ArchivedLogs:Not a Problem

Not a Problem
Dramatis Personae Ash, Hive, Jackson
In Absentia	2013-09-12 (Immediately followed by some text messages.)
Location <NYC> Construction Site - Lower East Side
The day is grey and overcast; it promises rain but currently is instead just delivering an intermittent fine mist that drizzles briefly and then tapers off. For all its dampness, it's otherwise pleasant, the heat broken to leave just a mild warmth in the air. It's around lunchtime when a brightly coloured figure approaches the fenced-off construction site, ignoring the NO ENTRY signs to slip inside. Jax does not quite fit in with the rest of the construction workers, dressed in black and purple-plaid pleated skirt, a green tank top underneath a three-quarters sleeved black fishnet shirt, brightly patterned mismatched socks, chunky black and silver sneakers. The outfit gets him more than a few looks from the workers, a few muttered (and one shouted) derisive comments, though he ignores these as he nabs himself a hard hat, pulling his messenger bag further up onto his shoulder as he heads closer in. In search of Hive -- though this is communicated more by /thinking really hard/ during his kind of aimless drifting than by asking anyone. Ash makes his way outside with a sturdy lunch box and a thermos tucked under one arm. He's dressed like a typical construction worker, with hefty jeans, steel-toed, tan boots and a white tank top, tinged brown and gray with all of the debris found around the site. He's nearly drenched, despite the break in the heat and the damp drizzle, as the building is coming along well enough that there are fewer breezes in the building due to walls going up, and less cooling rain, as there is a roof to protect these unpainted walls. He looks a little weary, but still his smiling pleasant self, a small cheerful bandaid in the crook of his arm, the tell tale marker of someone who has given blood to a medical professional. He makes his way over to the cooler and unhooks the bottle from his hip, refilling it with pleasingly chilled water, stepping aside and drinking some down before completely leaving the line for hydration. When he sees the welcome bit of color enter the site and hears the less than appropriate catcalls, he only smiles brighter and lifts an arm to catch the colorful ones attention. "Oy! Jax!" He calls out as he starts moving closer, his steps still slow with not quite heat exhaustion, but getting near. "How's it going? Haven't seen you here in a while!" "Hey. Assholes. We in New York or fucking Texas, grow the fuck up." Hive is still his smiling pleasant self as well, clearly. He's dressed drab as the others, a light blue denim shirt over a white undershirt, tough jeans, sturdy boots, his grungy yellow hard hat the most colour his outfit provides. "The fuck are you doing here." A lingering stab of migraine has made him even /more/ smiling-pleasant than usual the past few days. His eyes are shadowed, a somewhat increased sallowness to his face; he shoves his hands into his pockets as he wanders away from the tall scaffolding-covered building towards Jax. His eyes narrow on Ash, too. "You look like shit." "Hiiii, Ash!" Jackson's smile is quick and bright, his hand lifting in a wave and then dropping to rest on his messenger bag. He stops a short distance from Ash, rocking back on his heels and tipping his head up, sunglass-covered gaze sweeping up up up along the height of the building. "Wow, y'know, it's kinda like watching a kid grow up? Like I keep thinking they should be in diapers except then 'fore you know it they're walkin' and talkin' and getting into everything -- well, OK, metaphorically, I mean, but I don't doubt /this/ place'll find itself its share'a trouble -- um." A blush tints his cheeks, his head shaking quickly. "Sorry, ramblin'. I just mean wow it's -- kinda impressive watchin' the progress." His nose crinkles up, head tipping slightly to one side. "-- Y'do kinda look like you could stand to sit down," he agrees with Hive, and then, more saccharine-sweet: "I brought you lunch, honey-honey." He reaches into his bag, fishing out one tupperware and then another. "Flicker says y'ain't been eating. There's cupcakes, too, Ash, if y'like. Chai. How're you doing?" "Aww, really, Hive? I thought you looked like a tall drink of water personally, but that could also be the dehydration talking." Ash grins and lifts his water bottle in salute and drains another finger's width or two. "I don't know if I want to change building sized diapers, but I appreciate the idea of what you're getting at. Sometimes I am just here too much to see the progress, but it's good to have outside eyes giving me a wake up call." He slips a cloth out of his back pocket and holds it out to one side as he splashes his face with a bit of the crisp water - not too much as to waste it. He then wipes his face with the cloth and the back of his neck when the cloth is damp. "You haven't been eating?" Ash looks more than a bit shocked, reaching over to tug at the layers of cloth around his waist to see how thin he currently is. "Do I need to start cooking for you too? I do a mean chile relleno. That'll put some thickness back in you." "Oh my god, no, I get all the /mothering/ I can handle from this happy asshole and his --" Hive's hand waves in an irritable gesture towards Jackson. "Person. Whateverthefuck." Though a moment later he reconsiders, giving Ash a long assessing look. "-- With mole?" He frowns at Jax's FOOD offering, too, but reaches to nab it from the photokinetic, opening one lid to sniff at its contents. "Yeah. Home stretch, here. Be done before the month's out, if we stay on track." His frown only increases at Ash's investigation. Never particularly /meaty/ at the best of times, his clothes now hang loose on his bony frame, belt tugged tight to a newly-punched hole. "Sit down. Drink more water. Eat a damn cupcake. Have /you/ not been /drinking/?" There is chili in one container, rice in the second, both still relatively warm though far from hot. "Yeah, I get that way with paintings sometimes, like. You work on one thing for months and it's hard to really see the overall /picture/ after a while." Jax pulls out another container from his bag -- this one holds four cupcakes, lightly dusted on their tops with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, cinnamon, and a hint of cardamom rather than bearing any icing. "Cupcake? An' Hive /always/ looks like a tall drink'a water, he just don't believe it. Or -- okay maybe believes it," he acknowledges with a laugh, "but maybe don't care much. An' he might gripe, but I don't think /nobody/ in his house would complain if you dropped them off delicious food." "I might as well, I cook enough," Ash announces, reaching out to snag a cupcake from the other container. He braces his lunch box against his hip and opens it, setting the cupcake in a safe little spot next to a tupperwear container that sloshes with his movements. "I was just about to eat if you guys wanted to sit with me?" Despite the casualness of his invitation, there's a hopeful tone under the surface. He is busy sucking down more water to keep him from babbling on. After a deep breath or two, he continues. "Yes, I've been drinking. It's just hot in there. And Yes, I make a damn fine mole." "If you make one without dairy Dusk would probably get down on his knees for you right there -- not that it really takes much, with him. Y'know sitting with him," Hive jerks his head towards Jax, "is just gonna get you shit for days." Not that that's stopping him, wandering over nearer the fence to take a seat on the ground up against it, leaning back with a rattle of chain links. "Yeahno my apartment is basically like the building's trash disposal, we'll make /any/ food disappear." He peels open both the rice and the chili, setting the containers on his lap and holding out a hand to Jax expectantly. "Dude, I hear what everyone thinks. I know when people think I'm attractive. Do you know how /un/attractive it is seeing in everyone's head? -- Drink more. You collapse out here," he says with such heights of compassion, "do you know how much fucking paperwork that's gonna be?" "Sure! I got a bit 'fore I gotta be at work." Jackson bounces along after Hive, finding an empty patch of ground to drop down onto, smoothing his skirt down neatly as he kneels. He opens a flap of his bag, digging out a metal fork-knife/spoon combination to put into Hive's outstretched hand. For himself he just takes a cupcake, unwrapping it to take a large bite. "I love cooking but I think I love people enjoyin' my food more? I get kinda meh about it if I'm only cookin' for /me/. I always just cook enough to share with everyone. You should," he tells Ash, "come by our building more. S'/always/ room there for sharin' food." Ash moves to sit down next to Hive, thunking his thermos and lunchbox down beside him. He tries to smile through the conversation but the last bit catches him off guard. Paperwork. Something about paperwork stick in his gut and makes him feel sick. His eyes grow wider and his smile starts to fade, his mind scurrying through a check list of all of the things he did before this point to stay healthy in the hot weather, which includes drinking his entire water bottle, avoiding the coffee after the sun started beating down on the site, his two or three breaks just standing by one of the open windows to catch some breeze and cool down and his determination to go out of the building for lunch. It must not be enough! "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't want to cause anyone any problems. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful and take it slower and won't collapse, I swear." Just to prove the point, he starts drinking more water than his thirst demands. Little streams start trickling down his cheeks as he pulls the bottle away and swallows. Hive takes the spoonknifefork, turning it to the spoon side to scoop a bit of rice and then a bit of chili. He shoves the spoon into the rice as he eats his first mouthful, leaning over to presumptuously /swipe/ Ash's water bottle. "Jegus Christ, kid, you need a freaking Valium. What's going on? You're not a problem just -- apparently a gorram ball of nerves. Something up?" Jackson takes another bite of his cupcake, tongue poking out to lick crumbs off the corner of his mouth. His nose crinkles up as Ash's smile fades, and he drops his hand to rest the last bite of cupcake against his knee. "I think Hive was jus' -- bein' Hive, honey-honey. Y'aright? Take it easy, we ain't runnin' outta water no time soon." He leans forward, too, fingers brushing against Ash's cheek lightly to wipe away a trickle of the water running down it. Ash initially has a vice grip on his bottle, holding tight not because he needs to hold on to it, but because his entire attention is focused on that one thing. He only tugs back against Hive's hand for a second, then releases. "I..." He blinks at the other two as if he doesn't quite comprehend their words. "I'm ...not?" a problem? His brain slows down and tries to process, the ingrained coping mechanisms dissipating as he analyzes. "Ah. Nothing's up." He is very still when Jackson wipes at his cheek, turning his attention to the other man's face. "Just..." << have to be okay. Have to be fit. Can't show physical weakness. Can't give them a reason to.... >> He's then thinking of the labs he was in, the fact that showing wear and exhaustion didn't get a person rest, but instead made them disposable. He can't be disposable. He tries to fight the notion that some person in a white labcoat is going to write something on a clipboard that ends him - that will make him disappear. "Sorry about that. Guess I got a little" keyed up, freaked out, paranoid, scared, "overzealous." He turns his smile back on like flipping a switch. It is a genuine smile, at least, if a little embarrassed. "I'll try to tone it down." "Bullshit nothing's up. You remember who you're talking to, kid?" Hive takes another mouthful of chili and rice, snorting quietly as he leans back against the fence once more. He sets the water bottle back down on the ground between himself and Ash. His expression pulls into a frown, briefly, jaw tightening. "Dude. You're not there. You're here. The fuck do you think /I'm/ gonna do if you get exhausted and need a break? I'm going to send you home to take a gorram break." Jackson is quiet, popping the remainder of his cupcake into his mouth. "Huh." Quiet, too. He dusts crumbs off his fingers onto the ground. folding the cupcake wrapper into a neat triangle. His head turns very slightly, attention skipping between Ash and Hive. "Y'ain't no problem at all, honey-honey. Just --" He shrugs a shoulder, glancing back towards Hive. "Do kinda seem like you could do with some --" His teeth drag against his lip for a moment. "What d'you do with yourself when y'ain't at work here? I mean, with Jim -- gone -- y'got that apartment by yourself, yeah?" "I.. I know." Ash cringes a little, his embarrassment growing. He really does, consciously and willfully. His subconscious thoughts are still urging him to jackrabbit out of there, but he's fighting it. "It's just been a weird week and I had to go see some doctors. The smell of doctor's offices get to me and the equipment and even those clear containers of cotton balls and tongue depressors -" he shakes his head, hints of red finally starting to show through his dark skin. "They were super nice and no one locked any doors and they asked me before doing anything, but sometimes things just make me jumpy. Like the ache a person gets in their bones around dental work." Finally, he pulls his lunch box over and opens it, pulling out a container of green liquid first, peeling the top off to reveal a green soup, cold as the day will allow, and smelling faintly of broccoli and cilantro. "Outside of work? I tend to cook little meals. Sometimes this guy in the building stops by, but he hasn't in months. I don't always go straight home too. Like to try to find a park and kind of commune with whatever nature I can find in this city." "Gah, doctors." Hive cringes at this, his brows rumpling. "Yeah, s'kinda shitty. Sorta funny we're building a clinic neither of us would actually want to /go/ to." Hive's eyes slant back towards the nearly-finished building. "You talked to anyone, since you got out? I mean, professionally. Like a therapist. Sort out your head a little. I don't think anyone gets out of there without a bit of mess --" He waves his spoon at his own skull. "Mmnh, no fun. Y'aright? I mean health-wise?" The mention of doctors rumples Jackson's brow, too. He leans forward to quietly pluck a mushroom out of Hive's container of chili, sucking sauce off his fingertips once he has eaten it. "You should definitely come over more," he adds, more lightly, "I mean, 'sometimes a guy stops by a few months ago' sounds like you prob'ly got plenty more time in your /social/ calendar for spendin' with us. S'it jus' you in that place now? You considered, uh --" His head turns slightly towards Hive. "New roommates?" "Yeah. I was just being careful, you know. Following up on possible symptoms so that nothing gets ignored so long it becomes unfixable." Ash takes a sip of the cool soup and considers quietly. "It was just blood tests. Should screen fine. I mean, I may be crazy enough to think someone is slipping something into my food, but I don't necessarily believe it heart and soul." He flashes a quick, awkward smile and exhales quietly. "I hadn't thought of seeing anyone, not until this week. It was, I guess, manageable until now." The talk of his housing situation doesn't really bother him as much as the medical and mental health talk does. "Oh. Jim?" He has very clear memories of Jim stopping by before the Morlock tunnels were raided, of Jim saying he'll be around more. This is practically gospel truth to the earthbender. Jim'll be back. "It's not exactly my apartment. I can't really rent it out. Things are pretty cramped as is and I have a tendency to be very messy." << Dumbass is waiting for Jim. Almost cute, if it wasn't sad. >> Hive's sharp-edged voice stabs into Jax's mind as he scoops more chili into his mouth. His sour frown deepens. "Don't think he meant rent it out." He slouches back more heavily against the fence as he eats. "Good, then. Stay home alone. Wait for Jim to drag his sorry ass out of the sewers once a month. Sit around by yourself losing your fucking mind, seems like it's working out well for you." He swipes Ash's water again to tip his head back and pour some into his mouth. Jax winces, head ducking for a moment at the painful intrusion of Hive's voice. << Almost, >> echoes wryly in his mind. "-- Just seems like maybe you could stand to do with some /actual/ company here an' there. Get outta your own head, a bit. Ain't never good when all y'got to do with yourself is --" He shrugs a shoulder. "Dwell. Might could look into therapy, too, it -- I mean, ain't hardly unusual to be a little bit'a mess after the kinda thing we gone through." "He didn't mean that?" Ash turns to Jax and fixes his attention on him. "What did you mean?" He finishes off the rest of his soup before pulling out a biryani in another tupperware container. He moves his cupcake to sit on the cover of the empty soup. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass and I'm sorry if I've upset you." He doesn't look to Hive when he apologizes, focused more on the memory of the voice in his head from the month or so when he was hived. "It is my natural tendency to be alone. I get frustrated though, because it apparently isn't safe or healthy for me anymore." "He meant find yourself a place with someone who's actually there instead of waiting in Jim's place like the /saddest/ gorram puppy. And will you stop fucking apologizing, dude, you don't need to apologize for /existing/." Hive downs another few bites of his food quickly, but leaves more than half the chili and rice remaining when he tucks the lids back onto the tupperware. "Do what you want to do, kid. Be alone if that's your thing. Just, uh. Find yourself a shrink. Take care of yourself before /you/ end up in the fucking sewers, too." He sets the spoon atop the tupperware, stacking both beside Jax and then pushing himself to his feet. "And take the rest of the day off. Go home and get some rest." He drops a hand to rest against Jax's bald head, rubbing against the tattoo there before he leans down to drop a kiss to the top of Jax's scalp. "Thanks for lunch." He snags one of the cupcakes from the container, carrying it with him as he starts back towards the site. Jackson tips his head slightly back, with the touch of Hive's hand, looking up at the telepath with a warm smile. He takes the last of the cupcakes once Hive starts off, unwrapping it to nibble at it though his brows crease faintly as he looks down to the still largely full containers of food. "OK," he says, simply. "But you /should/ look after yourself. Whatever that means for you. Ain't hardly gonna force you to hang out with people. S'just sometimes good to have folks around for keepin' an eye on each other -- easy to slip into all kindsa terrible when you're the only one there an' y'ain't much focused on keeping an eye on /yourself/." He shrugs, taking a bigger bite of cupcake and licking powdered sugar off his lips. "-- People do /change/ a lot, though, y'know. With time. With -- uh, the boatloads of chaos thrust into our lives here an' there. Find what's healthy for you /now/, not what was healthy for you ten years ago. Do that." Ash freezes up momentarily when Hive tells him to go home, forcing another swell of panic down. After repeating to himself a couple times that Hive isn't getting rid of him, he takes in a deep breath and nods. "Okay. I... will do something. I have been going to Happy Cakes a lot. Talk to Jayna before the morning rush and get lots of coffee." He smiles at Jax, brows crinkled in sincerity. "I will... definitely try harder with more things and... stuff." He stays seated as he is now off the clock. "I will. Going to get better. I'll... come over more. I promise." Hive just continues to slouch his way back towards work, shoulders tensing up at whatever his mind still overhears. He pulls out his cellphone, switching his cupcake to his off hand as he unlocks it to start texting. "Good." Jax's smile is just as warm for Ash as it was for Hive. "Don't know if you're much into board games but even if you ain't there's kinda a -- regular-scheduled hangin'-out time every Tuesday evenin' over at his place." He waves his half-eaten cupcake towards Hive's departing back, and then tucks the unfinished food back into his messenger bag. "I should get to work myself. But I'll be seein' you more often, I hope?" "Yeah. Definitely. Though, I haven't actually played many board games before. Still, people gathering in a consistent place is a good way to start." Ash smiles and nods to Jackson. "You have a good day at work, okay? Maybe I'll go make that mole and chile relleno and stop by for dinner." He nods a little and stays where he is, picking at his lunch. "You like mole, right? I can make it vegetarian. It'll be great." "I think there's a fair bit of value to having some consistency in life. People-type or otherwise." Jax pushes himself to his feet, slipping the strap of his bag over his head. "Sounds awesome. Y'take care, hon." Flashing Ash one last smile, he takes off his hard hat to return it as he heads off.