ArchivedLogs:Rasam

Rasam
Dramatis Personae Flicker, Hive, Melinda
In Absentia	2014-03-01 '
Location <NYC> The Unicomplex - Village Lofts - East Village
In contrast to the messy apartment outside, this room actually tends to be fairly neat. Clothes in the two laundry hampers, books and clutter relegated to the bookshelf or the desks. It's set up for two, Flicker's neat-made bed on the left wall and Hive's generally unmade one on the right; the shared closet is large, on Flicker's side of the room, the shared bookshelf on Hive's side packed full. The back wall holds a pair of desks side by side, both with their own desktops. The walls are eclectically decorated. A replica of Arya Stark's Needle, a few bright-colored but anachronistically somewhat morbid paintings of Jax's, a Mega Man X poster, a stained-glass suncatcher hung in the window and a collage of feathers framed on one wall. Hive's bedroom, today, is a little bit of a disorienting place to walk into. With the weekend here again he's stolen a work-borrowed projector from Sebastian, plugged the device into his computer and is still slogging away at the Commons designs. In 3-D rather than on his screen; at the moment the architect is perched cross-legged on his bed, a jumble of /other/ rooms and measurements projected in translucent glow over top of his own bedroom. It's late into the afternoon but he's still in pajamas as he works, soft black flannel pants and Grumpy Bear hoodie. No hat, at the moment; his hair is just a short dark fuzz that does little to hide the ropy-thick scars curling down over the sides of his head. Somehow in the middle of all the projections, Flicker is still managing to work. In khakis and a long-sleeved blue polo, he's seated at his /own/ desk, a cup of cocoa at hand and headphones on his head as he busily types up a paper and ignores the shifting holographic imagery around him. Melinda knocks lightly on the door before she opens the door to peek in, the smell of Indian food wafting in with her. She has braided her hair back, the tail resting over one shoulder. She shed her winter clothes at the door, her shirt is green, with a darker green sweater covering her arms and back, the buttons on the cardigan hanging loosely around her sides. "Hey guys, mind if I come in?" Her eyes fall on Flicker first, then glance over at Hive, still just a head sticking through a half open door. Flicker turns to glance towards the door, a quick smile flitting across his face. "Mel! Hi. Of course, come in. Apologies I'm not very exciting today, I kind of have a pretty huge --" He waves his hand towards his screen. "He's doing homework like a good boy." Hive doesn't look towards Melinda; he doesn't look up from his work at all, focused rather intently on the designs he is workong on. He does pull up the hood of his sweatshirt, though, tugging it firmly over his scarred head. "Come sit. Oh shit did you bring /Indian/." "If there's dal in there," Flicker says hopefully, "I will love you /forever/. More than I already do." "Yeah, I was in TriBeCa and stopped by the Tamarind there. Just reopened, trying to lure everyone in with two for one." Mel opens the door and continues in, wearing a long skirt over fleece lined leggings. She moves to sit on the corner of Flicker's bed, pulling up the bag to rest on what's left of her lap. "Sure, I have dal. I have dal, bhindi masala, kala chana and rasam. There are also samosas and garlic and potato naan. I had no idea what would be good, so I might have gone 'safe.'" She turns and hands the container of dal to Flicker. "Don't know that place. S'it good?" Hive's lips press together at the listing of food, his hands dropping to his lap. "I've been -- gosh, not in like two years. But it was delicious last time I went. Kind of swankier than my usual," Flicker answers with a faint coloring of his cheeks. "But I had a date." He leans in to take the container of dal, setting it down on his desk. "Oh, wow, /thanks/." He takes his headphones off, vanishing from the room. "Think you just made his day. He's been all nose-grindstone all fucking --" Hive shakes his head, slowly lifting his hands rather unsteadily to continue carefully with his work. "What kinds of things do babies need?" Flicker returns in very short order, an assortment of silverware clasped in one hand and a trio of plates in the other. He sets the plates down by Melinda, silverware on top though he keeps a fork for himself. "Oh, well, initially, bassinet, co-sleeper is an option. Clothes, diapers. Bottles, breast pumps - well, that one's for me." Melinda pauses in her resitation when Flicker returns, a grateful smile pulling at her lips. "Thanks, hun." She accepts the silverware and plates and moves the bag to rest on the bed beside her, just as soon as she's sure there's nothing leaking through the bag. "The restaurant is great. I've been there for lunch a dozen times. It's a little cheaper then. You don't have to pay for the service. Sometime, it'd be nice to go for dinner." She continues rooting through the bag and pulls out the container of rasam and gets up to hand it to Hive, if he's interested. "Hngh. Never really. Shopped for newborns before. Do you make -- fff. Register -- gift. Lists. Wish -- lists. Like people do when they're getting married." Hive scoots a little closer to the edge of the bed, reaching for the soup container. It shakes rather badly in his hands as he lowers them down to the mattress to set it in his lap. "I mean, you probably /could/. You can make wish lists any time you like." Flicker nabs himself a plate, opening the dal to pour some of it out. He returns to pluck a piece of nan out for himself too before sitting back down. "I'll have to keep it on my list. Things to do when I'm not --" "-- fucking broke as hell?" Hive's lips twitch slightly. "That'll be the day." He thunks his head back agaist the wall, slouching back against it and turning a half-lidded gaze on Melinda. "The fuck's a co-sleeper?" "I have a registry list. Um, myregistry.com - just search my name or email address." Melinda tears a piece of naan off and munches quietly for a moment before continuing. "A co-sleeper is just this thing that you attach to the side of your bed. Apparently, you can build them quiet easily, but it allows you to be able to pull the kid in for night time feedings and then shove the kid back to bed so you don't have to lose sleep worrying about rolling over on top." She pops another piece in her mouth and shrugs, continuing. "It seems like a good idea, but I don't really know. I'll probably go looking for a convertible crib that will sidle up to a mattress for a few months and then be large enough to hold the child until it's time to graduate to a big kid's bed." She purses her lips as she rummages around for a napkin to wipe her fingers. "The bigger gifts on the registry are more for my parents and grandparents. I'll be fine with an assortment of onesies, if that's all anyone can afford." "You're building a house," Flicker reminds Hive, "I think that probably counts for /some/ kind of gift." He tears off a piece of naan, sponging up some dal with it to pop it in his mouth. "Gifts you have to pay rent on are shitty. Shitty gifts." Hive closes his eyes, lips pressing together thin as he draws in slow breaths. "Build things. We have a lot of people good at -- building shit. -- How're your folks taking the news?" "Parents are... well, handling it. Of course, they've given me the responsibility talk and the questioning of everything I'm doing and am I prepared and do I /know/ but over all, they're trying to be supportive." Melinda inhales deeply and opens up some rice to spoon onto a plate. She adds some bhindi on top. "Hive, hun, your services are the gift. Yeah, the end result we're all paying rent on, but specifications? The design? Making it personally mine? That's just plain amazing. And you're right. Building things might even be easier. I'd probably also need a changing table or a rocking chair." She lifts the plate so she can eat. "S'what parents are for." Hive's mouth quirks upward at one corner. "Nagging. And then being supportive anyway." He scrunches his eyes tighter shut, shaking his head quickly. "Mnngh. My services are --" His lips press thinly together, twisting downward. "I'll just be glad if I get this. Finished before --" His fingers drum rapidly against the lid of the rasam. "Gonna be a lot of people pretty screwed on places to live if this doesn't come together quick enough. Joshua and all his people already had to get out of here." "Pretty much," Melinda admits, exhaling softly. She listens quietly when Hive starts to talk timetables. "Ahh. Yeah. I feel like we should set up bunk beds for a while in ... Hell, I don't know. Everyone in my apartment would probably be okay sharing space, but our lease is up at the end of month. I can ask at the shelter if we can rent the upstairs space for a while. It'll be revenue for them, cheap accommodations for us, and the place is clean. It's for longer term people who are looking for a hostel or a halfway, depending on their situation." "Yeah. So kinda -- want to make sure this all gets. Finished in a -- in a time --" Hive trails off, hand ceasing its drumming though it remains faintly trembly atop the lid of the container. Flicker sucks his cheeks inward, gnawing at their insides. His eyes drop down to his plate. "Somewhere that people could go for just a month or two would be helpful, I think. There's a couple of apartments -- two have already had to clear out. Think Jax's is next in -- May but. Guess we'll have to see how far along things are by then. Houses take time to build." Melinda gets up and slips onto the bed beside Hive, worried. << You want me to open the soup? >> It takes her a moment to try and form the thoughts, not wishing to embarrass him and spare him his dignity constantly rising to the surface. "It's looking good. What changes do you have left?" She looks over what Hive is working on before glancing back at Flicker. "I'll check it out. Of course, I will also be sensitive to everyone we're asking to move into a homeless shelter. Can't be attractive to most." << It is not at all where I want to be when I am giving birth. >> "I'm also going to check with my landlord about going month to month until the place is ready. Maybe I can host people then, too." "I think most people we know have lived worse places," Flicker says with a small crooked curl of smile. "And a couple months somewhere not-great will be /way/ made up for when we have --" He gestures with a piece of naan towards the holographic images filling the room. Hive opens his eyes, frowning down at the soup like he's only just remembered it was there. "I don't --" He lifts a hand, pressing his knuckles to his temple with teeth slowly grinding together. "I -- I have a lot of. The common areas are. Mostly done just have to. Send the plans out to the list, see if anyone wants -- changes. But I'm still -- customizing a lot of the. Individual -- private." His fingers flick towards a miniature house, and he reaches forward to pull it closer, blow it up to a larger size. "Goes quicker when I've done a -- couple though. A lot of the basic -- shit is the same. Just. Configure rooms a little different here or -- there. But I have the -- overall plan. Of the whole complex. Pretty cemented." "Yeah, yeah, it makes sense." Melinda's attention is captured by the larger images, head tilting just a little as she focuses in on one or two of the apartments. "Most people going for a single floor layout, or are they opting for stacked like me?" She glances toward Flicker and nods. "I'll get it set up then." She then grabs the soup and carefully opens the lid, sniffing gently then taking a sip. The lid stays off. "For the most part the one- and two-bedrooms are on a floor and more than that gets more than one -- floor. But the layouts of the duplexes and triplexes are --" Hive bats at the house, relegating it back to a smaller view and drawing closer just some floor plans to show the different layouts. His fingers flick towards the designs in indication rather than explaining further verbally. He leans back against the wall, eyes closing again. "Jim's just getting a basement unit. Not," he admits, "actually sure if I should put that in your building or not. There's -- not very many single-family homes. Space is fucking -- expensive." "Maybe Ryan," Flicker says with a quiet laugh. "I don't think any of the rest of us could afford one." "Bastian," Hive counters. "But they're splitting a house with us." His jaw tightens again as the soup is opened, face paling slightly. He pulls his hands back into his sweatshirt sleeves, crossing his arms around himself. << Huh? The smell is offensive? I... will put it away then. >> Melinda takes another sip of the soup and covers the container, moving it away from Hive. "I - you can probably put Jim in my building. We'll have our respective spaces. That shouldn't be a problem. From what I hear, he doesn't really spend all that much time at home anyway." She gives a little shrug and purses her lips at the set up. "It's looking great." "Nnneh. No it's okay." Hive shakes his head when Melinda offers to put the soup away. "I just --" His teeth grit again. "OK. Jim's hobbit-hole in your basement." He swats the floor plans away, replacing them instead with just a miniature model of the entire Commons. Little two- and three-family houses circling the wide inner garden space, larger common building in the center, all the houses designed to access the common space and shield it from the streets. A lot of wood and stone and glass in the building designs, airy and open. "It's looking -- something." "You should have some of the soup," Flicker frowns as he watches Mel's hands, his own fingers fidgeting with a scrap of naan. "You haven't eaten today." Hive just slouches back against the wall once more. His eyes close. "It'll be done soon. Soon enough, anyway. Couple more weeks, maybe." "Oh? Okay." Mel brings the soup back to rest against her belly, the lid left off again. She takes another sip and then glances over at Flicker. "At this point, it all looks like SimCity. I'm waiting for the giant godzilla creature to come stomping by, wielding tornados and traffic jams. When I was younger, I taxed my poor citizens to death. It was kind of sad." She sniffs a little and takes another sip before handing the soup over to Hive. "Just a little. It's pretty good. You should at least have some so you can judge the restaurant." "You could stomp through it," Hive offers with a magnanimous sweep of hand out towards the miniature complex. "Crush the buildings beneath your mighty --" He frowns down at Melinda's feet. "Socks." He takes the soup afterwards, cupping both hands carefully around it to lift it towards his mouth, taking a small sip. "-- It is pretty. Fucking good," he acknowledges, scowling down at the soup like he's /mad/ at it for being tasty. "Pfff. I only stomp through miniature cities with a monster costume on." Melinda shakes her head, as if this should be common knowledge. "But I will accept that my socks are mighty. And thick. And warm." She can't help but smirk at his distaste at the soup's flavor, exhaling lightly. "Now, if the hobbit hole is beneath me, do I have someone beside me? Any one interested yet?" "Empty right now. You have a preference? Could put. Whoever I don't know. I don't even remember who the fuck is -- is. Coming. Have people who're -- /supposed/ to be talking to me and they're not -- answering I can't design a house fucking. Telepathically -- well, okay, I could." Hive dips his head to take another sip of the soup, slowly, hands gripping the plastic tighter as they wobble. "I don't know if people want you ransacking their brains to find their dream house." Flicker shakes his head at this idea, swiping up more dal with his naan. "Do you own a monster costume?" "Nah, the costume was something I found the theater costume basement at University. I wish I could have kept it. Oh, it was a magnificent beast. It smelled a little musty, but it was great for stomping boxes." Melinda leans back against the wall and runs a hand over her belly, her forehead wrinkling up. "I'll go back to the original email, see if anyone on the list wouldn't mind sharing a wall with a newborn." Her hand stops in one place as she considers, quietly. "Mmmm. Think the kid likes spicy." "Good. Start them young. On /good/ food. None of this -- bland shit kids need to eat right from the start." Hive tips his head to the side, watching Melinda for a moment. "What kind of monster?" "Hopefully something good and dinosaury. They're the stompiest." Flicker finishes swiping at his dal, polishing his plate /clean/ with a last bit of naan. "Thanks, Mel, this really hit the spot." "I think you're unfairly stereotyping dinosaurs there, dude." Hive lifts the container of soup again -- /almost/ making it all the way back to his mouth this time before his unsteady hands slosh a good portion of it down his hand and arm and on to the bedsheet. He hisses sharply, reflexively dropping his hand quickly at the touch of the hot liquid -- the container of soup now precariously /tipping/ in his other hand. Flicker's movements are hard to track, blinking to the closet and back almost too quickly to follow; it barely looks like he's even moved, a towel almost just /appearing/ in his hand that he holds out towards the bed. Mel takes the towel and starts patting Hive down with one hand and correcting the tilt of the container in the other. "Eating in bed is such a bitch. I swear, I go through more laundry this way." Mel is thinking about that damn jar of pickles she spilled two days ago. Lucky for her, she switched to a watertight mattress pad, so all she had to do is remove the sheets to kill the pickle smell. "And it was reptilian. I think they were trying to do an artistic rendition of 'Rampage' the video game a few years back, all the creatures speaking about their feelings and motivations - trying to make it relevant to the common man, and still flash naked people in the end." She shrugs. "What can I say. I have a soft spot in my heart for Lizzie." "Naked people's the important part." Hive mutters this with a deepening frown, his grimace deepening as he is mopped clean. He returns the container of soup back to Melinda, dropping his hands to his lap and leaning back against the wall once more. "I -- think I --" His brows furrow, eyes screwing up tight. "-- tired maybe." Melinda refocuses, looking embarrassed now. "Oh. Sor... Mmm. Yeah." She takes the soup back and drinks some down before leaving the towel with Hive as she reaffixes the lid on the container. "Well, you're all welcome for lunch. I hope it helps you both get your work done for the day." She stands and straighten up, stretching a little before her hand comes back to her belly and back to brace them after the stretch. "Oooh. That felt like a better idea than it was." She leans over to give Flicker a hug before moving around toward Hive again, leaning over to kiss his forehead, mind darting back to when they kissed mouth to mouth months ago. "I'll see you guys later, okay? And if you want to sic me on Harbor Commoners, let me know." Flicker returns the hug, squeezing tight around Mel's shoulders. "Thanks," he says, softly. And, brighter, "I'll have you to credit when I ace this paper." Hive's cheeks flush at the small kiss. He leans forward, resting his head momentarily against Melinda's shoulder. But then just turns to slowly drop onto his side, curling up on top of the mattress. "Yeah. That -- that was nice." He sounds a little bit distant. He doesn't /say/ bye so much as press a heavy mental touch up against Melinda's mind, leaning there for a moment and then withdrawing. "It was," Mel admits, quietly. She inhales deeply and grins at Flicker. "Excellent. Well, good luck with all of the words, may they flow freely." She raises a hand and then departs, heading out of the apartment and on her way home.