ArchivedLogs:As Per Usual

As Per Usual
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Tian-shin, Joshua	2015-04-22 "Is this just asshole /week/?"
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Courtyard - Lower East Side
This courtyard is the lush central hub of the surrounding Harbor Commons, bound in on three sides by rows of duplexes and triplexes, cutting upward at the sky with the sharp thrift of a minimalist's style, neat lines and bountiful windows, boldened with accents in wood towards the upper stories, stone towards the base, the whole of the compound sealed in by a low stoneworked wall that opens entrance gates to the streets beyond at its two far corners, smaller gates at building back doors. The fourth side of the courtyard is open to the East River, the ground forming a slight decline, controlled on one side by micro-retaining walls to form wide steps where picnic tables sit beneath the nominative shelter of a trio of dogwood trees, accessible by ramp. The other side is allowed to slope at its natural angle, a wide open yard space, until its cut off at the river's edge, where a massive pair of oak trees stand, a staircase leading away up one of their thick trunks. The yard itself is carpeted in an organic flow of emerald grass swirled through with wending channels of smooth-paved cement walkways, flowing naturally away from the building's front entrances, where some are arced by trellis, some flanked by hosta plants, fern and lilies, a few laid in gentle switch-backing ramps for wheelchair access, before forking off at matching angles to sites of small garden installments. Bird feeders and baths suspended from the necks of small lamp posts, a rock-lined koi pond, a sleek gazebo tucked to one side in simplistic varnished wood, its southern side overgrown with a mass of thriving grapevine and a caged-in barbecue pit under its sheltering roof. A play area and proper garden are within sight off another branch, until finally all paths spiral in like wheel spokes to a shared common house at the center of all traffic flow. It is, by late morning, warm and bright outside. Sunny. Clear. This might explain some of Dusk's scowl as he descends to thump down onto the path outside the Commonhaus. He has has large dark glasses on, no shirt, a pair of tattered cutoff shorts, Vans sneakers. His wings have been painted dark, deep black layered over with a crackling ripple of iridescent blues, the talons black as well and speckled with gleams of bright colour to resemble black opals. He ducks his head as he lands, pulling one wing in towards his head like a canopy to provide some shade from the pleasant springtime sun. One hand reaches to pat at his back pocket -- then frown, kind of an increase in the default Grump his expression has been wearing. Joshua is out here already, seated on the patio at the front of the Commonhaus. Evidently not working today, or at least not soon, he's in faded old jeans and a plain blue-green tee, one leg folded up beneath himself in his chair and an ereader in his lap. "Bit early for you to be out of your coffin, isn't it?" He doesn't actually look up from his book with this. Maybe he can just /sense/ the grump radiating off Dusk. Clad in a sky blue fitted t-shirt upon which a confused-looking cartoon bear sails a boat among the clouds, athletic capris, and metallic rainbow sneakers, Tian-shin has just completed a round of stretching. Though she looks sweaty enough to attest to recent exercise, her hair remains in a tight impeccable bun, neatly slotted through the back of her black mockingjay ball cap. She waves at Dusk, wanders over to him and Joshua. "Locked out?" This quite uncertainly, though she has nevertheless fished out her own key fob to offer. "I haven't made it as far as my coffin yet." Dusk wanders over to flop face-down across a lounge chair, wings draping down to his sides to fall against the ground. "And I left my fucking wallet in Brooklyn. S'got my --" He gestures towards the door, which he's evidently just /given up/ on entering now that it's a whole six feet away. "Key... card." His head turns to the side, face mooshed up against the chair so that he can look over at the others. "... /you/ look like you're out here on /purpose/." BOTH of them. His tone, insofar as it has roused itself out of lethargy, is edging towards shock. "{It is,}" Joshua informs Dusk, "{what is /commonly/ considered a fucking gorgeous day. Like Spring is /atoning/ for her brother's sins the past few months.}" "{I was working out, fairly on purpose.}" Tian-shin shrugs, then shrugs again--no, she's just rolling her shoulders, stretching. "Either of us /can/ let you in if you're wanting to get out of the sun. Do you /actually/ sleep in a coffin?" She blushes at once, shaking her head. "Lo siento, that's...kind of a preposterous question, and it's none of my business if you do, anyhow." "/Tch/," Dusk scoffs at Joshua's clearly ridiculous claim. "{It's searing off my goddamn eyes -- oh,}" he interrupts himself with a laugh and a shake of his head. "{I still have /my/ house keys. I'm just lazy. My house is all the way over there.}" One thumbclaw twitches off towards Geekhaus. He rolls over up onto an elbow, flashing a sharp grin at Tian-shin. "Do I what?" He sounds amused, not offended. "Nah. Have you /tried/ fitting two people in a coffin, it's hella uncomfortable." "Dusk's very hospitable. As many guests as he has, he wouldn't want to give them anything less than the best." Joshua closes the cover on his Kindle, dropping his head back against the back of his chair. His eyes tip up towards the sky. "{Probably expecting cops again today,}" he adds, to Dusk. "{Not for /you/ this time so don't freak out.}" "{I /have/, in fact, fit /three/ people in a coffin.}" Tian-shin does not look quite as proud of this as her tone suggests, but instead blushes even deeper. "/Little/ people, though--me and my brothers. {You can guess whose idea /that/ was.}" She follows Joshua's eyes, as though half expecting said cops to descend from the sky. A faint shudder runs through her body despite the relative warmth. "For Jax?" "But," Dusk wants to know, "did those people have enormous-ass wings because that complicates things." He rolls up into a seated position, straddling the chair. "Wait what the fuck happened to Jax? Are they arresting him /again/, that shit's getting hella old." "And yet." Joshua's lips compress. "Not very original. It's what happens in a bureaucracy. This time, he beat on some poor defenseless human -- you should know that tune." The breath he exhales is heavy. "We all know what a violent streak he's got." "No wings, just a lot of skinny kid elbows and knees. We didn't /stay/ in the coffin all that long, anyway." Tian-shin kneads one of her arms absently with the other. "I don't actually know what happened, only..." She nods at Joshua, an unspoken 'what he said.' "...mainstream media's version of the police's version of it." "{Where did you even get a coffin? Was it an empty coffin, at least?}" This notion seems to be kind of amusing Dusk -- though the rest of the conversation very much isn't. His lips twist downward in digust. "You're not just shitting me? This is -- Christ. I haven't read news yet today." Though he's slipping his phone out of his pocket now, presumably to do just that. It doesn't take long at all for his disgusted look to deepen. "{... what in the fuck.} Is this just asshole /week/? This can't be for -- tsss.." Joshua's shoulder hitches up in a small shrug. "Hazards of childhood I guess. Coffins just lying every-damn-where." His hands are lacing together across his chest, his jaw just a little tighter. "It's for real. Some fucking bigot puts an arrow in him and /he/ gets arrested. Pretty much as per usual." "It was at a funeral parlor, empty--maybe it was for display, I'm not sure." Tian-shin chews on her lower lip, slender black brows furrowing. "You haven't missed much in the way of actual information, as far as the mainstream media goes--but it /is/ all over the news, yes. This reminds me, I meant to email him--hopefully before he gets arrested. But right now I should go shower and pick up groceries..." Her frown deepens fractionally. "...and Tag." Dusk bows his head, rubbing up under the sunglasses with the tips of his fingers. A soft strangled noise escapes him. "... arrow." His teeth grit. He rises, folding his wings behind his back. "Suppose I should be boosting security on more than just Funhaus." His wing stretches out, brushing lightly against Joshua's arm and then Tian-shin's in turn. "Stay safe." "Hfff," is all Joshua answers, to all this. He flips the cover on his Kindle back open, though his eyes are maybe just slightly distant as he looks -- more down past the page than at it. "Yeah." "Colorful targets, Jax called us," Tian-shin mutters, "he was not wrong." As distracted as she seems, her eyes and fingertips still follow Dusk's wing when it brushes against her. "I'll do my best." She doesn't try to force a smile; a certain straightening of her posture suggests she means this quite seriously. Then, as she turns to head back toward Funhaus, "You, too."