ArchivedLogs:Lake Lounging

Lake Lounging
Dramatis Personae Shane Jack
In Absentia	2015-07-05 Part of the Buzzkill TP
Location <XS> Lake
Bright, bright, bright; the lake glitters wide and expansive here, stretching off into the distance. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, it catches them all. Lapping at the rocky shore, its deep waters are frigid in winter and cool even in summer. A stone pier stretches out a ways into the water, wide and smooth, though often icy in winter. The water teems with life nevertheless, home to myriad species of fish that provide for ample fishing or just lazy watching on a slow summer day, for those who want to take a boat from the boathouse out to the center of the lake, or perhaps lounge on the pier and try their luck. It's not actually independence day anymore but that hasn't stopped the fireworks. In the city and out there's still intermittent crack-pops all over, here and there random flurries of colour. Sparklers and smaller rockets zinging off people's lawns. The students at Xavier's aren't technically /allowed/ pyrotechnics but on the scale of Terrible Rules Transgressions this seems to be one where the teachers are largely content to look the other way, so long as the play stays outside and relatively harmless. Out over the lake there's /been/ a recent flurry of colour shot off from a boat in the center, but it has recently died down into mostly-quiet again. Only sporadic whizzing with a brief crack of sparks. Though over by the pier there are people talking and watching the show, this particular stretch of lake is here is quiet. On the water there are a couple of boats, but where the water meets the trees there's just the soft lap of tide and not much else until a heavy splashing comes from the shallows and a slim blue form pulls up out of the water. Shane's gills are still fluttering, water gleaming against already-gleaming blue skin; he doesn't get entirely out of the water, kind of lazily wading closer to shore in no particular hurry. Jack had been over by the people on the pier earlier watching the show but he's wandered away from them to a more quiet stretch of lakeside for now. Of course he just looks like floating swim trunks, a pair of old sneakers, and a school t-shirt right now. The invisible guy is thinking about recent finds in his investigation when he the splashing ahead catches his attention. He squints at the shape causing the splashing ans when its revealed to be Shane, an invisible smile forms on his face. He's not in a hurry either as he walks closer to the part of the shore Shane's wading towards. "Hey," he greets, sleeve lifting as he lifts a hand to wave. "How's it going?" Shane's nostrils twitch -- sniffsniffsniff! -- his gills settling flat against his side. He stops where he is in the water, waist-deep or so, hand also dripping when he pulls it out of the water to wave. "I don't," he informs Jack in answer, "want to go to work." Stopping on the edge of the water, Jack gives as sympathetic a look as a set of floating clothes can. "Yeah, people out there are getting pretty unpleasant," he replies. He thinks for a moment before starting to take off his sneakers. "How bad is it getting for you?" he asks as he tosses his shoes a little farther away from the water so they don't get soaked as he steps in. "Last night wasn't so bad. Weekend nights are still okay. All the booze makes people forget about the coffee." Shane's grin is sharp and toothy, here. "Really, though, I mean. I dunno. There's been a /fuck/ton of complaining and some occasional yelling and even a couple scuffles but it hasn't been terrible. What's been terrible's been looking at the register at the end of the day each day. -- 'least things are still okay out here, yeah?" Jack is surprised to hear about the scuffles. "Glad I missed the fights when I've stopped in," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. He pulls off his t-shirt and balls it up before tossing it up by his shoes. Wading a little deeper into the water, Jack lets out a breath. "Coffee and stuff still works out here. And things seem okay," he replies. When he moves, there's a ghostly outline of a body in the water. "I've been spending a lot of time out there though. I've been poking around and trying to find out anything I can about what's going on," he admits, just a little sheepishly. "Fights liven things up, at least. Everyone's been dragging so damn much." Shane watches Jack toss his shirt aside, eyes shifting afterwards to track the translucent outline in the water. "Yeah? You find anything interesting? B's -- set a bunch of gorram robots at it but I don't. Think robots even drink coffee so who knows where that's getting her." "I think I did," Jack replies. "I mean I have no proof and I'm not really sure yet but I met this girl and her brother," he says. "Pretty sure he's a mutant and she got all...shifty and evasive when I brought up the coffee stuff going on. Was really trying to act like her brother isn't a mutant too but uh...well she didn't seem like a really good actress. I think they might know something about what's going on." "Did you tell them every coffee shop owner in the city'd pay 'em a small fortune if they'd stop holding our businesses hostage?" Shane sinks briefly lower into the water, lazily flipping onto his back to float there instead, hands splaying out to his sides. "Though I suppose if I had a closeted kid brother I might be shifty about it, too, whether or not I'd just stolen all New York's coffee. People can be dickbags. -- Where'd you meet 'em, anyway?" Jack starts to shake his head but catches himself. No hood, no indication where his head is. Instead, he sinks down lower into the water to cool off. "No, she left before I could find out too much more," he sighs. "Over in the East Village. I got her address too. At least the building, don't know where specifically in it." "Huh." Shane's head tips back up, eyes closing as his face turns towards the sky. "What do you with that? Like, go knock on doors, be like -- is someone in this building fucking the coffee? Most awkward canvassing /ever/." "I'm not sure what to do next," Jack admits. "I mean other than hang out in the area and see if I can talk to them again," he sighs. "Or just watch for anything not right," he adds. Shane cracks an eye open, shooting a bright grin towards Jack. "Anything not right? It's the East Village, how would you /tell/? Anyway if you're on a /stakeout/ or some shit you'll need provisions. Swing by the cafe if you need food. If it's in the name of getting my coffee back, I'll totally hook you up." That gets a laugh out of Jack. "Okay, anything less right than usual," he says. The invisible teen takes a moment to dunk his head under the water. There's another moment of spooky outline when he surfaces and the water running down his body helps give away where he is. "Thanks, Shane," he replies with an unseen grin. "Once I fill in Dusk on what I found, I'll come by. Hopefully we can get this all handled and solved without anyone getting hurt." "Mmm." Shane's grin hasn't faded. "Spending time on a stakeout with Dusk? Even better. Food /and/ entertainment." He pushes back upright in the water, brushing droplets out of his spiky black hair. "I probably /should/ actually get to the shop, though. Let me know how it goes." Jack blinks. "I'm not sure if he'll be coming along..." he trails off, blushing a bit as he thinks about what that entertainment might be. "Yeah, I'll let you know," he says after a moment. "Good luck out there." Shane's gills flutter once, a silent quiet laugh judging by the small shake of his shoulders. "Better if he does. He makes most nights more -- fun." He holds out a curled fist in Jack's general direction as he passes by. "Thanks. You too." Jack bumps his invisible fist against Shane's. "I'll...ask him if he wants to join me then," he says, still blushing. "See you later."