Participants:
| Scene Title | Practising Tact |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Raquelle makes a new rule. And then everyone breaks it. |
| Date | January 21, 2011 |
For Abby's birthday, Kendall provided her with an IOU for one illusion, with a disclaimer stating that he would not do anything lewd or dirty. So today she cashed it in, since today is one of the days he works at Cambria Salon and Day Spa. Therefore, he illusioned her invisible with the aid of a 'One Ring', and walked with her all the way there. He had a special way of seeing invisible people of his own contrivance, mostly due to watching SciFi when it was actually, y'know, good. Entering the salon, he holds the door open for her. "Ok, you can take the ring off now." he tells her. "Boss! We've got a secret customer."
Ziadie had walked in just a few minutes before. He'd been told to take it easy, and while he's a bit dubious that getting a haircut and a shave will help as far as taking it easy goes, that's … forgotten, when he sees Kendall walking in the door, holding it open for nobody.
Illusions can be convincing and Abigail was convinced when no one looked at her walking behind Kendall. Blonde roots are showing underneath brown and while a box of color in the drug store would be just as good, she's also getting a little shaggy. And Kendall's IOU combined with Raquelle's ability to actually keep a secret…
Means that Ziadie gets a sight when one moment it looks like there's nothing there and then with the removal of a literal ring from Abigail's hand to be passed back over to Kendall, 5'7 of winter clothing clad brunette is standing in the salon beyond windows and looking for Racquelle. Brown eyes land on Ziadie and they widen with a touch of fear but she looks away just as quickly.
The office door is cracked open with the soft strains of something jazzy or maybe big-bandy playing and there's a faint scent of something fruity in the air mixed with the scents used in shampoos and the like. Raquelle's voice carries from the back. "Well it isn't secret now is it you genius little teenage gremlin!" A hint of exasperation and fondness before there's the sound of a faucet running and then a CLUNK and a Japanese Stream of swearing as something falls over some boxes. "FUDGE! Get 'em situated! GOD, it is like the hulk tried to hump my HIP who the HELL put that there…"
"Oh…." Kendall belatedly notices Ziadie and winces. "Well, uh, secret to everyone out there, anyway. Want me to lock the door, Boss?" he asks Raquelle, waving a hand vaguely towards the entrance. "Martha here just wants to be pampered." he pauses upon hearing the crashing from inside the office. "…you okay in there?" he'd go check, but… who knows what Raquelle is wearing. Or not, as the case may be.
Ziadie's brain is visibly working. The old man's left arm is in a sling, but he leans his cane somewhere that it's not going to get in the way and holds up his right hand in the air. "Point one," he says, "you helped me a' carry my groceries. Just a little magic trick." There's a pause, maybe to let Kendall's memory jog a bit. He looks at Abigail, then moves so that Abigail and Kendall are the only ones who can hear him speak. "Point two, Martha is one of the most conspicuously fake names you could have chosen, even if I couldn't tell the lie to start with." He's pointing out fact, and a bit blunt, but trying to make it understood that he doesn't mean any harm.
"Language Raquelle Cambria. Swearing in another language doesn't rightly mean you can still swear" Southern and nasally thanks to the splint across her nose, bruises gone save for hints of sallow skin that promise in one more day to be nothing. But kendall's sorta given the game away and when Ziadie points out that Martha is a pretty bad fake name, Abigail looks between Kendall and the older black man. Don't say more than four words to a stranger her husband had cautioned her and she does one better. Only two. She doesn't say a thing to Ziadie, just a dip of her head to the man. "Afternoon Sir" No denying whether her name really is Martha or not.
The sarcastic tones: "Yes! I'm okay in here, I'm just settling mouse traps with my d- " Raquelle makes his way out of his office with a hand on his hip, wearing a pair of fitted black jeans, docs with blue laces, a fitted black turtle neck with blue stripes, a black beret on his head and his emo-fringe is dyed blue today as well. He hesitates when he hears the faintly familiar voice, Kendall's voice and then a stranger, eyebrows shooting up and he finishes up carefully…"…duster." He gasps softly. "Oh my word! Look at you! Its Clark Kent's mama and uh…" He eyes Ziadie. "We can just pretend you're God, alright honey…damn you're a pretty old man, like an aged bar of milk chocolate." He winks and then looks between Abby and Kendall. "Well don't just /stand/ there? Where's my hugs?" He opens his arms. "Kendall baby, is the crusty crippled man over there signed in and all?"
"Yeah, I remember you." Kendall replies to Ziadie, and shrugs a little at Abby. "I didn't know anyone was here." that's true enough too. "But I figure, since we're all special in some way, no real harm, right?" well, he doesn't know for sure if Raquelle is Evolved or not, but he's certainly special in his own….. special way. "Ah, right." Raquelle wants him to hug him? …Kendall will let Abby go for it as he goes to check and see if Ziadie signed in. "Yep, he is, Boss."
Ziadie just smiles, a bit, and ducks a nod to 'Martha'. "Afternoon." Instead of doing anything else, he just watches the exchange between the other three, carefully adjusting the sling his arm is in. And wincing. There's half a hint of muttering under his breath. "Fucking robots." Hopefully, it's quiet enough that 'Martha' won't notice the cursing. Probably isn't, but.
'Martha' doesn't know Ziadie, so there will be no chastising of a dirty mouth. But she does step forward to embrace Raquelle. Layers make it harder to discern, but she's lost enough weight from living a life on the run and not enough food dished out on the island. "You are a sight for sore eyes. How are the girls? The tarantula? You can't let your man know I was here, can't let anyone know I was here Raquelle. It wouldn't be doing you any favors"
Greetings passed, brief hug given, she's stepping back, shedding her jacket and looking for the nearest stylists chair to sit in knowing that Ziadie is first.
Raquelle squeezes Abby gently, offering a peck on her cheek before stepping back and blinking several times. "Honey…you shoulda called I was so worried, well…" He trails off when he hears all the words and the warnings and all that. "Um. Okay honey…the girls are okay, they miss you of course. They got two dogs now and so they have their pet hands full, that damn spider's still alive." He chuckles, gesturing her towards the closest door and offering to take her jacket, eyeing Ziadie for a moment and looking between the three people in his Salon. "Ah, go on and shut and lock the door Ken Doll, Jess already left for the day so I guess I'll take all the clients here." He eyes Ziadie a bit longer before approaching him and offering a hand. "Hello, welcome to Cambria's Salon and Day Spa, I'm Raquelle and I'll be your stylist, what did you come and see us for?" A pause as he looks over his shoulder at Abby. "Oh, by the way, I'm thinkin' of proposing, aren't I the dumbest sap!"
Kendall salutes to Raquelle and goes to lock the door, flipping the sign. "It's kinda hard to call from where we were." Kendall remarks. "Public phone booths are kinda scarce these days now that everyone's got a cell phone." and cell phones are the enemy! Or something.
Ziadie half-chuckles to himself, and shakes Raquelle's hand. Awkwardly. From observance, he's probably not right-handed. "Nocturne Ziadie," he says. "I'm not intruding or naught, 'm I?" He pauses. "Friend'f mine recommended it. Told me I'm s'posed to take it easy, and get my hair cut back to something reasonable for reason'ble folk." Ziadie purses his lips, and looks between Kendall, Raquelle, and 'Martha'. He's still wearing a heavy wool peacoat, but is shifting from foot to foot rather than take it off.
"Make sure to give him a dog, or a bullet proof vest instead of a ring and I think he'll say yes" No comment as to whether Ziadie is intruding but Kendall does get an elbow to the ribs in passing for talking too much about phones and the like.
Raquelle ahhs softly, squeezing Ziadie's hand gently and straightening up as he glances over to Kendall and then he looks to Abby and then he rolls his eyes, laughing softly. "If you got recommended here and all, you came to the right place. C'mon and have a seat here, easy now sugar you already have one banged up arm, don't won't two." He points to another styling chair before gesturing to his coat. "And I know it ain't cold in here so just give your coat to Ken Doll over there." He smirks gently and gives Abby a small nod. "Now are we changin' colors or doing a touch up?"
Kendall flinches from the elbow to the ribs, and shrugs at Abby again. Hey, he was trying to be innocuous about it! He could've been talking about anywhere in the city! There's lots of areas without phones, and bad reception. "I'll take your coat. Need help getting it off?" he asks Ziadie, holding out his hand.
"Thanks." Ziadie nods, and purses his lips again. He does let Kendall help with getting the coat off, and the leather jacket as well, then carefully reattaching the sling, and leans on the cane as he walks over to the indicated chair. There's a black leather holster on the same side as the sling, but Ziadie's decided he's just not going to be the first one to say anything about it.
Guns. Probably all three of them are used to weapons by now. Abby from the ones in safehouses and her husbands own, Kendall, well, Kendall. Raquelle, well he's dating a cop. ABigail gives it a glance then looks to Kendall. "Would it be rude of me to ask you to get me a coffee? LIke a really big one from like Starbucks or something? I can pay"
Raquelle's hand goes to his back pocket as he squints at Ziadie thoughtfully, eyeing the holster before his lips part and his hand goes to his hip as he just eyes the man quietly for a few moments. Then he just shrugs his shoulders. "The bigger the holster, the bigger the gun. I've never had reason to complain." He tugs his wallet out of one of those black apron/toolbelt like stylist things he's tied on by now, slipping out a few bills and offering it to Kendall. "You know my Chai Tea Latte, ask officer here what he wants and then run on back boo. That's a good boy."
"Coffee'd be nice," Ziadie remarks quietly. It takes him a minute to sit down. He moves slow. "Not an officer these days …" he says, and gives the half-shrug that he's figured out doesn't make his shoulder spasm painfully. And even a little bit of a smile. What tension is in Ziadie's posture is shoved a little further out of sight.
Zia's going to get pampered and from the looks of him, he needs it. She notices the spasm, the way he holds his arm and seems to take a little bit of interest in it. She can't help it, it's the healer in her. The EMT in her. "Dislocated your shoulder?" Not a broken collar bone or he wouldn't have it out. She doesn't think it's such.
Kendall will never get used to guns, and his hand moves up to his chest subconsciously, even though technically he avoided getting shot and dying. The request to go get coffee is met with relief and he hurries out. Now he returns with the orders. "Chai tea latte, coffee, and really big coffee." he's quiet otherwise.
Ahh, it is good to have good help. Raquelle just eyes Ziadie with some concern a the spasm and he shrugs a shoulder. "Honey you could be the cop or the cowboy from the village people and I still wouldn't give a damn. As long as you've got your license to carry so the real cops don't show up and give you a hard time…it is all good. So we're doing a cut and a shave today right?" He turns smoothly to nod slowly to Abby as he moves to get his cart, starting to mix up some stuff, get out some oils, layout some tools…he's doing a lot of things but quickly and efficiently as Kendall runs out to get coffee and tea and returns.
Ziadie seems to find it incredibly amusing, or maybe it's just how frequently he ends up in situations otherwise that he's thinking of. In any case, the smile on the old man's face is genuine as he nods to Raquelle, and he's considering Abby's questions. "Yeah," he says to Abby. "Fell in a bunch of rubble. Got in a shootout with a robot thing." Nonchalant. As if robots happen every day. "Not 's young as I used to be."
"Robots? Now there's something you don't hear every day. Robots dislocating shoulders" But he's got her attention at the mention of Robots. Abigail grabs a magazine, flipping through it with very little attention paid to it. "Where'd you run into robots?"
"Robots?" Kendall wrinkles his nose. "Yeah, where was this, so I can stay away. I can't do anything against robots." he sounds…. offended, for some reason, and eyeshifts at Abby for an equally obscure reason. "Technology can't be fooled."
"…" Raquelle just glances back towards the two with a slow blink. "…" He for once has nothing to say as he moves up behind Abby, quietly handing her the hair-color book before moving to Ziadie and just studying his profile/head with a critical eye, circling the man and taking a deep breath. "Ken Doll honey, can you go and get me two capes, the sparkly purple ones in my office that nobody can use but my royal hotness." He points to himself.
"Yes, robots," Ziadie says. "Well, a robot. I'm sure there're more." A pause. "Midtown." The older man doesn't elaborate, merely frowns slightly. Talk of robots really isn't helping him be less stressed.
"Robots." And then Abigail just shakes her head, putting the magazine to the side and fingering the shades of brown in the book, looking for something a shade different that what it is and not her blonde roots. "Maybe a little less alcohol at night" ABigail muses, looking away to hide her concern. Someone else, someone she doesn't know, speaking about Robots in midtown. Kendall's returning with coffee and she claims her own, taking it in one hand, consulting the fledling secretary/appointment keeper for his opinion on what color.
"Yes, Boss." Kendall salutes again to Raquelle, leaving his own drink off to the side. Caramel Macciato, containing enough sugar to give anyone diabetes. He disappears into a room, and returns with some gaudy sparkly capes. He hands them off to Raquelle, then tilts his head at Abby. Colors? blinkblink. For what?
Raquelle worries his bottom lip. "There are robots in this beautiful city of borderline prison city status? Say its not /so/. I'm all for the transformers but I just like to imagine Opti-Baby talkin' to me." He sighs softly and shakes his head, glancing over Abby's shoulder once more before giving her a gently pat on the back of the chair, turning smoothly to accept the capes from Kendall, blowing a kiss. "Thank ya kindly sweetie, now help Mrs Kent with choosin' while I go get Mr Zebedee cut."
"Robots that don't exist, no less," Ziadie says. He half-shrugs again, barely managing not to wince. There's a frown on his face to what Abby said, about the alcohol. He hides it quicker than not. "I don't know. I doubt I'll be strolling through Midtown again any time soon, as it is." He offers Abby a smile.
"Ms Kent already knows what she wants and is just going to wait while you take care of the gentleman. Besides, he's more banged up than I am and age before beauty is how my Dah would say it" That and Ziadie was there first. Robots though. She's still swelling on that and would outright ask him about it except that… he's retired officer and she's a wanted fugitive on many accounts.
"Need anything while you're waiting?" Kendall asks Abby, like a good little employee. "Uh…" he glances around. "Magazines, or something?" all this talk about robots. "Well I hope robots don't destroy the city, that'd just be cliche." he mutters to no one in particular.
Raquelle ahhs softly and shakes his head, moving up behind Ziadie before shaking out a sparkly purple cape and draping it around the man gently, securing it and running his fingers over the man's hair, rubbing some between his fingers before turning to plug of the clippers, fiddling with different size guards and frowning a bit. "So, does anybody know any nice songs?" LALALA, change subject.
"They're just in Midtown," Ziadie says. "Already destroyed as all hell as it is." He bites back whatever gratuitous complement he'd thought of. "What punched you in the face, hm?" There's a minor touch of concern in Ziadie's voice. Just a bit. Hopefully not anyone she was … involved with. But Ziadie isn't going to say that.
"I wasn't punched." It was more open palm really. Palmed, right up the nose. Abigail looks over to the retired officer a shake of her head for Kendall. "I'm good Kendall, thank you." She's unsure of what to tell Ziadie. I was at a super secret castle and drunk and sparring with a blind woman?
"My husband beat me" A truth. Caliban had attacked her one time. "And now you know why I'm Martha." Let him draw his own conclusions.
Kendall blinks at Abby in startlement. "What?!" he exclaims. "But I thought…" oh wait, maybe he shouldn't say anything, since she's not. Eh, not his business. "It's a dangerous world out there." he says instead, nodding sagely and doing his best smart person impression.
Raquelle had been choosing an appropriately sized guard so he can execute a professional and sleek haircut, to not cut the man bald just a low trim and he clicks the little thing on with the bzzzzzzing noise and places two fingers on the man's head to hold it still as he begins the haircut in straight lines but he freezes, lifting the clippers and turning a bit to stare at Abby rather intently, eyes widening a fraction then he just looks hurt, lowering his eyes and taking a deep breath as he tears up and turns back to Ziadie's head, continuing the haircut. "NEW FUCKING RULE!" A pause. "I mean freakin' rule, new freakin' rule. We talk and think about HAPPY shi-stuff in Raquelle's salon, okay? Okay. Are you ready? Go!" He mutters under his breath. "Going to give me a fucking blood pressure problem…god…"
"She's not telling the truth anyway," Ziadie remarks. "At least, not entirely. No, you weren't punched. Whatever your husband did isn't relevant to what I asked. And the last statement wasn't entirely truthful either." There's a pause, an awkward one. Ziadie's not too good about happy stuff, at least not overall; his life hasn't been awash with it recently, and he tries not to talk about who he happens to be living with. So instead, he just doesn't say anything.
Abigail freezes in spot as Raquelle seems to be near tears or actually in tears and Ziadie just laaaaays it all out on the table. She's never been good at lying so no, she tends to not or she diverts away from the truth as minimally as possible. This is getting too creepy, suspicion that he's perhaps a telepath and that this. This was a really bad idea.
Which would explain why she's bolting. Why Abigail's tossed the book to another chair and just bee-lining right for her jacket and straight for the door. Paranoia keeps you alive and doesn't take care of blonde roots.
"Ah, wait!" Kendall exclaims to Abby, running over. He digs the ring out of his pocket again. "This one free of charge. It'll keep you invisible for as long as you think you are." see, Kendall's illusions work on the belief of others, and he doesn't actually have to be present for them to work, either. They kinda… attach to other people.
"Oh my GOD, do you have no decorum or manners sir? Good lord!" Raquelle stops the clippers again to just stare at the back of the man's head. "You don't tell people if somebody else isn't telling the truth, especially if they haven't asked! That's like having a magic power to tell if somebody's boned your sister or not! You don't tell people! You don't go 'where were you last night' 'oh I was at my friends' 'bah, she's lying she was at her boyfriends trying out the fuzzy cuffs!'" He throws a hand up as Abigail goes fleeing, idly wiping/dabbing at his tears. "Honey!" He hesitates and then sets the clippers down, making his way after the woman and quietly slipping his card into her coat pocket, reaching around her if possible and murmuring softly, "Just come by the house, I've got a new one and all soon…we'll do it there…" And then he turns back to Ziadie. "Two words for you Officer Tell All." He saunters back to the chair to retrieve the clippers and then stage-whispers. "Bikini, Wax."
Ziadie stares after Abigail. He was really only trying to be conversational. "Martha…" his words trail off. "I'm sorry." He's telling the truth, too. "I am." Ziadie isn't exactly good at conversational, though. "I …" No. He shuts his mouth. "I"m often blunt. It is far from my best quality. And I am sorry."
Ziadie's fingers, from the good hand, drum against his leg idly. "Now I've done it. Now I'm never going to hear the end of it." Ziadie's mainly talking to himself.
The ring is snatched up fumbled with to one hand, the card taken in the other and stuffed into a pocket. She'll shove her toque on when she's outside after Kendall has unlocked the door. Not a glance to Zia as he apologizes to 'Martha'. One second Abby's there and the next, thanks to Kendall's illusion, she's gone, the door opening and then closing.
Kendall winces, and shakes his head after letting her out. "Sorry… it's hard to trust people you don't know these days." he apologizes. "She, more than others. It's been getting worse and worse for us lately, especially since the 8th."
"Hold your head still before I shave my initials in your head accidentally." Raquelle offers to Ziadie with a soft sigh, glancing towards the door when it opens and shuts seemingly by itself and he looks to Kendall for a moment before looking back to Ziadie's head as he shrugs his shoulders. "/I'm/ blunt honey, you're sharp as a hot knife." He tsks softly. "You got somethin' you been meaning to tell me." He eyes Kendall as he talks about things getting worse.
"I mean us us." 'Us' being Evolved. Kendall shrugs at Raquelle. "I can't say anything, actually. Sorry." he adds with a sigh. "Or wait, do you mean something else?" he's suddenly confused, and eyes Ziadie. "Yeah, you should know that secrets are part of being a woman, or something like that. A secret makes a woman, woman." he heard that in an anime. Nerd.
Ziadie doesn't move, much, with a brow raise towards Kendall. Or maybe it's to what Raquelle said. "Comparatively, you're a bucket of tact." He purses his lips.
"Oooh, riiiight. Us us. Not just us." Raquelle is good at what he does at least, changing the guard out on the clippers when he needs to clean up the job he's doing on Ziadie's head. "You obviously don't know me very well sir." He offers to the older man before looking over to Kendall. "You keep your secrets honey, I'm just here to do hair." He smirks.
"Yeah. On that note… I have to go somewhere for a short while." Kendall winces. "Can I have a break?" he asks Raquelle. "Since there's not much I can do right now anyway…."
Well, this has been an interesting experience. Ziadie's glance goes over to Kendall again. He'd have liked to keep talking about the robots, really, but now he just sits quietly.
Raquelle chuckles softly and gives Kendall a small chin-up. "If you need money, my other wallets in the purple fish jar in the office hon…" He continues the hair cut. "Be safe out there or I'll kick your ass." He blows a kiss and goes back to work. Best. Boss. Ever. Really.
Well best boss so long as he doesn't parade around in manthongs anymore, that was enough trauma. With a grin at Raquelle, he slips out the door.
Ziadie gives half a frown. "He's a good kid, you know," he remarks to Raquelle. Ziadie's fingers drum silently against his leg. He's not good at the awkward silences.
"Mmhm, very good kid." Raquelle rests a hand gently on Ziadie's shoulder, leaning down near his ear after putting the clippers down and setting them aside. "We're going to play a game Mr Zebedee…I'm going to use a straight edge razor to straighten your edges and shave you pretty skin…and you're going to practice tact. That way nobody gets their asses cut up in the salon chair?" He smiles brightly and straightens up. "So, do you like sports?" See, typical Salon visit, idle conversation.