ArchivedLogs:Food and Castles

Food and Castles
Also, Swings.
Dramatis Personae Jackson, Corey, Micah, Hanna	7 August 2013 Meetings in the park for shared food, swings, and news.
Location <NYC> Tompkins Square Park - East Village
Small but popular, this tree-lined park is a perfect centerpiece to the eclectic neighborhood it resides in. Home to a number of playgrounds and courts from handball to basketball, it also houses a dog park and chess tables, providing excellent space for people watching -- especially during its frequent and often eccentric festivals, from Wigstock to its yearly Allen Ginsberg tribute Howl festival. The sun is only just starting to set; it's a dim twilit evening, though still plenty warm outside. The multiple playgrounds in the park are still rather bustling, though with the setting sun many parents are ushering their children on home. Jackson is taking advantage of this evacuation! Nominally he is here to enjoy dinner out in the warmth -- he /has/ food, packed up into a mesh grocery tote -- but the food is forgotten when he notes the recently-vacated swingset in the nearest playground. Hopefully Micah is not /too/ hungry, because dinner is /dashing off/ in typically hummingbird-attention-span fashion. "-- If we put a swingset on the /roof/," he's asking Micah, "what do you think the likelihood is someone would swing themself off the edge?" He sets the bag of food down at the side of the swingset, grabbing a swing for himself. He is, as usual, vividly coloured today; bright glittery purple eyeshadow, metallic peacock-green nails, baggy purple UFO pants with silver straps, a black mesh half-sleeved shirt worn over a pink tank beneath. Having spent a good deal of time in the area recently playing doctor, Corey has gotten to like the little park of late. Out on a jog in spite of the spotty weather of the week, the athletic fellow is wearing black shorts with a grey tank top and a pair of well worn sneakers. Taking a drink from the water bottle he's carrying, he stops and takes a moment to rest and breath in the greenery of the area. Seeing the pair rushing to the swing sets, he smiles and raises the bottle in a salute to the gents. Micah doesn't seem much bothered by the abandoning of foodstuffs by the swingset. He is much less colourfully adorned, in a bleach-speckled 'Stand Back I'm Going to Try Science!' xkcd T-shirt over rainbow-patched jeans. His chasing of Jax is also much less dashy, more of a bounce-lope-jog given inappropriate footwear (ha) for running in a prosthesis. He catches up in time to offer Jax a push. "Given the people as live in our buildin'? I'm surprised ain't nobody slung themselves off /yet/. 'Least that I know of. We're gonna run out of room on that roof for installin' of things eventually." Giggling, he waves greeting to Corey between swing-pushes. It has been a long day at the bakery, and Hanna and Jayna are at last making their way home, after an apparent stop at a nearby grocery, several reusable totes from a variety of sources are laden with a variety of vegetables and other such things. The pair are walking through the park, enjoying the pleasantness of the evening - both are still dressed for work, Jayna in a flowing gradient dyed sundress in a rich emerald green, Hanna in typical 1950s housewife fashion, a navy blue day dress with white polkadots and a bright red belt over a white crinoline, paired with matching red mary janes. Hanna spots the group first, and offers a cheery wave to the assembling group, turning to talk quietly to Jayna for a brief moment. Jayna chuckles quietly and shakes her head, then takes the rest of the bags and plants a kiss on Hanna's cheek, continuing in the direction of the Lofts, while Hanna heads over towards the swingset. "Hello all!" Hanna greets cheerily, stopping well outside of the range of 'kick to the face' near the swingset. Though she is incredibly cheery looking, Hanna does still keep glancing over her shoulder towards the Lofts, making certain that Jayna gets inside safely. "There are other swings." Jackson says this to the others in very /earnest/ serious offer, waving a hand towards the rest of the swingset as he is pushed. "You could swing. On them!" His hands curl tight around the chains, legs swinging out then tucking back in as he works himself higher. He glances after Jayna, too, watching for a moment as she moves off. "Hi!" His greeting to the others is chirpy-cheerful. "Y'all doing alright?" Micah's words earn a crinkle of his nose, his head craning backwards to try and peer towards the other man on his downswing. "Dusk's slung himself off the roof a /few/ times." With the group gathering, Corey comes in closer, offering them a smile. "Evening gents, and lady," he says with a nod to Hanna at that. "Doing just fine, out and about exercising off some of the baked goods I've been consuming lately." Stretching his neck to the side a moment, he lets out a relaxed sigh as he settles his feet into the grass better. "How about you guys? Everything going all right of late?" “Hihihi, Hanna!” Micah calls over Jax's shoulder as the cheerful woman approaches. “How's the bakery?” He keeps up the periodic pushes at Jax's back rather than taking another swing himself. “Don't think it much counts on the worry-meter when somebody's jumpin' off the roof 'cause they have /wings/. Sure Horus has done a few times, too.” He takes a few moments to answer Corey. “Better, recently. Things got a little bit too excitin' there for a minute. Kinda been...catchin' our breath here.” "I think, to be fair, Dusk can handle being flung off the roof a fair bit better than most, yes?" Hanna asks with a bemused smirk and a glance back towards the building. She shrugs, offering a friendly smile, "Doing well enough, I suppose. Arm's better, and I'm actually able to use both hands to bake, which is always a good thing," a nod and a grin to Micah as he peeks over Jax's shoulder, "Bakery is doing nicely. Quiet, but business is steady, can't complain. Only a little bit of a scuffle last week, few more broken plates, but they're easy to replace at least." Corey's comment gets a laugh, and she looks guiltily at him, "Sorry about that, Corey. I say thank you with baked goods - it's the only universal language I know?" "S'worse problems in life than too much /delicious/," Jackson says with a laugh and a glance downward towards his dinner-bag. "-- I guess I shouldn't offer you no cookies, then?" His words rise and fall strangely with the arc of his swing. "I think Horus /only/ comes in an' out through the roof door so he's -- jumped offa the roof more'n a couple times." His nose crinkles up, and he offers Hanna a sympathetic wince. "Eesh. An' I was hoping things was quieting down. Glad /y'all/ are feelin' better, at least. I'd be happy if didn't nobody around here see anything but quiet and boring for a good long while." "Its alright Hanna, I don't think fat sticks to me too much anyway." Corey gives Hanna a reassuring smile at that, then chuckles at Jax's offer. "I guess I could accept some if you insist," he says with a wink. "There's been far too much going wrong lately I'll give you that, but the quiet is welcome. I may get to see my paramedic friend sooner than later if the entire city goes that route." He peeks slightly towards the dinner bag, perhaps looking to see which type of cookies there were to be had. “Mmn. S'bad when broken plates count as /good/ news, ain't it? Glad t'hear you're on the mend and business is decent, though. Baked goods are the best thank yous ever. An' we /do/ have cookies,” Micah seconds Jax's not-quite-offer, smirking at Corey. “Ain't like you're gonna have extra calories /left/ after keepin' up all your /tall/. I'm surprised you're ever /not/ eatin' a thing.” His arms have taken to completing Jax-pushing without much attention given to it. “Ohgosh, can we have a boring? That sounds kinda like a good time now.” Hanna finally takes up Jax's offer on the empty swing and delicately sets herself down onto the swing, managing to arrange her crinolines somehow into the seat before slowly starting to kick herself into motion. "Boring would be nice for once. Just some nice and quiet, where I can just be a baker who bakes good cakes, instead of that freak baker on the corner," Hanna says with a wistful sigh as she picks up momentum on the swing. She sticks her tongue out at Corey's fat comment, snickering quietly, "Uh huh. Lucky bastard." She swings quietly for a moment, not actually putting much effort into the motion, "So what has been up with you?" Her tone is light, conversational, although there is a hint of concern edging into her voice, her eyes having remained a consistent brown color over the conversation. "School's out for summer. Month break 'fore the kids go back and I pick up teachin' again," Jackson says cheerfully. "But a lotta work, a little bein' shot at, a lotta cookin', a lotta trying to corral the kids. Y'know, the usual." His smile brightens wider when Hanna takes the swing beside him. "One day," he says lightly. "You'll just be that /delicious/ baker and the city'll leave it at that. -- Uhm, snickerdoodles. Pale ones are chai, dark ones are chocolate with cinnamon an' cayenne in. The cookies are right on top," one of his swinging feet points a toe towards the bag, "help yourself. -- Micah is," he turns his head to confide this earnestly to Hanna, "a very good pusher." "Pft, if just keeping up tall burned calories then I'd have to take all my meals at a buffet. Granted, I take all my meals at cafes lately, aside from boxed noodle dinners at home, so not exactly the epitome of salad and tofu land." At the lucky bastard comment, Corey smirks and stretches upwards enough that the tanktop raises and shows the abs of steel. "Sheesh Jax, with a schedule like that do you even get to sleep? Or you one of the sorts who runs on caffeine?" He does however resist just going for the cookies, just yet. “Yeah, mostly the workin' an' recoverin' from the bein' shot at thing,” Micah echoes Jax's sentiments. “An' more workin' t'catch up from recoverin' from bein' shot at. This'n took the worst of it, though.” One hand pats at Jax's shoulder the next time his swing returns him for another push. “The chocolate ones are pretty dangerous. Makes you not want t'eat anythin' else /ever/,” he warns with a grin. “'Good pusher' sounds like...a drug dealer or somethin'.” He is back to giggling, though the giggles are soon interrupted by Corey's description of his food. “Oh man, we have gotta get you eatin' better than that. We brought extra food. Is it...lack of supplies or lack of know-how makin' you play noodle bachelor?” His eyebrows slide upward at the shirt lift, one quirking higher than the other. “Not that the lack of proper nutrition seems t'be doin' you any /visible/ harm.” As Corey stretches, Hanna snorts and shakes her head, laughing a touch maniacally, "Hah! Your god-like abs have no power over me!" She continues to swing slowly, chuckling brightly, although the smile on her lips fades at the mention of being shot at, and she glances over at Jax and Micah in concern, as though checking to make sure neither of them were riddled with bullet holes she'd missed. "Oh, oh dear. I'm rather afraid being on the top floor has me a bit out of the loop as far as Lofts gossip goes. You were /shot at/?!" she asks in concern, looking between the two men, and then over at Corey, as though he'd know more about this for some reason. "What happened? Is everyone alright? Was it the police again?" she babbles out, before shaking her head and looking sheepish, "Sorry. I... I don't mean to pry. I'm just a bit on edge, and with things in the city as they are..." The abs apparently have power over Jackson, at least. The rhythm of his swinging stalls down into quiet, eye locked for a moment on Corey before he drops his gaze with a /fierce/ blush. "Oh -- um, we -- actually still got noodles," he admits, "but they're a little better'n boxed. Soba with -- lentils an' cauliflower an' this -- miso-tahini sauce. S'plenty, y'can help yourself to that too. I usually start with the cookies, though." His smile curls wider, though, at Corey's comment about his schedule. "-- I didn't even mention my other two jobs there yet. An' I stole a friend's insulin pump an' replaced it with caffeine. Just. Get a hit every time m'levels drop. Also helps that I'm solar-powered." Cheerfully amused through both these explanations, there is little in his tone that hints at seriousness. His blush returns as he answers Hanna. "-- We was -- mostly gone from the building for a bit, weren't all that much gossip circulating, probably. Everyone's alright, though. City's just kinda gettin' a lot scarier. Was sorta a wrong-place wrong-time deal." Blink. Blink. "Why didn't you call me to come by to help out? I mean hell, being shot at is kinda sorta the thing I ought to be bugged for. I spent three weeks bumming on Hanna's floor to get her arm back faster." Corey gestures to Hanna at that looking over Micah and Jax a few more times."I mean its better than having holes in you right?" Shaking his head again, he let out a sigh to answer the question. "Mostly money and time. I'm sure I could find the veg and healthy stuff cheaper if I look hard enough, and then there's appropriate cooking and the like. But I don't really spend that much time in the apartment anyway. And I'll be spending less time there if I can talk to the clinic owner Doctor Saavedro told me about." He watches Jax a moment as he slows to answer him, though there's a frown at the city being scarier thing. Micah swats playfully at Jax's arm at his caffeine tales. “He's feedin' you stories about the pump. Don't even know /why/, 'cause it's already hard t'believe how little sleep he actually lives on. Pretty much have t'threaten 'im into sleepin' every /other/ night.” Snickering under his breath at Jax's sudden stall, he catches the swing to pull it back and help get his swinging up to par again. “There's /veggies/ in these noodles, Corey-hon. Y'should eat some of 'em. We...um. Weren't really /here/ t'be callin' for help. An' no one actually got /shot/ just shot /at/. A little banged up an' energy drained afterwards. Called on Doc Saavedro 'cause I wasn't sure nobody else would take care of Jax...an' we kinda hid on up at the twins' school 'cause the doc teaches there.” His expression turns a bit sheepish. “Thanks for thinkin' of us, though. You lookin' t'get work at a medical clinic?” "That caffeine pump sounds like an amazing idea and a horrible idea at the same time," Hanna says with a chuckle, shaking her head. "I'm glad to hear you're both recovered, and didn't actually end up with any bullet holes or anything," she nods slowly, watching the two, "City is scary, I hate to see it getting scarier. I've lost two employees now, since this craziness started. One at least was because his parents decided it wasn't too safe, the other." A frown creases her features, for once actually making her look closer to her age, "The other has just stopped coming through. He warned that he was flakey when I hired him, but he hasn't even stopped by for coffee." Slowly kicking to make the swing move slightly as she talks, keeping the momentum going, "And y'know there's always food available at my place, Corey. Jayna's a far better cook than I am, as you've seen. Seriously, kid, just because you can survive on ramen and TV dinners doesn't mean you /should./" "Oh, gosh, yeah, um, there weren't no holes just -- a lotta stress an' a lotta tired. I think," Jackson admits with another blush, "that I mighta hurt Micah more than anyone else did." His eye widens at Corey's food explanation, and on his next swing upwards he hops down off the seat, one hand still holding onto the chain so that he can lower it back down rather than let it swing back and crash into Micah. "Corey, honey-honey, you are /eating/ a /real food/, okay?" Right this /minute/, apparently, because Jax is dropping down to his knees at the side of the swingset so that he can fish tupperware and a fork out of the tote bag. He shoves the /whole/ large tupperware of noodle-lentil-veggie-sauce mixture towards Corey. Eat it ALL. "What clinic?" Only with immediate /food crisis/ being tended to does he look back towards Hanna, his own brow creasing, too. "Lost? Oh -- oh gosh, do you think somethin's /happened/?" As the topics shift from being shot at to being fed proper meals, Corey blinks a few times a little bemusedly. "Alright alright, I'll eat some healthy things right now." Accepting the tupperware from Jax, he pops it open and takes a sniff before smiling. "Smells pretty good at least. I presume no dessert till after I eat my supper?" Smiling, he forks some of the mixture into his mouth, even properly chewing it before responding. "The one in Clinton, run by a Doctor Toure. I was just going to volunteer for receptionisting, since well I can't say I know a damn thing about actual proper medicine. But I can probably save up and take some classes over time anyway." He goes back to shoveling food into his face as he looks to Hanna to wait for the answer to Jax's question. “Imma vote for horrible. Sounds like a way t'end up in a hospital with all /kindsa/ bad,” Micah insists with a headshake. “/Does/ seem t'keep gettin' scarier, though.” He falls quiet for a moment, frowning slightly, until Jax goes for the food. Clearly, this is permission to eat more cookies! A hand goes sneaky-snaking around Jax and into the bag, withdrawing another container to pry off its lid and steal a chocolate cookie. He stores the cookie in his mouth, holding the container out to Jax in offering. “Mmpfh.” Okay, so maybe the cookie should return to a hand once he has a bite. “They do good work over there. Nice folks,” he comments on the clinic. Hanna looks at Jax for a moment, before seeming to remember something, "Oh. Hm. Maybe you've seen him around actually. Forgot that he came into the bakery with you a while back." She pauses and skids her feet on the ground, letting her swinging stop, "Tag? The little hyper rainbow guy that makes the colors on anything that sits still? He's been doing freelance stuff for me, but hasn't answered his phone in well over a week. I'm... starting to get worried. More than starting to, really. He seemed out of it the last time I saw him, and..." The baker falls quiet, resting on the swingset, "If you see him, let him know I'm worried about him. He's a good kid, and a damn good artist." She does smirk at Corey, nodding as he eats the offered noodles, her tone taking on a mocking edge as she mimics June Cleaver's voice, "No dessert or TV until you finish your supper, mister. No excuses." She chuckles and shakes her head, standing up with a bit of a sigh, "Alright. Speaking of dinner, I need to be getting the rest of the way home, or Jayna's just going to eat dinner without me. If any of you need me, for anything, let me know." Brushing her dress off and straightening the skirts back into a properly organized fluff, Hanna offers a cheery smile to the assembled group. Jax grins when Micah sneaks a cookie, nabbing one for himself as well. "Pssh, the fun of being an adult is you can have dessert /whenever/ you like. Oh!" He brightens again at the mention of the clinic. "Yeah, that place is good -- good. They an' Doctor Toure done help us out kinda /enormously/ in a couple'a tough situations when just about nobody else /would/." His brightening dims again, though, at the mention of Tag. His brow furrows, troubled, and he nods to Hanna. "Yeah, he's -- well, we been kinda -- worrying, too, um, a couple'a friends was gonna try an' hunt him down --" His teeth sink in against his lip. "If we hear from him I'll let you know. He's -- he's a good guy, yeah." He manages a quick smile for Hanna, glittery nails curling in a wave. "Bye!" Finishing off about half the container of tupperware, Corey's phone starts going off in his pocket, with just a regular old ringtone. "Crap, hold on." Foisting the container off on whomever's hands are empty enough to receive it, he puts the phone to his ear, with the resulting "Uh huh, yeah. Hold on. Yeah. One minute, alright?" Putting his hand to the receiver, he glances to the guys. "Sorry I've got to go take this. Thanks for the food, it was really good. Next time, I'll put the phone on silent so I don't miss out on dessert. Evening guys!" He's turning to walk away with the phone to one ear, and his other hand to his other ear to block out the noise as he heads away from the group. “Oh, Tag...I haven't seen him since...a really long time ago. His roommate Mel was worryin' after him, too.” Micah's brow creases, clearly adding himself to the worried individuals list. “You better get home, then. Can't have you missin' dinner, either, Miss!” he teases as Hanna starts to head off. “Have a good night. And good food!” Speaking of which, he obviously needs another bite of cookie. Nom. “Dessert all the times!” he agrees with Jax before Corey, too, is making a hasty exit. “G'night, Corey!” Micah also offers a wave to the departing form, in case his words are lost in the phone call. “Well.” He looks to Jax with a small but broadening smile. “That went right back t'dinner for two right quick, didn't it?” "G'night!" Jackson chirrups in cheerful echo of Micah as Corey departs. He munches down his cookie in three quick bites, licking crumbs off the corner of his mouth afterwards. The smile he turns to Micah is smaller, a little more tired but a little more /warm/. His arm snakes around Micah's waist, and he leans in to kiss the other man lightly on the temple. "Sounds like a pretty wonderful evenin' to me. Can we eat it," he asks this so hopefully, looking across the playground at all of its structures for climbing into and on, "in the /castle/?" Micah makes quick work of the last little bit of cookie left between his index finger and thumb before brushing his hands together to free them of crumbs. “I'm not complainin', either. I enjoy people time, but Jax time is on a whole other level. Namely, a level up on a /castle/,” he answers playfully, adding his own light-quick kiss to Jax's lips. He repacks the bag with its containers and grabs it by the handles for toting castle-ward. "Sounds like basically the /best/ level. I'm puttin' my Micah-time up there, too." Jackson's smile brightens at the kiss, and he squeezes briefly tighter where his arm curls around Micah. But then he just slips his hand into the other man's, not dashing off this time but sticking by Micah's side for the short walk across the playground.