The nurse looked down at the release form and hesitated. Legally, she couldn’t refuse this request; but still. “Are you sure you don't want to stay another twenty-four hours for observation?” she wheedled.
Rainbow shook her head. “I don't even want to stay another twenty-four minutes. I need out.”
“And you do have someone here to give you a ride home, right?”
Rainbow expelled air through her nose. “I’m taking the bus,” she said, as if it were obvious.
The nurse nodded approvingly, if a bit hesitantly, and took the paperwork back.
Rainbow signed, wearing almost a defiant smirk. It was so good to be free. Or, at least, she would be out of the hospital. She could almost smell the fresh air already.
Paperwork signed, Rainbow hobbled out, using her crutches. Actually, that is a good idea, she mused. I really should take the bus. Especially since my skateboard is scrap wood now.
She made it outside the hospital doors and slowed to a stop.
No, she corrected herself. First thing, I need actual food in my belly, and I need it now. She looked around, her eyes scanning quickly.
Her eyes landed on a nearby sub shop. Cheap, fast, and, with the proper application of toppings on her sandwich, unhealthy; but not grease-drenchedly so.
Perfect. Rainbow ambled over, briefly mourning the lack of mobility her cast and still-recovering ribs left her. She’d used to be so fast…
At the edge of the sidewalk, she hesitated a bit longer than usual. She readied herself to cross the road—it would probably be a while before she'd be able to do that without fear—but after making doubly sure that no cars were coming, she made her way across to the holy treasure trove of food.
Getting through the door to this elusive trove proved a bit more difficult than she'd expected. Hospitals had automatic doors. The Sub Station did not. She bumped her cast against the narrow opening and banged the opposite door with her left crutch. Everywhere should have automatic doors.
The restaurant was empty. Someone wearing a hairnet was filling up sauce bottles with her back to her. “Welcome to the Sub Station, I can help you when you're ready,” she said.
She looked up at the menu and made her decision. “Alright, I'm r-”
The worker spun around, eyes wide. Rainbow’s jaw dropped, too.
It was Adagio Dazzle. Her massive hair was barely contained within the hairnet she wore, and the elastic hat on top was stretched out as far as it could go, straining to contain the beast. But even behind the black apron and green polo shirt, there was no mistaking the former siren.
There was a long pause.
“Uh, hi,” Rainbow said.
“Welcome to the Sub Station, I can help you when you're ready,” Adagio said, probably out of reflex more than anything else.
There was another pause.
Adagio rocked her hips slightly, giving herself a bit more of that cocked, arrogant stance. “Are you going to order, or just stand there like a barnacle on a rock?”
“You work here?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah. I do.”
Rainbow reached up to scratch behind her head. “I didn't-”
No longer supported by that hand, her crutch fell to the ground with a loud clatter. She scowled at it, and then looked back up at Adagio. “I didn't expect you to work at a place like this,” she finished.
Adagio shrugged. “Well, they were fresh out of singing contracts, there isn't much call for writing lyrics having to do with enslaving the whole world, I didn't have the documents to become an exotic dancer, and not many other places hire without a degree; so here I am.”
“I guess that makes…” Rainbow blinked as something Adagio said clicked. “Wait. Were you really going to become a str-?!”
The doorbell dinged, and a college-age man walked in. He slowed to a stop, the tension in the room palpable. Finally, he looked towards Rainbow. “Are… are you in line, or…?”
“No, go for it.”
Once he had awkwardly stepped over her crutch and ordered his sandwich and left, Rainbow continued, but a bit more in control this time. She hobbled over to the counter. “I'd like the biggest, tastiest, most unhealthy sandwich I can get with,
uh…” she dug her money out of her pocket and counted it. “Seven dollars and thirty five, uh, no, thirty seven cents.”
“Do you like bacon?”
Rainbow scoffed. “Everyone likes bacon.”
Adagio’s grin turned almost predatory, and Rainbow was suddenly especially glad that everything was made of glass, so she could watch exactly how her food was prepared. “Then do I have a sandwich for you.”
Rainbow Dash chewed slowly. She knew she would have stayed here, regardless. She was too hungry (and too impatient) to go anywhere else to eat. Furthermore, she'd thought she might have gotten some sick pleasure out of having Adagio serve her food. And, to be completely honest, she did.
She just hadn't expected the sandwich to be that good. Really, at this point, her only regret was that she didn’t have enough money on hand to get a footlong instead of the six inch sandwich she was currently eating.
She was trying to draw out the last few bites for as long as she could when she suddenly became aware of someone behind her. She peeked over her shoulder to see Adagio, holding a broom.
Rainbow blinked. “Can I help you?”
She dragged the broom once across the ground before coolly meeting Rainbow’s eyes. “I’m merely sweeping around here, helping maintain the good, clean image that our customers have come to expect from The Sub Station.”
“Wow,” Rainbow said slowly. “That's really lame. Even from you.”
“Perhaps; but you'd be amazed and disturbed at what I can get away with if I word it just right.” She winked.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Then get to sweeping.”
Adagio did so, working somewhat slower than necessary. Rainbow squinted, once again sure that she was up to something, but her sandwich was calling her name.
Apparently, it was wait until right after she swallowed to ask a question. “I take it you enjoyed it?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow answered grudgingly. “Yeah, I did.”
Adagio curtsied. “What can I say? I'm good at what I do.”
“Huh,” Rainbow needled. “Like you’d be good at your, what did you call it, ‘exotic dancing’?”
Adagio stood her broom up and hooked one of her legs around it, and her other hand came up to rest on (read: gently pull down) the collar of her shirt. “Don't act like you wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had,” she whispered huskily.
Rainbow had not really given it much consideration; all the time she spent in school locker rooms had pretty much let her see enough females in enough various states of undress that it seemed a bit odd to her that anyone would willingly pay actual money for that opportunity. She shrugged, knowing that her dismissive attitude would get a bit of a rise out of Adagio.
And it did; Adagio leaned down over the table, leaning over her elbows in such a way that not-so-subtly pushed her breasts out. “I'm a siren, Rainbow. Seduction is in my very nature. It's who I am; it’s what I do.” She smirked. “And not even breaking my gem can stop that part of me.”
“Bet you couldn't seduce me,” Rainbow said.
Adagio chuckled darkly. “Please. I could have a girl like you eating out of the palm of my hand in… what was your cutsie little phrase? ‘Ten seconds flat’?”
Rainbow stood up. She attempted to, anyway; mostly rising up on her hands rather than standing. “I'd take that bet,” she said. “Hey, I'd give you a whole evening.”
Adagio grinned. “You're on,” she said, jabbing a single finger towards Rainbow. “One evening, and I'll have you questioning everything you ever thought about yourself.”
“You're on,” Rainbow returned. “When?”
Adagio smirked. “I'll surprise you. But now, I really do have to get back to work. Sandwiches wait for no one.” She winked, then spun around and left, swaying her hips widely from side to side as she walked.
Rainbow smirked. This was one bet she would easily win. She really should have set a wager on this one. Maybe some money.
Oh. Or sandwiches. Yeah. She should have bet sandwiches. She could totally go for a few more of these things. She rubbed her hands together and looked down, ready to enjoy the last few moments with it…
And she'd finished her sandwich already.
Rainbow stuck out her lower lip and pouted.