ArchivedLogs:Sunshine and Darkness

Sunshine and Darkness
Dramatis Personae Ash, Hive
In Absentia	2013-07-22 '
Location <NYC> Construction Site - Lower East Side
There's no real bell when the work day ends, instead, one by one, people stop what they are doing and wander off, usually to check in with their supervisor or gather their things before meandering off the property. Some people work on a little while to finish whatever they are in the middle of, but others jump up as soon as their internal clock tells them it's time to. Ash hangs back. He's been cleaning up a bit, at the end of the day, walking the length of the foundation and removing debris and other assorted tools and materials, moving them either to the trash or to the piles where they can be used again, walking both inside and out. When he finishes, he drops off his last load and hits the water cooler, not precisely in a mood to take off, but rather to hang around and see what everyone else is doing. His work uniform is pretty standard, heavy denim jeans, steel toe, reinforced work boots in black, tank top in bark brown, hard helmet. The whole of him is also covered in a layer of grime, but that's nothing unusual. Hive is pretty grimy, himself. Heavy jeans, boots, as well. A plain grey t-shirt. Hard hat, also. He's, at the moment, sitting -- a little ways up on a platform in the scaffolding, a tablet in his hand that he is tapping at and frowning. "Not going home?" he calls the short way down to the ground, when Ash lingers. And then grimaces. "-- You even on that damn lease yet?" Before he reconsiders the question: "That shitty-ass building even have a lease?" "Come on. Leases are for preppies with steady incomes." Ash replies, meandering his way over to where Hive is, a plaid collared shirt folded over one arm, a vestige of the morning chill. "I was thinking about getting a beer with someone, if you know anyone who likes beer." He rests his arms on the poles constructing Hive's scaffolding, resting his weight on it gingerly as he stares upward, then he stretches his shoulders. "You off work any time soon, or do I detect a note of 'late night' on your face? Problem with the blue print?" "I hate everything and everyone," Hive answers Ash. "Beer can stay, though." He sets the tablet on his lap, legs dangling down over the edge of the platform, diagonally over and a couple feet up from Ash's head. He rests an arm against one of the poles beside him, fingers curling loosely around the metal. "Stupid motherfuckers sent up a whole load of the wrong fucking cantilevers and they're getting on /my/ gorramn case when I -- Jesus /Christ/ they didn't even bother to read the fucking designs." He drops his head down to rest against his knuckles. "I can't help it if the stupid-ass motherfuckers don't /look/ at the order before they send it out." His eyes close, an irritable huff escapign him. "-- fucking love beer, though." "This a 'solve it now, and I go bring you beer' moment, or am I dragging your ass to a near by bar for some letting off of steam? Do you like darts too? Throwing pointy things into boards with varying point scales?" Ash leans back when Hive leans over, his hands still gripping the scaffolding, partially hanging from it. "You seem to strike me as a darts person. I could be wrong though. You could very much be the billiards type. But if you're the pub quiz type, I'm going home and trying my luck with Uncle Fucking Myers." << Not because I hate pub quiz types, but you'd probably cheat - unconsciously. >> He scuffs his toe into the ground as he peeks up, squinting against the sun's light. "Man, do I love throwing shit at other shit, but I think me and darts is more a hazard to everyone around me than to the dart board. -- You good at it? Maybe I should /learn/. I'm not terrible at pool, though. And the balls make such a /satisfying/ crack. -- Uncle Fucking Myers?" Hive eyes Ash /suspiciously/. "You're not, like. Losing your fucking /mind/ in that cave all alone, are you?" His lips twitch upwards. "You could be on my /team/ for trivia," he points out." "Uncle Fucking Myers is this guy in my building who breaks in from time to time and makes lunch. He's all right, I guess, if you don't mind chaos. I kind of let him do his thing and he doesn't fuck with me too bad. But if you spot some guy doing shitty graffiti that is pro-mutant one minuted, and anti-mutant the next, it's probably him." Ash steps back and gives a shrug, enduring Hive's suspicion with a small smile. "Pool it is. I don't really play pub quizzes all that often. It's not really fun. People get very excited about winning, you can't hear yourself think over all the other tables debating answers, and if you don't know the subject matter, you just sit around and stir your drink while everyone else knows. Sure, if you need a person to fill out a team, I'm your guy, but otherwise? Eh. Come on, I know a place." "Mmngh." Hive looks down at his tablet once more, exhaling a heavy breath as his fingers tap at the screen. "I don't know how I'd pick it out of the /rest/ of shitty graffiti in this city," he admits. He frowns down at Ash. "You been alright there? I mean, with Jim like. Fucking. Took the hell off?" "I got a job," Ash attempts enthusiasm, but is quiet. "Thanks to you, and you and Murphy come by some times. We got the structural issues of the cave all figured out and so it's safe as houses now. I don't mind being alone so much." There's a pause, then he asks, "Have you heard from him recently? He doing okay?" "Well -- yeah but. Still -- alone, I mean." Hive exhales again sharply. "Not really," he says, "but he's doing -- Jim." His hand scrubs through his hair, his expression briefly scrunching up into something -- that looks kind of /irritated/ though it fades out into just tired. "I mean if you're sure. Some people like being alone. But." His teeth grind. "-- We do have an extra. Bed." "I kind of like being alone. I used to hike the Rocky mountains for weeks at a time, living off hardtack and beef jerky. Spent a summer driving white water rafts from point B to point A. And the Great Sand Dunes at night? You can see stars for days - almost forget to talk to people when you've got the entire universe to stare at. Shit, the only thing I really worry about is disappearing, you know?" Ash draws in a deep breath and lets that hang in the air. "You'd guys would come look for me if I didn't show up for work, right? Wouldn't let me get stuck in one of those places again? Jim... He's got to be hurting some how, like an itch he can't scratch and doesn't know how to reach. I feel like I'm keeping the apartment ready for him when he does come back. If you don't think he is... well, I'll give him a call and reevaluate." "We'd come look for you," Hive agrees in a soft grunt. His teeth grind again, at the talk of Jim. He doesnt answer this, only presses a palm to his temple to rub at it tiredly. "Sounds pretty nice," he admits. "Hiking the Rockies. Seeing actual fucking stars. You ever get sick of the fucking city?" "Sure, all the time. Part of me wants to walk right out of the city and live on the money I have in the bank for a year." Ash grins brightly, looking up at Hive. "I don't suppose you've done it, though - taken off, fled people, disappeared into pine trees and scrub oak? People talk all the time about how quiet it is, but that's mostly in winter. During the warmer months, what we call silence is filled with little scurrying creatures, babbling brooks, crunching nature underfoot, and the sounds of the wind through all of it. Birds sing, leaves blow, insects call... and my thoughts just disappear. I'll take you out some time, if you want. And don't worry. I won't put you in a position where you need to drink your own piss. That's way too hard core survival even for me." "Nah. Never done it. Never really -- left civilization behind like that," Hive answers. "Thought about it, sometimes. People are -- fucking. Loud." His finger is tapping against his tablet again, brows creasing into a slow frown once more as he considers it. "-- What keeps you here?" "People keep me here, Hive. Sure, there's a lot I can do for them, helping with rent, helping to protect, helping to just listen some times, but at the same time, they help me." Ash stuffs his hands deep into his pockets, gaze unfocused, expression almost vacant, the memory of a phone call popping up his head. "There's nothing quite as sobering as getting out of that place and finding out that no one was looking for me." He kicks a bit of dirt with the tip of his boot. "Have to stay connected, at least a little. Otherwise, it's only a matter of time before I'm lost again." Everything inside him is balled up tight around this thought, the rest of him feeling hollow and empty. "Yeah, s'a fucking kick in the teeth, isn't it." Hive pulls one leg up towards himself, tablet now pinned between his thigh and his chest. "I guess you're right." He admittedly doesn't sound convinced. "Kinda think it's only a matter of time no matter what, though. Y'know --" He doesn't finish this thought. He exhales sharply, thunking his head down against his arm once more, leaned up against the pole of scaffolding. "'nother couple months. This place'll be done. His hand shakes -- rather futilely, really, at the sturdy pole. "Move on to the next fucking thing." "Next fucking thing." Ash pushes down that knot of despair and fills his space again, taking a deep breath and feeling his limbs. It's a very mechanical fill, forcing himself to refocus, to just be. "Got any prospects? I know my union's got work for me, I'm sure, some new thing to break apart and rebuild, remodels seem to be the call of the day, but you?" His smile renews, a small sense of concern growing. "You get to be the one who really creates, takes the vague ideas and puts down lines on paper, in computers, calculate and order supplies, make people's dreams into reality. Sounds fucking amazing. Like this place? Never worked on a medical facility. Are they all like this?" "Hhhah." It's a dry chuff of sound. "-- I wouldn't know, s'is the first real gig I /got/ since getting out," Hive admits. "Worked on a few before. Refused to work for any gorram bigots after. Seriously cuts down on my /job/ prospects, though. -- I don't know." He shakes his head. "Kinda -- be glad to be free of --" This lapses into quiet. "S'good. That you got a union. Stability. That's --" His teeth grind again. "Hive, man, come on down. I can hear your teeth grinding from here and you really got to relax a bit. Beer? Dinner? Look, I have shit all for expenses, even covering the apartment on my own. We'll blow the town wide open, get some of those street car hot dogs, drain a few bottles of cervezas, maybe catch a movie? The night could be ours!" Ash rattles the scaffolding lightly, enough for it to make a small creak, but the structure is sound, so it barely moves. "Or were you in the mood for video games? I know shit about that, but maybe the explaining it to me will help you take a load off. Can I do anything for you?" "Kid, do you ever stop being fucking cheerful." It's probably a thing Hive has asked him many times before. He looks down at the tablet in his lap, and finally switches it off. Leaning downward, he stretches down to lower it towards Ash -- take it! "-- How do you feel about giant robots beating up giant monsters?" "Sounds huge. Like really huge." Ash reaches up and takes the tablet, cradling it in one hand and letting it rest at his side. "We going to see it 3D? It's strange, but I totally miss the bicolored glasses that people used to have to wear to see it." << I could stop, but most people I know could use it. >> He grins and steps back, giving Hive room to come down. "Oh, and I sleep sometimes. I'm pretty sure that me unconscious is not all that cheerful, but you had me in your head. You tell me. Do I dream sunshine and rainbows?" "Sure. I fucking hate 3D movies usually but /this/ one seems actually built for it." With his hands freed and no risk of dropping the electronic equipment to smash on the ground, Hive slides his way down off the platform, swinging one lanky arm forward to grip the bar. Drop him to the next bar below. Monkey his way down to drop the last couple feet to the ground. He gives Ash a looong look, one side of his mouth twisting up in an expression not really a smile. "Yeah. Right. Sunshine and rainbows. You and every other fucking labrat we got." His hand claps to Ash's shoulder. "C'mon. S'go find some hot dogs and giant robots." "Come on, Jax haaas to dream about sunshine and rainbows from time to time. It's in his blood. Sunshine, rainbows, and dragonflies." Ash shakes his head and leans a shoulder in toward Hive to bump him back a bit before handing over the tablet again. "We can't be all darkness all the time." "Hngh." Hive's expression falls into a thin compression of lips, a small clench of jaw. "No. Guess we can't." Though his expression seems like he's considering /trying/." He takes the tablet back, tucks it under an arm. For a moment his shoulder bumps back against Ash's, but then he is stompy-slouching away, shucking his hard hat once he is leaving the construction zone. /Presumably/ heading off to movie. Or hot dogs. Hopefully Ash will follow. He isn't /checking/. Ash follows.