ArchivedLogs:Caffeine Withdrawal

Caffeine Withdrawal
Dramatis Personae Anette, Ash, Billy, Jack, and Vi
In Absentia	2015-07-27 Jack returns to the Commons with new information, but is delayed. (Part of the Buzzkill TP)
Location <NYC> Lower East Side
Historically characterized by crime and immigrant families crammed into cramped tenement buildings, the Lower East Side is often identified with its working-class roots. Today, it plays host to many of New York's mutant poor, although even here they are still often forced into hiding. The previous day, Jack had shown up at the Harbor Commons late in the rainy afternoon with DD and dropped him off after having gone to the Happy Cakes bakery with him and his sister. He'd asked to see a few people but since they weren't around at the moment, Jack said he'd come back the next day and that it was important. And today, he's on his way back there. Dressed in jeans and a light hoodie, the invisible teen's walking relatively quickly as he makes his way through the Lower East Side. Ash is heading home from work, wearing a very dirt white a-shirt over his durable tan cargo pants and heavy work boots. He's got a metal lunch pail, yes they still make those, and a coffee thermos dangling off one hand, while the other is flipping through email on his phone, his hardhat under his arm. He looks like he might have started out for the Commons a lot earlier than Jack, but as he is not moving nearly as fast, the invisible teen is likely to catch up with him shortly. The day's errands have brought Billy to the Commons though, they don't seem to have kept him here for very long. Bringing up a gloved up to frame his face, he combs his fingers through his hair and brushes away the glisten of sweat from his brow. As always, he dresses in all white: a thin, tunic-style shirt hangs off of his willowy frame and non-descript slacks. The fabric of the shirt moves in the breeze, as does the antiseptic smell that often follows in Billy's wake. In the sweltering summer heat, the gentle sting of his bleaching abilities is unmistakable and ever present. Meanwhile, Vi is kind of standing around like a tourist. She's dressed in tight jeans with a few tears along the tops of the thighs and a black tanktop that is held together by safety pins over another white one that is intact. Her long hair is tied back to neaten it up. This is Vi being presentable. She's got her cell phone out in one hand and is holding it, but not actually really doing anything with it. Instead, she's kind of just gawking around as she stands inconveniently positioned. It's really not the most flattering thing to be doing, but she's tired and it's hot. The scent on the breeze makes her nose wrinkle and she glances around. Anette seems to be the only one heading AWAY from the commons. Having just finished up a visit with a friend, she slips out of nearby door, for once her wings in full view though she does have her coat in full view. Otherwise, it's the usual: black tanktop, jeans, and boots. As she steps off to the side to pull her hair up, she catches sight of Vi. After a quick glance and a slight nod, the other girl no longer interests her. Or, if that slight smirk and quick sniff of the air suggests, she just might have found something else to interest her. Rather than leave, she now hangs around, waiting to see who passes by. Jack does indeed catch up to Ash pretty quickly but he doesn't realize its him until he almost passes him. Slowing down, the invisible teen blinks and then smiles. "Hey, Ash," he greets, taking a hand from his pocket to wave an empty sleeve. The scent on the wind makes him blink a few times and glance around but his attention eventually returns to Ash. "Just getting back from work?" he guesses. Ash isn't really attentive to bleach on the wind as many people use bleach daily, but his nostrils unconsciously flare at the smell. He slows to a stop when Jack grabs his attention, a small smile of recognition pulling at his lips. He turns his phone off and slips it into his pocket. "Hey, Jack. Yeah. Just getting back from work. How's your summer treating you? On vacation yet?" Vi gets a longer look as she seems utterly lost whereas Anette receives a few blinks and a nod. Continuing in his theme, Billy brings up his other free hand to primp as he crosses mid-way into the courtyard. There, he halts to pat himself down. Producing a little patch of microfiber fabric, he pulls off his thick wayfarers and wipes down their lenses. Upon replaces them at the bridge of his nose, he finds himself staring directly at Annette. The blonde lets out an audible sigh of disappointment. Vi does an even better job of looking lost when she's doing kind of an open-mouthed double-take at Anette in return for the nod she was granted. Smooth. She coughs once and tucks her phone into her back pocket. "Sup," she offers when Anette lingers nearby, perhaps mistaking the stop as some conversational interest. "Hey Clorox! How've you been?" Anette says with a grin. To anyone nearby unaware of their relationship, there's nothing special about the way she says it. She sounds pretty friendly. "Visiting someone or do you live around here?" "It's...well, best summer I've had in awhile," Jack replies. "I'm on vacation now I guess," he shrugs. "How about you?" he asks. Following Ash's gaze, Jack jumps slightly when he spots Anette. He didn't think he'd run into her around here. Vi gets a glance, Jack wondering if she's with Anette. But then the call of 'Clorox' gets Jack looking Billy's way and the invisible teen tilts his head to the side. "Everybody knows everybody, don't they..." he murmurs, a little amused. “I can’t even with you, today,” Billy waggles his head on his neck, dead-eyeing Anette from behind his thick glasses. He makes a lazy, sweeping motion with his hand as he continues to step away. As Vi addresses Anette, and in such a casual way, he just assumes that the two are well acquainted and eyes the new-comer down and up. "I wouldn't say everyone knows everyone, but there's a lot of 'know of' around here." Ash raises his free hand to scruff at the back of his neck, but that makes his hard hat pop out from under his elbow. He scrambles to catch it, thumping it against the metal in his other hand. He shakes his head and resettles the helmet under his arm again. "Glad you're having a good summer. I just, wish the summer was more... energetic." Vi does at least make an interesting sight to look at, considering the litany of tattoos on her exposed arms and the state of 'stylish' disrepair that her clothing is in. When Billy approaches, she looks toward him and all of the white on his person. Considering she is tattooed over in black in some places, there's a little twinkle of amusement and a half suppressed smirk as she thinks about it. At the appraising look she draws, she offers the same greeting to Billy that Anette got, "Sup." It even comes with a friendly raise of her brows. "You can't even? God, don't tell me you’re one of those Tumblr types. And I had so much respect for you." Now the mocking might leak into her voice as Anette continues to speak to Billy, despite his complete disinterest. The continued presence of Vi catches her attention once more, though now Anette grins. "I love the ink." When Ash drops his hat, Jack jumps and tries to catch it as well. He relaxes when the older mutant has his hat safely in hand again though. "Do you mean...the coffee thing?" Jack asks, unseen expression drooping. "I think...that's about to get more complicated," he sighs. "That's what brought me out here today..." he trails off. Billy cocks his head, eyes rolling theatrically, "You never had respect for me. /And you're thinking of pinterest./" Exasperated, the man in all white raises his own too-perfect eyebrows to Vi. It's about as much of a greeting he's willing to give any friend of Anette's. Drawing his attention away from the two ladies, Billy spots Jack or lack-there-of, and finds a friendly smile from somewhere within, "Hey, Jack. What's up?" Completely out of her depth and just kind of... along for the social ride, Vi gives Anette a genuinely pleased smile. She lifts up one arm, the one that is mostly blacked out, with the shapes crows resolving out of it up her arm, and bobs her head, "Thanks. It's kind of my thing," she says. "I dig the uh whole... y'know," she says awkwardly. Her attention follows Billy's gaze as an escape and she spots the lack of Jack as well. She's not so familiar and instead replies with an honest, "The fuck?" She catches herself and scratches the back of her head uncomfortably. "Wait... What? And yeah, I'm talking about the coffee. Kind of turning into an old man, with the hours I keep and no joe to keep me going." Ash frowns and studies the lack of Jack, too, but he's mainly looking where his eyes should be. "How are things going to get more complicated? What's going on?" He glances over at Billy when he addresses Jack, frowning a little when he looks back to that tee shirt in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Jack rubs the back of his neck. "I was...investigating the source of it all. And I sort of found it and they were staying with Jax but something happened yesterday and I think their family might be causing trouble," Jack replies. When Billy speaks to him, Jack glances up and waves an empty sleeve. "Hey, sir...just on my way to talk to some friends at the commons," he says. And then there's Vi's reaction. "Boo," he says flatly. Anette glances over towards Jack as everyone begins to notice him. "Ah, Invisiboy," she says flatly. Apparently she knows him, or at least his power doesn't surprise her as much as it does other people. However, she begins to perk up a bit when the coffee thing is mentioned. "Wait...you know what's going on? Seriously?" Apparently she's done playing with people now. Now even Vi is in on it. "Wait, really?" She turns that way as well, looking a lot less forceful and a lot more hopeful. She seems pretty invested in the idea of knowing what is up with the coffee. In that, she kind of steps to Anette's side, simply because she wants in on any explanation that might be forthcoming. “None of that,” Billy warns Anette as she starts up with the nicknames. Flattening his hand in a halting gesture, Billy reiterates the winged woman's concerns, “About like, the coffee thing?” He thumbs back behind him, his expression sinking into one of concern. He glances over his shoulder, as if expecting to see the friends Jack was going to see. "People are staying with Jax?" Ash continues to look concerned. "I ... guess we should go talk to him." He frowns deeper and glances around as Jack's words start to draw more people over. Jack tenses as more people come over, moving a little closer to Ash. "Yeah...I came out to see him or Dusk about this," he says to Ash. Anette and Vi questioning him has the invisible teen glancing past them. "Yeah, if all goes okay, it'll all be fixed up soon." Anette can't help but snort slightly. "Yeah, all it has to do is all go well. Which almost guarantees it won't. But spill, what's been causing this? I haven't had a Mountain Dew in weeks." Looking skeptical as well, Vi gives a shrug of her crow-marked shoulders and peers at Anette. "You haven't had a Mountain Dew, I've got my hours cut at work to next to nothing. Funny how no one wants any coffee when it doesn't, you know, coffee." She looks around a bit, glancing from person to person, as it seems to dawn on her that she has found herself in a weird situation. Her looks go from the people around her, to the people around them, a hint nervously. In lieu of blushing, Billy pales somewhat at the mention of Dusk. "If you think it puts anyone in danger," he says in a more comforting tone, picking up on Jack's body language. He motions back behind them towards Jax's residence, "Or you don't want to say ...that's like, okay. Talking to Professor Holland ...or Dusk, was the right thing to do. Just... promise me you won't do anything on your own." Ash is all set to follow after Jack when Billy starts speaking. A wrinkle appears in his forehead and he stops in his tracks, actually lifting a foot to back up as well. "I'll let you handle this with your teacher, okay, Jack?" He turns his attention to Anette and Vi. "Maybe give him some space? What he knows -- well, they'll sort it out, okay? But let the kid be, for right now. He seems nervous." Jack frowns. "Sorry, not out here," he says to Anette, glancing at Vi. He has no idea who Vi is and is pretty sure the info shouldn't be widespread. As Ash steps back, Jack rubs the back of his neck. "You could come too if you wanted...but alright..." he trails off. The empty hood nods to Billy. "Might be a little late for that promise...but I'll try not to do any more," he offers to Billy, starts back towards the Commons. Anette sighs and takes a step back, more symbolic than effective. "Alright, alright. I can let him breathe. But I really do want to know what's going on and if you need any help, I'm more than willing to throw myself in." Still, she doesn't exactly leave... She glances towards Vi as she seems to take offense to her struggles. "Hey, it sucks for everyone," is all she offers. For her part, Vi is a little easier to ward off than Anette is. "Sorry," she murmurs, with half a little smile. "Just curious," she explains, the palms of both tattooed hands coming up apologetically. She turns, though she pauses to give the winged woman a little smirky face. "I understand how important Dew can be. You can make it though. I believe in you." The tone is quite playful, even if she is being a smart ass. With that, she starts to wind her way away from the group, back to her 'no idea where she is going' ambling she was up to before. She's slow on getting out of earshot, though. Curiosity is strong. "It's okay, Jack. Go ahead. I'll talk to you later." Ash raises a hand, standing back and watching the others go. Naive as he is, Billy eagerly accepts the promise. As Jack makes his way towards the Commons, Billy turns to flick his eyes down and up Anette. "/Mountain Dew?/" He pants, his breathy tone dripping with judgment. He turns on his heel and walks off in the opposite direction, going back to idly touching his hair like he had been before. Jack nods, stuffing his hands back into his pockets. "I'll let you know how things go," he says, nodding to Ash and the others before continuing along the cleared path. Anette raises a brow as Billy judges her caffeine habits. "Well now all of us can drink pumpkin spice lattes. Besides, I like Dew." She steps to the sides as Jack walks off, though she continues to watch him.