ran over the rough knobs of her knuckles, and she gave his hand a thankful squeeze, managing a forced smile that he didn't return.
She took a deep breath, chest puffing out as she closed her eyes and seemed to gather herself. Her eyes fluttered open, her mouth set in a grim line as she said, "I'm losing the restaurant."
"What?" Her son's face contorted with disbelief, his head slowly shaking as if that would wake him up from some bad dream. "T-That's not possible, you own this lot and everything on it, how can you-"
"Actually," His mother sighed, slowly sinking into the booth beside him. "I didn't make the final payment." At Harvar's in incredulous look, she quickly defended herself. "I was going to, but I decided to use most of the money to finish off those medical bills and whatever was left wasn't enough to make a significant change so," she shrugged. "I thought I'd have more time, but some representative of a big time company slipped in a bought the lot out from under us."
"Those bastards," Kilik hissed, hamburger forgotten, a tiny grease spot shone on his forehead and a large crystal of unground sea salt was stuck to his chin.
"Do you know who bought it?" Jackie asked quietly, her hands white with how hard she was squeezing her cup. They'd all come to love Charlotte fiercely; she had quickly became just like a mother to all of them- even going as far as taking over the role completely for some of them.
"Um," Charlotte patted herself down, hands quickly darting into the pockets of the apron tied around her waist. "Hang on a second." She muttered as she slid from the booth and moved back to the table she'd been sitting at when they arrived. They watched as she shuffled through the papers, perching brightly colored reading glasses on the bridge of her nose she read out the name printed on a document. "Ah, Madeline Gorgon of Shinigami Records."
"Shinigami Records?!" They all exclaimed, eyes wide as they looked between each other. Kim shook her head, "You mean the Shinigami Records? As in the largest record label since Eibon?" She shot Harvar a look that told him everything he needed to know. They were way up shit creek without a paddle.
Harvar's heart kicked into overdrive. There had to be way to save this place, there just had to be. Not only was this his mother's restaurant, but her home too. The apartment upstairs had been his family home for as long as he could remember, and something told him she wouldn't be allowed to continue living up there once it was no longer hers. He shoved his plate away, propped his elbows on the table, and tugged his hair loose from it's band, proceeding to scrub his hands through it in frustration as his mom slid back into her seat beside him. Harvar peeked at her through the curtain of his hair as he raked his brain for something-anything- to help her out. "How much?"
"What?"
"How much money do you need to keep this place?"
Charlie looked down at her hands as she gnawed on her lip, "Twenty-five thousand before the end of the month." Harvar closed his eyes and thunked his head against the table. How in the hell were they supposed to make twenty-five thousand dollars in less than...what, two weeks? Even if the restaurant continued on with business as usual plus his cut from their gigs. It wouldn't even scrape the surface. His shoulders relaxed as his mom rubbed his back comfortingly, and he turned his head to look at the girls beside him. Kim and Jackie looked at each other and shook their heads, before looking back at Harvar and shrugging, defeat settled on their features. He flicked his gaze to Kilik and he gave him another empathetic shrug.
"Um, I can dig around for some gigs or contests or openings-?" Jackie asked after a long moment, phone already in hand. "I'll text Ox, too. Maybe he'll have some contacts that could hook us up with a good gig or two."
"Thanks, Jaks," Harvar murmured, just as Jackie's phone rang in her hand- some catchy pop song he vaguely remembered coming into popularity a few years back blaring from the little device. She swiped her finger across the screen with a furrow or her brows.
"Ox?" They all watched on as the little divot above the bridge of her nose smoothed, and an excited sort of spark lighted itself in her eyes. "Are you serious? Wait, wait, wait- how much?" Slowly, a smile grew on her face, and she glanced between everyone at the table. "Thirty grand?" Harvar's heart leaped to his throat as he jerked up, ramrod straight, his mother's hand falling between them in the process and he clutched it like a lifeline. Kilik choked on his drink. Charlotte turned hopeful eyes to her son, and he only squeezed her fingers in response. Jackie nodded as she listened to Ox's chatter on the other end, smile never wavering before saying, "Yeah. Yeah, no, we're definitely in. Thanks, yeah, you too. See 'ya later."
A pregnant silence settled over the table as Jackie hung up the phone. She seemed to move meticulously as she gently set her phone face down on the table and took a sip from her drink. Kim finally exploded- grabbing her girlfriend's shoulders and giving her a good shake as she yelled, "TELL US WHAT HE SAID!"
That seemed to be the reaction she was looking for. The bassist laughed and shook Kim's hands from her shoulders before giving her bandmates a sly look. "Four words. Battle of the bands."