ArchivedLogs:Everyone Wins

Everyone Wins
Dramatis Personae Hive, Jax, Melinda, Tola
In Absentia	2014-06-09 '
Location <NYC> {Lighthaus} - Harbor Commons - Lower East Side
Bright and sunny-light, this house lives up to its name. With a plethora of enormous windows flooding the place with light and an open layout, the ground floor feels more spacious than it is. The front door opens straight into the living room, a wide expanse of space bordered on one side by the half-wall into the kitchen -- cool pale tile underfoot and dark cabinets, plentiful custom granite countertops, black and speckled faintly with rainbowy flecks. The back wall of the living room is nearly entirely dominated by windows, huge and allowing a view of the river beyond with bench window seats lining the sills. A staircase leads off from the living room to the second floor. Along the living room's other wall, doors branch off to a full bathroom and a small studio space with large windows and a gratuitous amount of shelving and cabinets along the walls. In the back of the kitchen, a door opens up to a small sunroom, wide and two-stories high with a balcony overlook from the second floor. Outside the sky is heavy-grey, a thunderstorm looming in the very near future. At the moment Jax is going around closing all of Lighthaus's many windows, open through the heat of the previous day. The house at the moment smells like paint and wood, newly-built shelves and furniture-in-progress. Jax is dressed for working, faded paint-splattered jeans and a similarly paint-splattered Cooper Union tee, predominantly speckled in lime green though it's been amassing flecks of blue and purple and white and black as well. He moves a little slow and stiff with each window-closing, a prickle of fresh-tattoo pain annoyingly itchy across his chest. There's white flecks on his hands from working recently with fresh mortar, some of which rubs off on his nose as he lifts a hand to rub under his sunglasses at the hollow of his eye. On the inside, Melinda is a swirl of murky thoughts twisting up with bright excitement, half annoyed with herself for being energized by the idea of returning to the working adult world; the rest of her is annoyed with that annoyance. Her brain acknowledges the minor nature of the issue. She needs to go back to work to provide for her new family and new home. She just isn't entirely happy with the prospect of leaving her daughter behind. To alleviate some of that discomfort, she is getting as much of Tola as she can today, taking her with her everywhere, while previously, they had been working on getting Tove more and more time alone with her. On the outside, Mel is peaceful and smiley, leaving behind the harried look she had before. She is wearing a loose russet red skirt with a black tanktop, sandals on her feet. She is also not the extremely prepared mother of the year, only a small bag hanging from her side. Tola rests gently in her arms, peeking around at the world. Outside, she rings the doorbell to see if it works. The doorbell does work, a cheerful chiming that soon summons Jax, sidestepping pieces of wood on the floor to skid towards the door in socked feet. He glances out a small window beside the door before pulling it open, a bright smile on his face. "Mel! Tola! Hihihi. Oh gosh that almost-rain smell is pretty great. Come in how are you oh I like that skirt." He leans in to peck Mel on the cheek and Tola on the top of the head before stepping back to actually /let/ them in. "'pologies s'kinda a horrible mess, we been paintin' an' buildin' furniture an' it's /fun/ but there's -- stuff. Everywhere." "Oh, that's fine. Everything is still somewhat chaotic right now at my place too. Boxes everywhere." Melinda smiles when she is kissed and when Jax pulls away from Tola, there is a small white petal sticking to his lip. "Hey, neighbor." Her eyes narrow slightly as she steps in, gauging the safety of taking her sandals off in the mess all around. She turns away and slides them off of her feet before resuming her look around the apartment with wider eyes and an expression of appreciating. "Oh, hon. It looks lovely. You have so many windows. It's... well, I couldn't think of anything more fitting for you." She turns her attention back to the home owner and smiles brighter. "How are you doing? I suppose you have just a little bit of free time to devote to settling in right now?" "Ohgosh." Jax giggles as he brushes a hand against his lip, the petal a little shimmery now with his sparkly lip gloss. Tacky with lip gloss, too; he sticks the petal instead to his cheek and closes the door behind the others. "/So/ much light an' oh gosh you should see our kitchen countes they're my favourite part. Um I could give you the tour but s'not much jus' yet. There's um -- sunroom an' that's gonna be my studio an' um that's about it down here. An' gosh yeah it's -- it's /strange/ you know I ain't /not/ worked this long a stretch since I was like. Ten. But it's been awesome I get time t'spend with Spence more an' we been workin' on fixing things t'be ready t'move in for real -- we're buildin' all Spence's bedroom furniture an' paintin' his room up an' I been mosaic -- ing. Kitchen's done but I'm workin' on the upstairs bathroom then I'll do downstairs an' -- oh /gosh/ I'm talkin' up a storm how are /you/ you been enjoyin' the new place you settlin' in good too?" << Not working? >> A very /dry/ voice thuds into all their minds. << Did you /forget/ that you were teaching up until Friday or does /only/ one job count as a vacation somehow. I think things are chaotic every-place. Common house is nearly done, though. And I've been putting something extra in the trees in the yard. >> "Mosaics? My, you are ambitious. While not precisely pulling a paycheck from it, I hardly say you're not working." Mel laughs softly and looks where Jax refers to see the rooms he only briefly describes. She pads quietly into the kitchen to look over the mosaic that is finished, her lips settling into something gentle but pleased. "Oh, well, at our place, the bedrooms are done. It's pretty much the only furniture we came with. We're going to look at couches at some point, but we're also debating just leaving things blank and open for a little while. It's delightful to just have space to call your own, isn't it?" She opens her mouth to say something, but the headache slips in instead, her eyes squinting briefly to compensate. Tola just giggles and claps. "Something extra? In the trees?" "Might be pullin' a paycheck from it, I been asked about gettin' commissioned t'do stuff in people's homes. But only I want t'finish up ours first. -- Bedrooms an' kitchen's the only rooms y'really /need/ equipped. The rest's kinda jus' --" Jax stops, wincing, as he moves to lean against the counter. There's a brief flutter of light around him at the harsh mental interjection. "-- jus' dressin'. It /is/ delightful. An' delightful to /be/ back near people again I was feelin' like we was /hermits/ for a while. Million-billion miles away neglectin' all our -- oh gosh it ain't Jim is it?" There's a sudden horrified mental image of all the trees in the yard growing grumpy old faces. << We're not fucking /planting/ Jim in the yard no. >> Hive's voice snips back just as crankily. << And our place is coming along too. Have -- mattresses. Even like a -- mug. For drinking from. Some playpen balls shipping in soon. Nearly all set. >> "He'll plant himself whether you want him to or not," Mel reminds the group, lips pursing a little. "Oh. Yes. And I have the kitchen done. I don't have that many dishes, otherwise, I'd share, but I may be making a run to a second hand store soon enough. Though, I'm going to have to get baby dishes soon too." She begins to reassess where they might stick colorful plastic stuff that won't break and spoons that won't be harsh on teething gums and new teeth. She refocus and exhales. "You could make a bundle off of doing mosaics. I hope you get some good contacts. The one in the kitchen is beautiful." "Playpen balls?" There's a sudden too-bright cheerful spark of interest in Jax's mind, posture perking like a puppy who's just been shown a treat. "/Seriously/? I want to come over. -- We have a little bit of dishes I found some awesome ones at this cute store in Chelsea. I kind of want to /make/ more but I feel like I might be way overestimating what I have time to do once I'm back at work -- ohgosh where was I the other day it had adorable plastic things with animal shapes. I would so eat off a froggy plate just /cuz/." His cheeks flush a little darker at the compliment to his mosaic. One of the little glass faeries flutters its wings, pulling away from the backsplash to flit out into the air and hover, faintly luminescent, in front of Mel. << Yeah. For the ballpit. To sit in and watch TV. >> Hive explains this in a tone like, /duh/, doesn't everyone have one of those? The door over to Geekhaus opens; Hive is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a Calvin-and-Hobbes style drawing of a wizard and a halfling crossing a stream on a fallen log. He leans heavily against his cane as he wanders in, just far enough to slump back /down/ to sit on the floor against the living room wall. "You're both of you back to work soon, huh? Looking forward to it?" Mel's eyes dance with joy as she watches the little faery fly, Tola becoming fascinated with it as well. "If you remember where, let me know?" Then, when the newcome poses a question, she looks away from the illusion. "Yes and no," Melinda admits, quietly, looking down at the young one in her arms. "I mean, it'll be like getting back to normal for once, plus Tola - but it's going to be utterly different. Maybe. I don't know." She heads over to Hive's side to present the baby for greeting, the child pleased to hear his voice with her ears. "I just won't know what to do without carrying around a small weight with me. Maybe i'll carry a thermal carafe all day." She looks back to Jax. "Back t'normal's good, though. Right? An' I'm guessin' workin' all day you'll end up with no shortage'a weight t'carry around. If y'really miss it too much Tove can bring her by for lunch break or somethin'." Jax turns towards the door when Hive enters, hoisting himself up to sit on the counter. The faery wings after them, darting over along with Mel to perch on Hive's shoulder. "I'll ask Micah where, he's good at rememberin' stuff. My mind's like a -- a -- somethin'. Useless." Hive lifts his arms when Mel comes near, fingers curling in beckoning for Tola. Gimme. "Normal, shit. Do we still do that around here? S'been a fucking age. -- She'll be good. People to boss around again. Who doesn't like that? I'll be sad when all the crew is gone from here. /I/ need a fucking. Employee." "Something useless?" Melinda considers, looking Jax over a little before focusing on giving Tola to Hive. "Why? Got too much taken off your plate so you don't know how to relax anymore?" She brushes lightly at the girl's petals before leaning in to kiss Hive's cheek, then steps a little further away. "If Tove brings Tola to work, you know everyone's going to start gossiping that he's the father. Green man, green baby... green, green, green." She smiles a little and shakes her head. "Maybe, sometimes, but I think it'll be okay. I'll have enough on my plate with getting to know some of the new employees." She eyes Hive once more. "So, get yourself an employee. There's a number around the commons that could use a job, I think, or snag yourself an intern from a local architect school. I'm sure they'd love to learn under someone who created something as amazing as where we are living now. You never did say what extra thing you were putting in the trees." "You give me a patch'a sunlight, I'm /aces/ at relaxin'," Jax tells Melinda with a bright grin. "Naw useless jus' on account'a I'm /dumb/. I don't think that's a relaxin' problem. Too many paint fumes, maybe." Outside there's a sudden crack of thunder, an abrupt patter of rain on the windows. Jax squeaks, sliding off his counter to rush over to the kitchen windows and close the last of them. "Y'all had a bunch'a new folks? -- Is there folks /here/ that don't got jobs?" In his mind he is running through the list of current residents thoughtfully. "-- /My/ school jus' had a /boatload/'a folks graduatin'. I know a bunch'a the kids what finished in the architecture school." "Here? Not many folks, no. Be hard to pay mortgage here without a job. -- You're not fucking stupid, dipshit." Hive brings his knees up to prop Tola against his thighs, fingers slipping into her hands to wiggle her arms absently around. "Would the gossip bother you? Tove's rad. /I'd/ spawn with Tove. -- Oh shit. Yeah. Uh. Actually you can go check the thing /out/ on Wednesday or Thursday, it should be done by then. -- You know architect grads looking for work?" Now /he/ looks thoughtful. Tola is learning how to grip now. She's not terribly good at grabbing things for herself, but when Hive slips his fingers into her grasp, she holds on, pleased and curious at the sensation of holding. "Nah, gossip about Tove is okay and likely inevitable. And while I rejoice at the number of caregivers lining up to be tallied to her, I might be feeling a touch out numbered." Mel smiles never the less, grateful more than anything. "Oh, we have new bussers and one new barista. I can't say its a whole new crowd, but I wasn't really around for the hiring. "Tove is looking for work he can do at home if anyone knows anything. He's taking to reading up on code so he can at least do online tech support, but it's kind of stressful." "The Thing. Now s'all /mysterious/ I'll hafta keep an eye on what's bein' built. I think I been sorta tunin' all the ongoin' construction out." Jax bounces away from the window once it's closed, heading over now to go sit at Hive's side, head dropping back against the wall. The bright landscape of his mind brightens still further as he watches Tola, cheerful and warm as his gaze fixes on tiny-green-fingers gripping at Hive's. Somewhere in the back of his mind he's reflexively composing a painting. "What kinda things is he into? S'he like writing at all? Could talk to Clarice about looking into the kinds of articles she writes." "Dusk'd probably be more than willing to sit with him and help go over stuff. He's usually working from home all day too except for, like, seven million Evolve runs to caffeinate. Could ask him if he maybe wants to -- I dunno, spend Tola's nap time each day on helping brush up the. Code. Whatever." Hive shrugs a shoulder, his lips twitching up into a smile at the fingers closing against his. "Outnumbered fuck. Is it some kind of race? I bet we can win. Collect the /most/ parents." "Funny kind of competition. Find lots of people who love you. As long as everyone shares - well, everyone wins." Mel returns to the kitchen. "Do you mind if I get something to drink? The rain is making me thirsty. Hive, Jax? You want anything?" She considering some sort of artwork in the trees, wondering if Hive has a more artistic side - besides buildings - that he likes to construct. "I'll ask Tove what else he might be interested in. So far we've only spoke of tech and coding and maybe some stock trading. He's tracking what he would be making off the market if he had put money in right now - to test out his strategies before losing anything. And yeah, I'll tell him to talk to Dusk." "Oh yeah no that's --" Jax blushes very abruptly, deep and contrite as a wash of oh-gosh-such-a-bad-host panic floods his mind. "That's totally fine, um, there's some glasses -- and there's. Not a /whole/ lot but we got sweet tea an' lemonade in the fridge and. Water. -- Oh gosh yeah no I don't think you can /lose/ in a -- competition for. What? Love? Family? That's the best kind." "Mmn? Nah I'm good." Hive's fingers brush gently against Tola's soft green arms, though his eyes are following Mel across to the kitchen, a small smile on his face. "Yeah." His eyes close, now, arms lowering slightly to make small guardrails for where Tola is seated propped against his legs. "... yeah. Everyone wins."