ArchivedLogs:The Nine-to-Five

The Nine-to-Five
Dramatis Personae Toru, Thea
In Absentia	2013-08-21 Toru and Thea catch up on the island.
Location <BOM> Compound Grounds - Ascension Island
In some places reaching the main grounds of this island takes a precarious scramble up from the rocky-craggy short, in some places just a short hike away from the beach. Once an old homestead, most of the 28 acres of property are taken up with forest, a dark thick sprawl of greenery through which a small stream winds crookedly. Under its shady canopy, myriad buildings are tucked away, an eclectic mix of sheds and tiny sturdy log cabins that give the area a rustic feel. Centrally, a wide clearing has been cut out of the trees. A large sweep of lawn has had a metal swingset -- two swings to either side of a small trapeze bar -- set up to one side. The lawn leads up to a cabin bigger than the others, a squat one-story building. Long and low, its wide front porch and cheerfully-painted yellow and pink shutters lend the building a welcoming air. It's dinner time on the island, and Thea is sitting out on her porch eating. Apparently she made something in her cabin's kitchenette, because she has a plate set out on her railing, covered with a towel, and a glass of red wine on the little side table with her porch chairs. She's eased back in one of those chairs now, and in the process of shooing Sonic (her dog-sized pill bug) off of the porch. "Nono! This is mine. Shoo!" Sonic scuttles down the stairs, looking back at her, forlorn. Off in the trees, towards the direction of the beach, a small, Toru-like figure can be seen approaching the compound. Conveniently enough, it is in fact Toru!, carrying a messenger bag and a white plastic bag, the type generally associated with takeout. When he hears noise up by the cabins, he's careful to make his approach a bit more obvious and less /sneaky/, and even raises an arm to call out, "Don't freak out! It's just me." You know, the way trustworthy people always announce themselves. Once he's actually close enough to see Thea, he frowns just a touch, running his free hand over his hair to scratch the back of his head. "Oh, you're the bug broad. I was hopin' the boss lady was around." He also-- proceeds to invite himself up onto her porch! And flops down into a chair, pulling a wrapped sub out of his bag, which looks to still have another one inside. He's dressed in jeans, today, and a thin hoodie; around his neck, he's got a pair of dog tags, both of which have bites taken out of them. "She have any kinda consistent schedule for comin' by?" Thea laughs, a surprisingly happy sound. "Hi, yeah, I'm /Thea/. Bug broad is new, but you know, whatever." He grins, and leans forward to take up her wine. "Oh, you wanna glass? Bottle's open on the counter inside." She takes a sip, and then retrieves her plate from the banister. When the towel comes off, it reveals some kind of chicken fajita fixings, sans any kind of tortilla. She moves some of it around idly with a fork, and says, "Not sure about Regan, sorry. Haven't seen her in a while, actually. But she hasn't been in the news either, so..." She shrugs, and her antennae bob merrily. She turns her black eyes on Toru then and asks, "So, you're Dr. Bones, right?" A hand goes up sharply when Regan's name is mentioned. "/Don't/ wanna know her name-- uh, I guess it's too late for that. But uh." He scratches the back of his head again. "Names just get ya into trouble. I been /tryin'/ to get people to call me /Skel/ but it don't look like it's workin'." That minor rant aside, he pushes himself to his feet, setting the still-wrapped sandwich down. "So yeah, Bones, sure." And that said, he strolls into the cabin to get himself some wine! And comes out a moment later with a glass half-full of it. Sipping on that, he gets himself situated back on the chair, food in lap, glass on table, one leg crossed over the other. "Anyway, like I was sayin', she does kinda tend to be hard t'find if she don't wanna be. Which I can respect, but it makes it sorta irritatin' when I actually wanna talk to 'er." Nodding towards the food, he adds, "I think I kinda had you pegged for a vegetarian." Thea enjoys a bite of her food while Toru goes into her cabin. She raises her glass to clink with his when he returns, and says, "'Hard to find' isn't even the beginning." She sits back, and props her long legs up on the railing in front of her. Toru's question about her food pulls another laugh out of her though. "Is that right? Why's that?" Waving a hand dismissively, Toru sets to unwrapping his sub - turkey and roast beef, with assorted vegetables - and chews on a bite thoughtfully. Swallowing it, he takes a long sip from the wine to wash it down - super classy - and answers, "'Cause of the bug thing, I guess. I think I was picturin' like, flowers. Like bees, y'know?" He frowns a moment. "Though I guess there's bugs that eat meat. I dunno, man." With a big helpless shrug, there, he takes another bite off the sub. Nom. Getting himself all cozy, he uncrosses his legs, re-crossing them the other way around, and leans back in that chair. "So like, I gotta ask. And no offense or nothin', I ain't tryin' to be a dick, but what're you even gonna /do/ now? 'Cause I'm pretty sure nobody in charge is real happy yer out, and.. I mean, are you just gonna stay here the rest'a yer life and do Brotherhood shit?" Thea echoes Toru's shrug and spears another bite of chicken. She chews and considers his idea. "Yeah, no, I get where you're coming from. But /I'm/ not a bug." She grins, and shrugs, "Well, not mostly, anyway." She flutters her eyelashes at the young man, peering at him with her faceted eyes in a mock-flirt. She winks, and takes a sip of her own wine. His more serious question earns a slightly wistful look. She takes a long moment, and finally nods. "I have my temper to blame for that. I made some rash moves, got backed into a corner, and lashed out. I'll never be able to go back, so honestly... I'm just glad to have a place I'm appreciated." She takes another thoughtful sip, and adds, "I get around sometimes though. I have a disguise..." The eyelash flutter gets a little bit of an eyebrow-raise from the younger mutant, a sort of 'are you looking at /me/?' expression. Which he brushes past, for the moment. "Sometimes I guess I figure folks who got like... mutations like that, are more like stuff than they are. Like-- I guess it's a dumb assumption, I mean obviously I ain't no skeleton." He looks down at himself. "...Though I guess I am kinda scrawny-like." Another few noms off that sub, he then sets it on the table, digging through the plastic bag to find some napkins, which he wipes his hands on, throwing them back /into/ the bag. And he considers, thoughtfully, the nature of Thea's predicament. "Yeah, yeah that's good. That you ain't holed up here. Getcherself cabin fever like that." He jerks one thumb in the direction of the cabin, for hilarious demonstrative purposes. "I mean, y'know, it ain't right for a lady to be all cooped up and shit. That's some Victorian shit, there." And, another sip of the wine. "But you are stickin' around, though? I been kinda stayin' outta the loop lately, so I don't really know like, what's goin' on since the jailbreak. But it's good we got people, feels like there weren't that many in our clique when I signed on." Thea grins and waves dismissively when Toru seems worried about her flirt. Apparently she was only teasing. "No, no, I can see why you'd think that. But you'd be surprised by what 8 foot long dragonflies like to eat." "And, thanks for the welcome, I think?" She adds. "I'm planning on being here for the long haul. I like what they've talked about. I mean, I was working towards making a place just for mutants before I even met up with you all. It's nice... to not be on my own." Apparently the woman who hasn't been 'alone' since she was 12 still gets lonely for human contact. "So, you got a whole secret life out there, huh? Sounds exciting. Wife and kids, dog and a sedan. Whats the nine-to-five like?" It looks like she's only half kidding. She /might/ be desperate to live vicariously through other people. Toru just barely manages to stifle a laugh at that last suggestion, holding a hand up to his mouth to keep from spit-taking. "Uh, /yeah/, sure," he answers, almost laughing. But eventually he does calm himself down, shaking his head a few times and letting out a long exhale. "/Man/ I ain't had a laugh like that for a while. Lady, I ain't even /twenty/. I mean technical-like I could have all that shit but I can barely take care-a myself without bringin' in a dog and kids into that shit." He shakes his head a few times, laughing again, and takes a long sip from his drink. Whew. He also starts wrapping his sub back up - he got through about half of it - and packing it up, though he doesn't make any moves to leave, himself. "I don't think I've ever been /awake/ at nine in the mornin', I'm a friggin' delivery boy." Abruptly, he pushes his chair back so that he can lean forward, arms folded onto his knees, and he scrubs at his face thoughtfully. "No offense or anythin', I just don't really like talkin' 'bout myself with strangers seein' as the line of work we're in, y'know?" Thea holds up both hands like a stick-up victim. Except that one hand still has her wine. "Hey, sure, no problem man. I lose perspective sometimes... because I don't have anonymity anymore. Everyone knows who I am, and I forget other people might want to be secret." She puts her hands down, but gestures with her glass as a salute. "Sorry Doc. My bad." At this moment Hercules, the aptly named, man-sized hercules beetle in Thea's service trudges out of the nearby woods. He has an enormous log, as in, really, most of a tree, stripped to the trunk, wedged in between his horns. The weight of it makes his head sway back and forth, but otherwise it doesn't seem like too much of a burden for him. "Oh, thank you Herc!" Thea exclaims. "Just take it around back." "Yes, lady." And off he goes, trudging around behind her cabin. Over at the steps, Sonic peers up over the edge of the porch. Thea claps and sets her mostly empty plate down on the little table between her and Toru. At the noise, the bug balls up and rolls across wooden porch to thunk and bounce between chair legs like a pinball until it lands at her feet. She pulls the beastie up into her lap, where she drums her fingers against its leathery hard shell. Thea gestures at her plate. "I know you had your sandwich, but there's more of that in the pan, if you want some." She shrugs, and leans back, cradling the balled up insect in her lap. "Nah, it's no big.. deal.." Toru's reassurance trails off a bit when that bug strolls in, and he just sort of silently stares at it for a moment. At least his jaw isn't dropped. Not until it /talks/, at least. Jaw only drops a /littlebit/, but it's definitely noticeable. And Thea's offer takes a minute to permeate his ears; when it does, he shakes his head briskly, blinking a few times. "Y.. yeah." He finishes off his glass of wine, letting that rest in his mouth a moment before he gulps it down, and runs that hand over his head again. "Oh! Uh, nah, I'm good. Actually I brought another one if you want it? For like, later, or whatever. I don't come by that much but when I do I usually bring somethin'." He gestures to the bag on the table, then to the cabin again. "If you want I can probably bring some like, magazines or somethin' next time I come by. I, uh, assume the news don't broadcast on trees." Thea seems preoccupied with her pet, and probably hasn't noticed Toru's jaw. She smiles at his offer of food but says, "Oh, that's sweet of you, but no thanks. We get pretty regular food drops from those who can go in to the city. But I would take a New York Times /any/ time you feel like bringing one by." She smiles warmly. "We get some news radio sometimes, and broadcast TV, but its all pretty crappy reception. I'd really appreciate anything you brought." WHUMP. That was most likely the sound of a huge log being dropped behind Thea's cabin. Toru shakes his head a few times. "Yeah, that's no problem, I should be able to remember that." He grins a little widely, looking back out towards the beach, and lets out a little breath. "There's some shit goin' down in Harlem, I dunno if you heard about that, but it's the kinda thing we might actually end up gettin' involved in if it lasts too long. I still ain't really sure what's goin' on, but there's cop barricades and everything. It's pretty close to where I live so it's kinda irritatin' for traffic." Shaking his head a few times, he pushes himself up to his feet, though he's in no hurry to leave just yet. "If you do see the boss, though, let her know I came by? It ain't anythin' like, bad, or nothin', but I do wanna talk to her about some stuff." Here, he gathers his things and does gradually start to stroll down the steps, but once he reaches the bottom he continues to linger, leaning against the railing. "Hey..." Thea says. "How much you wanna know ahead of time?" Toru pauses, tilting his head up towards Thea all curious-like. "You got a line on what's goin' on?" "Well, you didn't like my spoiler about names," Thea stands and leans her shoulder against the porch post, Sonic under one arm, like a beach ball. "I don't want to lay anything on you don't want. But I do have info." Grinning sheepishly, Toru actually scuffs his toe on the ground, looking down at it for a moment before lifting his gaze again. "Okay, that was kinda a dick move, I'm just tryin' to-- y'know how there're people who can get into your head and shit, yeah? I don't wanna be no narc against my will, y'know?" He shakes his head a few times, hooking the bag around his wrist, and hooking his thumbs into his belt-loops. "What you got?" "No, I get it. It's smart," She smiles at him from the porch. "But boss lady had me put the order in for some new tunnels. Under the church." She just nods. "Huh." Toru frowns thoughtfully for a moment, before giving a vague nod. "Well, that oughtta be interestin'. That ain't any kinda life-threatenin' stuff, is it?" He tilts his head to one side, curious. "I mean, I guess you got bugs to do that stuff for ya, but I'm around if y'all need any kinda... un-dangerous help that won't get me arrested neither." Thea shrugs and smiles. "I don't know the whole plan either. But I'll tell her you said so, next time I see her." Waving a hand dismissively, Toru offers, by way of vague explanation, "I got some complications in my personal life lately, is all. But you take the good with the bad, yeah?" He shrugs, then flashes a peace sign before turning towards the beach. "I'll come by in a couple days again, maybe, see if she's been around. Maybe leave a /note/ like some kinda /caveman/, if she ain't." Before he's entirely out of earshot, he turns around to face Thea once more, and flashes her... the finger-guns. "Talk to you later, chica."