Participants:
| Scene Title | Dayhawks |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Abby gets a recruitment assignment, Heather unknowingly meets two of the Company's erstwhile persons of interests, and Teo is mildly hung over. |
| Date | October 29, 2008 |
A diner waitressed by girls in short skirts.
The lunch hour at the Nite Owl was busy, but thankfully, it's ended and people have mosey'd off to part unknown now that they've been fed. Time for some of the staff to go on break. Abby's parked at a booth way in the back at the counter, enjoying her own lunch. Friend, half eaten patty melt, Glass of milk. She toys with the little cross on gold chain around her neck, somewhat lost in thought since she's not on right now.
Pulling himself out of bed was difficult despite that it was already noon. Though Teo hadn't been much in the mood to dress up, he'd partaken in some 'ween celebrations, including escaping Linderman bouncers and drinking far more than he has in a little while. Fortunately, he wasn't hung over so badly that he needed to wear something overly blatant like sunglasses in the gradual dimming of the Autumn day. That would be untoward.
He emerges into the Nite Owl looking tousled but otherwise functional, the bell ringing behind him, a flash of sunlight off glass, and he parks in front of the counter to read the menu above. He doesn't see Abby just yet; he's using his Jedi psychokinetic powers to make the letters stencilled overhead stop squirming slightly where they're printed.
Having been blessed with a weird break in her class schedule, Heather managed to find her way to the diner. It's a place she hasn't tried before, much preferring to eat alone or at home if possible. But, some days you just want an adventure. Diner food FTW! Slowly her green eyes scan over the interior, taking in all of it. "Interesting…" she comments quietly, before finding herself a spot in one of the booths. Now, to find a menu.
Habit. Look over when the door opens. There's a ghost of a smile at Teo's presence, a tap on the counter to try and get his attention without yelling down the counter. IF he does look, the smile brightens and She motions with her hand for him to scoot down and come join her. A redhead, in the pink waitress outfit, white apron makes her way to Heathers table. Older woman, slightly cranky looking, looms. " What can I getcha honey" Coffee pot in hand and bored.
Despite that Teodoro thought that he was hungry, his eyes unaccountably keep on drifting toward the Orange Juice label. Two dollars. Exorbitant. For a glass of orange juice. His brow furrows critically, relaxes the instant he hears Abby's hand tap-dancing across the room. He turns, brightens; resists the urge to pat down his hair, and goes to her.
The new redhead joined by the aproned redhead garner a glance, their collective hair color providing an eye-catching aesthetic he can appreciate. He drops into the seat across from Abby. "Don't let the confusion and aimless wandering fool you," he suggests with artificial pomp, rubbing blearily at his eye. He offers her a grin from behind his hand. "I was looking for you."
Success! Menu! But wait…it's sticky! Curse you sugar! "Ummm…I'll have…" Heather pauses as she scans the contents of the menu, "…the bacon cheeseburger, chili fries, and a diet coke." Yeah, she has to watch this figure after all. As Teo passes her table, she can't help but steal a look at the fellow and grin slightly. But as he sits down with Abby, she quickly darts her gaze away. Great, he's taken.
"Gimme your hand, I'll do a trick I've know a long time. You look like you had a long night" Gimme gimme motions made with her hand. Abby looks over to see who Natalie is serving, a friendly smile tossed heathers way, their seats not far from her. "Chiliburgers a good choice" She can't help but overhear. "You came looking for me?" The latter directed to Teo. 'Should I be flattered, amused, or scared?" There's a push of her plate towards him, a hint to have some fries.
Fortunately, Teo was equipped with two hands. Putting both on the table, he glances between them once, determining which one to volunteer; ends up giving Abby the left one so that he can apply his motor skills at their best to the process of stealing her French fries. As he does, there's a quiet murmur between the two: a quick exchange of passcodes.
If he had more of his mental faculties available, he'd be cheered and amused at the peripheral look Heather sends him. It says nothing good about the heteronormative archetypes that he looks straight when he's a mouldering post-party mess. "Neither," he replies, grinning. "All three. Partly business. Lena met a kid looking for good work and remembered you're here, so apparently I'm passing the message along." Not that Helena couldn't have, you know, telephoned Abby and told her herself, but that's where the 'partly' in 'partly business' comes to the fore.
He produces a slip of paper with Samir's information on it. If Abby had been in any doubt about whether he was referring to the food industry or the civil rights battles waged in the shadows, doubtlessly, that lays such uncertainty to rest.
As the waitress drifts off, Heather overhears the recommendation. Shifting her gaze towards Abby, she tosses the girl a grin and nod of thanks. "I'll remember that for next time. Thanks." Shifting herself in the booth, she stretches out across the bench seat, resting her back against the wall. Her iPhone is pulled from her pocket and she begins to tap on the screen.
"Old enough to work in a bar? I'm gonna still be working here, but I have a line on someone who's opening up her own bar and could likely use some help if the person's old enough" Abby looks to the slip of paper, studying it's content while she works Teo's hand, thumbs rubbing his palm. All in all it's comfortable, but there's alterior purposes to such and Teo can feel it. "Chili burger, and fries. Try the chocolate milkshake next time, welcome to the Nite Owl, since Natalie didn't say it" but then Heathers tapping on her iphone and Abby just nods. Southern hospitality. "How you doing T?"
A sympathetic shadow shifts over Teo's face. Abby might remember from the other night when he wondered aloud about how they'd mix a booze stash at the Library with teenaged applicants. He has his doubts when it comes to bringing kids in. Understands that Helena has a different perspective on that, given she's only reaching the end of her teens herself, but God damn, they're all so young. Samir, Simon. "Don't think so.
"I think he goes to school where I teach; standard protocol says to get the parents' permission first." Not that they would. "But Lena's optimistic. I hope you can use him." The next moment, the shadow passes. His head feels better. A revelation which he blinks at, giving into a brief moment of blond delight, corners of his mouth going up. "Sto bene. I'm all right, I think things will get worse before they get better." Not to vent. He doesn't elaborate. "You? Scare off any trick-or-treaters?" He glances over his shoulder when she speaks to Heather, the beginning of another query written wordlessly on his face. Know each other?
Good lord, girl…where are you manners? Heather's got them in there somewhere. She is just about to growl at her phone when more suggestions are funneled her way. "Stupid professors." she mutters under her breath. Scowl on her face. But no sooner is it there, then it's gone and replaced with a smile. "I got chili fries this time. But I'll remember that for tomorrow. Got the same schedule for classes tomorrow and this seemed like a good place to hang out." The phone is deposited on the table, as she glances once more at Teo. Only this time he glances back. His face looks familiar. She might have him in one of her classes. Maybe. Too many boys to keep track of on campus.
"We can always use help around here. Dishwasher I think is taking off, i'll put in a good word for him." She has not a clue what he said in that other language just pats his hand and gives it up to pick at her lunch. "Thinking of taking off early" There' little lines of tiredness around the corners of her eyes, not there before. "Had a few, but spent most of the night up and watching movies on the TV and eating all the candy myself" Back to Heather, though she catches Teo's look and there's a shrug. "I'm Abby, this is Teo. What do we get to call you, and yeah, some people come, for the change, that and greasy food with no care for calories and the like"
The part spoken in Italian had been completely redundant. 'I'm all right.' Teo still forgets sometimes, particularly when distracted by benevolent erosions taking place inside his own head. Other times, he slips into the mother tongue on purpose, because everyone knows what it means and everything, frankly, sounds better in Italian: "Grazie." Now that he's vacuumed up a quarter of her fries, he cedes the rest back to her.
Watches Abby's face for a moment, noting the weariness that stoops her brow. It sheds a little light on what Helena asked him to do for her upcoming miracle. "Al and I should drag you out with us next time," he proposes, grinning, before he looks over at Heather. He finds that introduction adequate and either her face or her hair familiar, casts her a wave as he leans back.
As the waitress returns with both the food /and/ drink, Heather doesn't move from her 'lounging' position in the booth. "That depends on who is calling for me." she says, taking a quick swig from the drink. "If it's boys on Columbia's campus it's usually 'hey baby'. But most people call me Heather." a quirky grin tugs at her lips as she talks, and then pauses to try the fries. "Oh….those are some good chili fries. Almost as good as my mom used to make." One the grease is wiped off her fingers, she returns Teo's wave, still unable to place where she knows him from.
'You'll not hear hey baby from my mouth. The hair color real, or is it professional?" or bottle, but to ask that last one, is just plain uncouth. She's back to fiddling with the little cross around her neck. "You both have a good halloween yourself? Do anything interesting?" She looks between the two. 'Surely something on the campus happening?"
And Teo grew out of that kind of leering a few years ago, or so he likes to pretend. The moment she mentions Columbia, his brain instantly begins a sheepish recollection of his most recent evenings under the influence, reflexively scanning for an awkward moment. He doesn't find any, though that could mean anything. He decides to be harmless. "Nice to meet you," he says, jerks his head at Abby, adds a corollary to her last statement. "Yeah, I go to Columbia too.
"Didn't do anything there, though I heard of maybe twenty parties between the campus and Barnard College. I didn't think Al would feel right there, and I dragged him out after work. Kind of an apology." Studying Abby's hand on her cross, he makes another attempt at her remaining fries.
Lifting a hand up to run her fingers through her hair, Heather grins. "Au natural. I get it from my mom." Moving from the fries to the burger, she can't help but roll her eyes a bit at the taste. "I'm gonna have to come here more often. Calories be damned!" It must be good. As she finishes that bite, her head shakes side to side. "Sadly, I had to work on Halloween. So no partying for me."
"One of these things is not like the other" sings abby, the southern twang nice. She can hold a tune passably. "Maybe one of these days I'll go there, see what the fuss is. Maybe get myself a proper education, instead of a real world one hmm?" The fry thief is encouraged, heck, the other half of her sandwich shoved towards him to eat. "See, we both worked, and didn't have the fun that you had Teo. What do you both study? I just met Theo. Ran into him on the street, saved me from making a mess of myself. I'm curious now."
Food. Glorious free food. Teodoro vacuums fried potato slices and sandwich down with deft hands and the kind of appetite one would normally associate with a man — or 'boy' as Heather's subconscious refers to him — his age and size. Grazie, grazie, he murmurs cheerfully whenever his mouth isn't full, listening to the women talk as he eats. "That's a crying shame. Mm," angling his head in echo of Abby's question. "And what's it do you do for a living? I teach." However unlikely a professor he might look. His eyes laugh at Abby's recollection of their 'initial encounter,' whimsically blue. Yes. Sure.
Heather can't help but snicker at the tune Abby sings. That brings back memories. So many memories. "It's not all that it's raved to be. Some of my pofessors are outright jerks." An apologetic smile is given to Teo as he mentions his teaching job. "No offense if you teach there." She wouldn't put it past him. MIT has professors younger than him. But they're like…supergeniuses. "Security mainly. Oh, and I'm majoring in psychology. Minor in physics." The latter is directed towards Abby.
Answers, but no answers. Abby however doesn't push any further to ask what courses each teaches or takes. "Just an idle though. I have my GED, but, i'm not that much of a smart cookie to likely get in and I wouldn't know the first thing of what I want to learn. Want your drink topped up? Teo, what you drinking?" She slips her feet back into her shoes. "Gonna tell the boss I need the rest of the day off, I'll make it up tomorrow"
Most days, Teodoro wishes he was sailing instead of wrangling teenagers and reading child development papers, but there's something to be said for a 'proper' education. Though at that point, he puts one and one together and points at Heather in a scintillating stab of realization. "Professor Rosenthaal, hud-2023, developmental psych? A couple semesters ago." Or just one. "I think we sat on opposite ends of the classroom. I think I recognized the back of your head.
"Eh, sorry," he glances up at Abby, grinning abashedly at his scattered train of thought. "I'm all over the fucking map with school. Changed majors like four times. Going for a degree in education right now because… well, it was the only damn thing that would fit with my credits. Even then, I'm pretty sure they relaxed the requirements. The city's really short on teachers. So not so impressive," he allows, cheerfully. He watches Abby rise. Doesn't stare, but it's obvious when he takes note of her fatigue. "Whatever you're having." His mouth quirks. "Maybe you should try for the New York Conservatory of Music."
"Hey, I know plenty of people at Columbia who shouldn't have gotten in. And just as many that were turned away who had perfectly good application." There's a brief pause as she glances at her phone. Which is vibrating on the table. Text message. One which she glances over briefly and frown. "I'll have to pass on the refill. Though if you can manage a box I'd love to take this with me." Late night snack, maybe. Teo's depiction of his adventures in literacy earn a grin. "I opted for psychology because my job is helping pay for it since it will help me advance."
"Box, no refill." She's gone a total of a minute, then returns with a glass of seven-up for Teo since she personally wasn't thirsty, and a styrafoam take out container. "Psychology. Great, now everyone will be swarming for you to poke around their head and examine their Id's." With a great deftness born of a few years waitressing, everything, transferr'd bags and without a spill, passed over to heather. "Pay at the counter over there, hopefully we'll see you again."
Teo corroborates Heather's criticism of Columbia's admissions system with a grimace. "'S true. Wouldn'tve gotten in, otherwise," he says brightly. He accepts his drink with aplomb, fishes a proper number of bills out of his wallet to leave on the table-top. Tiwsts and leans lazily in his seat, an arm draping over the back to watch Heather prepare to go. "I have friends who're psych majors. I hear it goes the other way," he remarks lightly, sitting his chin on his arm. "People don't like being looked at too closely. And keep expecting you to second-guess their actions and analyze their motivations. Puts people on their guard or some shit." He grins. "Don't let 'em give you lip, eh? Take care." He lifts a hand.
Heather watches the transfer of items with what could probably be described as amazement. "I'm hoping not to have to deal with that. People clamoring over me, that is. Trying to lean more towards forensic psychology. Criminal profiling. Etc." Picking the bags up, she slides her way out of the booth and pulls out her wallet. A handful of bills is produced, five if counted, and deposited on the table as a tip. "You'll definitely see me back. Gotta try that chiliburger you recommended." There's a laugh at Teo's analysis. "Yeah, it goes both ways. And I won't. If they do I have my ways of dealing with them." The last is said with a wink as she heads over to the counter and then towards the door. "Tale care, you two." she adds, before slipping out the door and back into the world.
Heather has left.
'Take care!" Abby calls back, leaving the table for Natalie to pick up. Was her customer anyways and now it seems, she's off duty as Abby slumps back into the seat, apron grabbed, neatly folded and put on the table again. "I couldn't afford it if I tried, and I was going to take up that second job, with a bartender I met at Rapture. Opening her own place. Can use the extra money for things and for my parents." Teo's money is folded and she attempts to put it back in his hand. "My treat. No complaints. I owe it to you anyways."
This time, Teo's hands are strangely inaccessible. He raises them up, holds them away, a small smile on his face. "Naw. No, you really don't," he insists gently. 'Course, it takes only a little bit of agility and a prying thumb to wedge the money back into his palm, should she choose to do so; which would be fine, as he generally doesn't mind being in beverage debt to a young woman, even if she doesn't see it that way. "Education's fucking expensive, I'll give you that," he agrees wryly. Only then realizes he's started swearing more and more over the progress of their conversation and notes to rein it in. "I know of someone who works at Rapture. Flamethrower. Name's— Isabelle?" He raises his brows inquiringly.
The swearing gets a look, and the money is wedged into his hand. "Easy on the words there. I'm a lady, even if this skirt is a little short" Though, it's his last words that get a dropped jaw and she leans in. "Izzy. Dance on the bartop, kick a guy in the head for grabbing her rear izzy?"
Long fingers close over the money, give her thumb a parting pinch. Never one to start a fight— except when he really is, Teo crooks a smirk and pockets the funds, makes an altogether different note to himself as he takes up the soda. "Mi dispiace. I'm a brute, but I have a learning curve. Won't happen again." He drinks the carbondated sweetness. Appreciates that she didn't fish him out a coffee, given a diuretic would only encourage the return of his hangover with brain-dehydration being what it is. He laughs. "I haven't seen her kick anybody's head in, but she looks like you could convince her to hurt someone. Friend of yours?"
"Potential employer. She took my name and number. Said she's opening her own place and was looking for help. Be a better place to work than Rapture. Don't worry, you won't be the last to curse around me, just it's not proper. There'sa time and a place to curse" She flicks her fingers at the pinch. "Helena say anything about when you and I are going out?"
Old habits die hard; he'll have to hope that the next time another one slips out, it'll be the time and the place. Teo looks good-natured as he shakes his head. "I think she might talk about it tonight. And I think we're still waiting on Cat's research. So, ragazza, 'least for a little bit, you're free to waitress, job-hunt, or go out drinking with me as you like." Folded bills are flicked in the air once, between his fingers, before he puts them into his pocket.
"For a little bit, yes. For now though, I have an afternoon off, and contemplating that to be filled with soaking in a hot bath and a nap before I catch up with you again" Abby leans back with a smile. "Why the conservatory of music? I can't play an instrument and I've only ever done church singing"
Teo settles back himself, shoulders squaring flat against the seat. "If I hadn't gotten out of bed like two hours ago, I'd seriously consider a nap too," he acknowledges, grinning with teeth. His lips close over his teeth the next moment, growing either a touch more sober or serious. "It was a thought. I don't know if you have the interest, but you seem to have a nice voice."
[Abby(#506)] "Not an interest. But it's appreciated, the suggestion. Maybe the good lord has plans for me to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm a step ahead past other people, I know somewhat of what the real world is like, and I have a GED. Maybe I need to not look beyond what I have and accept what I do have? I don't know. I'll find my path, sometime. We'll see. For now, I'm content. Hair of the dog probably not good for you this moment, want to go for a walk?"
Teo warms slightly, visibly at the invocation of His name. "I'd like to think He does," he replies, raising his right shoulder in a half a shrug. "But a time for all things, eh?" Ecclesiastes, albeit only a loose paraphrase. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. He's not a paragon of higher education or associated success, so it's hardly his place to over-advertise. He squints at her. "Hair of the dog," he repeats. Then he pops his eyebrows up, cheerfully. "You've lost me. A walk sounds great." He moves to rise.
"Hair of the dog. Neighbours were always in their cups, claimed that, a little hair of the dog that bit you cures everything. In other words, a little sip of whatever you had that got you in the position that your in, will make you feel better. Stay put, I need to get some pants on and i'll be good to go" A pat to the table with her hand and she's up, disappearing through the swinging door that leads to the back.
Teo pulls a little face. "Yeah, drinking right now sounds like an awful idea. It isn't even three o' clock." He offers her a thumbs-up as she rises to get her pants, looks at her skirt as she walks away. She was right: it is a little short, but she can pull it off.
He grips the table's edge and hauls himself up, downs the rest of his soda in one go, and hands Natalie the money in a commendably discreet fashion. When Abby re-emerges, the Sicilian falls easily into step beside her. They talk trivialities. Outside the door, the sun is shining and the traffic is whistling. He walks her home if she'll let him, partly because it's on the way, and partly because he isn't going anywhere particular for awhile.
 October 28th: Where The Pieces Fit |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 October 29th: Angels and Monsters |