Just Call If You Need Me

Participants:

abby_icon.gif ygraine_icon.gif

Scene Title Just Call If You Need Me
Synopsis Gratitude, obligation, God's work, and offers of mutual assistance.
Date December 15 2008

Old Lucy's

Old Lucy's has a vibrant and lively feel to it, from the dark wooden floors to the shady crimson walls lit up by neon lights and many times, the flashing of cameras from the oft-crowded floor. The mirror behind the bar reflects prices of various drinks, bottles lined up, as well as the entire saloon as seen from the bartenders; bolted-down stools line the other side, and there are loose tables and chairs placed all around, though many times they find themselves pushed back for more space within the center of the saloon. A few speakers are placed at strategic places and around a raised stage to the far corner from the bar. Above the counter, an obviously well-used bar is hung; it is this that the girls working will use should there be dancing, which is one reason many patrons choose to come aside from the drinks. Across the bar and near the back, there is a door that leads to the owner's office and just inside a stairwell that leads a apartment on the floor above the bar.


The Old Lucy is busy, jumping tonight. Bars busy and in fact, the whole of it is busy. Abby's not working, but she's in there, sitting and enjoying a coke after coming out of the back room. Signing herself back up for shifts after her Hiatus. So she sits at the end of the bar, ignoring the guys who offer her a drink, flipping through the binder that was in a box in the back and waiting for her. Bartender school for the win.

The end of the bar is where one of the most recent arrivals aims to reach, pushing her way slowly through the throng, attempting not to get into or cause any hostilities en route. Eventually, she breaks free of the crowd to land beside Abby, propping herself against a stool while she hastily pats down her pockets. Apparently satisfied that she has everything she ought to, she glances up to offer a sheepish grin at her new near-neighbour - then double-takes and blinks at the brunette.

Abby's oblivious to Ygraine. she's a little brain dead at the moment really, and sits flippign through the table of contents and everything that she's going to need to learn. SO ygraine parking down beside her isn't so much noticed beyond a glance, nod of head, and back to the binder. "WElcome to Lucy's Nancy will be with you in a moment"

Ygraine nods absent-mindedly. "Uhhh. Thanks. I… excuse me", she says, British accent quite clear on those words, "have we met before?"

Tear her eyes away from the binder and study Ygraine. "I work here, maybeyou've seen me when i'm taking ca…." The accent finally registers and abby narrows her eyes. "Jezebel's.. friend, from the coffeee shop?"

Ygraine nods slowly, darting a glance to Abby's new hair-colour, before momentarily biting her lip. "If you're willing to admit to being the woman I met there, yeah", she says, more quietly. "I… could imagine that I… might've made a mistake, and that you might be someone I've never met before…."

"Nope, i'm Abigail, Jezebel's friend. Hows the chest? Your girlfriend?" Abby leans forward to take a sip of her coke and finding it empty, jsut leans right over and pours herself another, much to the annoyance of nancy who comes to demand Ygraine's order.

The Briton looks relieved, flashing a warm smile at her companion. "Ygraine. And… Jen's doing well, thanks. Went to meet her parents at the weekend, which was… daunting. For me, at least. My chest… heh. Much better than it could've been without that hand massage. Same goes for my dodgy thyroid."

"Dodgy thyroid?" That puzzles the young brunette though she doesn't admit to the impact of said hand massage and why life was better with it than without. "Ygraine, i'll remember that this time around. Sorry, tired. Came to grab stuff for a course I have to take to work here, and can't stay too long. But i'm glad your okay. So your back to work?" there's a glance to Ygraine's thyroid in question as if puzzling something out in her head.

Ygraine chuckles. "Not quite yet. I've been helping out a bit at the office, and I'm putting in some more serious training - but I admit that I'm happy enough to miss a little more of riding through the Winter slush and ice. As for the thyroid - got diagnosed with some trouble with it a few months ago, but it's been noticably better since… well. Since the same time my post-op recovery advanced so well."

Now there's an annoyed expression crossing over Abby's face. At least she's not being as blatant about it as Colette was. "I need to go outside, I have a thing about being indoors right now, your welcome to come with me if you like" Abby waves off Nancy with a scowl.

Ygraine does look guilty, but nods meekly, apparently quite willing to tag along after Abby. She spares a glance around to see if anyone was close enough to have been likely to overhear their conversation amidst the hubub of the bar, but doesn't tarry.

If anyone did, the noise might have discarded it, or they were talking about something else. Abby shoulders past people and the bouncer with a smile and a kiss to the guy's cheek which makes him blush, and others get evil eyes. Eventually though, the pair make it out to the curb and off to the side. Abby turns, digging her hand into her jean pockets and purrowing her neck and head down into her sweater. "I missed something? I only remember your chest, I don't remember it going anywhere else. Did I upset some other injury? Do you need it fixed further?"

Ygraine also hunches her shoulders, hands disappearing into the pockets of her long coat. "Need? Good grief, no", she says quietly. "The thyroid's not wholly fixed - but for an incurable condition, anything's an improvement. I'd been expecting to just medicate it until a cure was found, or… a relapse occurred. Strange things do happen. I… I wanted to thank you. Try to confirm that you knew what you'd done. And… well. Blunder my way into upsetting you, it seems. I apologise. I… I HAD planned to try to talk to you in private, if I ever saw you again. I… just screwed up. The surprise is an explanation, but not a justification. I owe you one, for that as well as the hand massage."

Abby makes a motion with a hand the reappears out of her pocket for Ygraine to come closer. "No thanks needed and you don't owe me anything. It's what I do. Come on, i'll fix it the rest of the way. I have more than enough in me to do it. I dont' advertize what I do, but you were being subtle. Others… other haven't been" A gesture to her hair and it's ever changing qualities. "I got offered a job at the place but I took here, since it's different and pays better and I actually don't really need to take a second job"

Ygraine winces at the comment about subtlety, then glances around once more. "Erica's is a very nice place, but… I doubt she can compete with this for pay. Is it really based on the Coyote Ugly film? I heard a rumour it was…. And… please, don't feel you have to do anything for me. If you want to, then… I'm not going to say no, I admit."

"I don't offer, unless I mean it. I don't normally do it, without asking if it's wanted first, but you … it was just that day" ABby glances back to the bar, people leaving, people coming in. "I don't know, I've never even seent he movie, you'd have to ask isabelle really, cause i'm not.. exactly the usually bar attending type. I'm old enough to work in here, but not old enough to drink. But I think it is, or well, in that fashion of sorts"

Ygraine chuckles softly. "I admit that I'm a touch surprised that you've got a job there, but… that fits, too. The heroine of the film is very quiet by inclination, and rather kind-hearted…. And… well. If you're sure, then I'll gladly accept. Is there anything that I might be able to do in return? Not as payment, but… well. I feel obliged to help you if I can."

'Why does everyone always feel obliged. It's gods work, i'm just doing it. It'd be wrong to take anything in return for it" Abby shake sher head, the brown ponytail swinging side to side, "Hug me" She offers her arms outstretched. "Just keep on living your life good and maybe give thanks to the lord for his gift. Like I do?" Abby's back to smiling, what with no threats to expose her and the like.

Ygraine chuckles softly, then steps forward to deliver that hug. "I'd like to think that I feel obliged because I wish to meet kindness with the same", she says gently. "Are… have you really had trouble as a result of this? I suppose you must have done. People always respond to anything "different", even without the current news stories…"

"Sometimes. But it's the price one pays" The hug wasn't for want of affection. Abby's cheek presses to ygraine's her arms wrapped around the woman. She can hear the lords prayers whispered and moments after the words start, there it is. That same feeling, low and deceptive, when she's not forcing it. Not from her hands though but from where their skin actually touches.

Ygraine shivers at the touch, closing her eyes and remaining silent while the sensation lasts. Once it's finished, she tightens the hug, then pulls back to offer Abby a delightedly bewildered look. "I'm afraid that I can't say that I feel any different, immediately - but I wouldn't expect to. Ummmm. Thank you. Have… has anyone offered to help you, or protect you from the people who cause problems, or anything? Not that I'm a bodyguard, but…"

It's maybe two minutes, a long hug in which the two look like they're talking quietly. It ends, abby steps back looking none the worse for wear. "I have people. They look after me in whatever fashion they can. I help in return, sort of an on call kind of woman. But if you need anything, help, in the nature of what I do, you can call the bar and leave a message for me to call and your number, they'll get it to me" Abby watches Ygraine carefully, confidant that she fixed what she had inadvertantly altered the first time.

Ygraine quirks a smile. "Thank you. Ummm. Well. Should you ever need a courier, conflict analyst, translator, or… anything else you think I might be able to offer…. Would you like contact details for me? Or do you prefer not to have anything to link you to people?"

'Conflict analyst?" Hands shoved once again into pockets, abby directs the both of them back into the warm bar. "I can give you my number, jsut call, if you need me, i'll come if I can. No promise that i'll be there in five minutes. My scooter only goes so fast" She grins to the other woman. "How long have you been here in the states?"

"I returned to New York in August. I was here for a few months in '06, interning for the UN. Until… a few days after the Bomb. I was on Broadway. Woke up two days after the blast in a refugee camp hospital. I can't claim to fix the city, or have any real idea how to, but… I came back to try to help. And in so doing, face down a few pesonal demons. So… the offer to help's serious. Not just guilt or a sense of debt. You're able to do far more than me to help people - if I can help you, ask for it." Ygraine delves into her jacket, producing a business card - for "Alley Cat Courier Service" - and offering it to her companion. "My cell's on the back, if you want it."

"I think I need to start handing out business cards" Wrly spoken byt he brunette and she takes the card, slipping it into her pocket. "I'll remeber that, if it's needed. No promises. Come on, I need some more cola and I dont' want someone running off with my book. Need it" Back past the bouncer, no ID's needed for this pair and abby fetches her book and drink a motion for a table in the back once Ygraine gets what she wants from the bar.

Ygraine orders a rum and coke, letting herself be guided to that table once she's swapped her money for her drink. Setting down her small burden, she shrugs out of her long coat before settling down, leaning forward to wrap her hands around the glass. "I hope I'm not coming across as some sort of crank. But… the sort of person who winds up working for the UN probably has something odd in their head. And, now that it looks as if my racing career's over, I figure that I've got to get back to try to put the world to rights."

"A crank?" Abby shakes her head. "WHy don't you go back to working for the UN? What's keeping you from doing that?" The binders tucked away and cola nursed, interested now in the englishwoman.

Ygraine chuckles ruefully. "I was only an intern, and… I'm not sure they'd have me back. The blast… it put me through a storefront. I've got nothing but nightmares from the next two days. Then I was in the camp, then the British government rounded up and flew out all their nationals they could find, then I went nuts and spent months in an asylum. The UN's an equal-opportunities employer, of course - but would you want a former lunatic handling the translation of diplomacy or international treaties? It'd be a fight to get back in… and while I found out if I was able to cope with being in New York at all, I was able to get straight onto a bike and sign up with a company that takes the commissions for the "nasty" bits of town. Alley Cat accepts routes through Midtown, and is based in Chelsea. Communication's the lifeblood of any society, of any city - getting it flowing again, however thin a trickle it might be, has to be a start."

"I know alley cats. I have a few friends who work tehre. ben's delivered here a few times. Brian Ithink has a job there, a few others used to work there. But, must be good money if someone's willing to run through midtown. If uhh, any of them spend to much time there, send them to me? I'll take care of them, I can fix them so they don't get sick, or fix what's already damaged" Abby offers. "There's not too much I can't fix"

Ygraine quirks a wry smile, then nods. "I've met both Ben and Brian. And… sure. I figured that, for myself, being hit by the original blast would probably dose me up more than anything Midtown was likely to do by just riding through it two years later…. But everyone responds differently, I know."

"whateer hit you it's gone" A tap of her fingers. "I probalby did it while I was tkaing care of your… uh.. breasts" Now abby's cheeks flush. Kinda hard ot keep a straight face, she could honestly say it was the first time she'd ever healed something like that.

Ygraine giggles, ducking her head. "I do feel guilty for… well. There're so many more serious things you could have healed for other people. But… I'm very grateful. And I'll try to make use of the time you saved me. And the energy you've returned to me. The thyroid was making training hard…"

"those darn thyroids you know. I heard that sometimes, things just clear up on their own!" Very conspiratorily. "I shoudl probably go, I have to go grab some things from the back and go home, I have a thousand things on my plate" She offers naother smile to ygraine. "It was nice.. to run into you Ygraine. It's always nice ot see how the people I helped are getting alonge"

Ygraine chuckles, then nods. "Thank you. And… if there's ever anything, please don't hesitate to call. I'll help if I can."

'I will Ygraine. Don't worry. Enjoy your drink, there should be dancing soon. The nights young" Abby winks at that before gathering book and drink, heading back towards the bar


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