The bell above the door jingles as Lobo pushes through, entering the cramped diner. The sound of the music player and the din of various species conversing fills the air. He nods to the man in the corner as he takes a seat at the counter, joined shortly by Kara. Darlene notices his arrival, and her face drops into a scowl.
"What the hell do you want? I was having a good day!"
"I just want a quick meal before I get going. What's the special today, Darlin'?"
"Soup."
"Soup, that's it?"
"You heard me."
Kara interjects. "What kind of soup?"
Darlene's expression softens somewhat, she has always liked Kara, despite the woman's idolization of Lobo, and her tendency to copy his mannerisms.
"Soup du jour, that's what Al calls it. It's been simmering since we started having leftover meats. The stock is about twelve cycles old at this point."
"Sounds good, I'll take it." The blonde woman's eyes sparkle.
Lobo groans. "Soup isn't a real meal, it's a savory drink. I'll take my usual."
"With or without spit?"
He smiles. "That depends, is it yours or Al's?"
"Trade secret."
She pushes through the swinging door to the kitchen area, and the sound of her voice yelling at the cook fades into the myriad of other noises in the restaurant. Kara is eyeing the other patrons, many of whom are eyeing her back, although with more untoward thoughts than the young woman's. Lobo levels a glare at the more sleazy denizens of Al's diner, daring them to try something. Kara elbows Lobo sharply in the ribs.
"Hey, big man. Why don't you go find that Fight Club song on the music player, I really liked it."
"Huh? Which one?"
"The first one and the last one. I like 'em both, for different reasons."
Lobo heaves himself from the stool and pushes through the crowd to the dusty box in the corner. He swipes his credi-disk and begins searching the data banks for Kara's request. She looks over to the corner booth, where the distracted man is smiling dreamily into his coffee mug. Darlene slides a plate and a bowl across the counter to her, bringing her back to the moment at hand.
"Couldn't remember which one had spit, so I put some in both." She winks at Kara before flouncing away.
Kara finds herself wishing she had the same temperament as the waitress. Without having any raw physical strength, or even being in a position of power, the woman managed to make everyone feel as if they existed only for her amusement. She wondered if that was why Lobo liked this place so much, it certainly couldn't be the food.
This was the one place in the galaxy where Lobo could have a good argument without any chance of a fight ensuing. Most of the time, he wanted a fight, and the argument was simply foreplay, but Kara suspected the big man liked to trade verbal jabs almost as much as actual punches. And there was certainly no one better at putting him in his place than Darlene.
Kara might have been jealous, if she cared about things like that, but she was fairly apathetic as to how much attention she received from Lobo. The man was funny, but he thought he was hilarious. He was strong, but he thought he was immortal. The only thing that Lobo didn't have an overinflated sense of was his ego, which struck Kara as extremely funny. His ego would fill the entire diner if it had a physical presence, but he still thought of himself as a humble man.
Lobo returns to the bar, plopping down onto his seat and shoveling food into his mouth. Kara lifts her soup bowl and drinks deeply. The two of them belch in harmony, their disgusting song rising to a glorious crescendo. Darlene rolls her eyes at their antics as the pair fall into a fit of giggles.
The soup has a heavy flavor of garlic, likely intended to cover the less savory taste of old meat. Kara notices the man in the booth chuckling at them, and feels a strange sense of pride in having extracted a reaction from the odd person. Kara and Lobo finish their meal in relative silence, much to the joy of Darlene.
Kara checks her tight shirt, making sure that she didn't spill any soup on the blue fabric. The material clings to her skin, accentuating the natural curves of the young woman's body. She was still floating on the joy of having had the idea herself, stealing the look of the hero of some backwater planet. She had spent days checking the footage of Lobo's short fight with the man, copying the logo on his chest and making notes of the color scheme of his ridiculous outfit.
She had no skills at sewing, and Lobo could only crudely stitch leather, so they had instead commissioned the suit from a small tailor at a bustling spaceport. Wearing her new clothes out into the main walkway, she had been a most distracting sight.
The blue of her top cut off just below the swell of her bosom, exposing her slim waistline. The short skirt's bright red began just low enough on her hips to be enticing without being vulgar. Her red boots came up above her knees, leaving only a scant few inches of exposed skin before the fabric of her skirt covered her thighs.
Overall, Kara enjoyed the attention she received, even if she had no intention of reciprocating the urges the more masculine species may have in seeing her outfit. The Psychlo learning tech had included extensive archives on romantic entanglement, both for procreation and recreation. She had found herself repulsed by the idea of involving herself in such a spectacle, but could not deny that she was an attractive woman, by galactic standards.
She and Lobo had used this to their advantage on a number of early jobs. Unfortunately for their marks, Kara enjoyed toying with them, and was all too adept at pulling her target from the safety of their entourage into a more private setting. That scheme was becoming more difficult, as many people now knew of the existence of Lobo's pretty partner.
Most thought that she and the mercenary were romantically involved, and while she found the idea disgusting, she allowed the rumors to persist. She received less unwanted attention when people thought she was Lobo's girl than she had when she simply told them she was uninterested. She did sometimes miss the fun of beating a grabby individual to a pulp, though.
Finished with their meals, Lobo flags Darlene down and pays for the food, while Kara flashes a smile at the man in the booth once more, who smiles back in that halfhearted way of his. She exits the diner as the music player begins emitting the sounds of The Pixies, followed by Lobo. The two mount his bike and take off from the asteroid, heading once more for the Orion-Spur.