ArchivedLogs:Letdown
| Letdown | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia
|
2013-10-08 ' |
| Location
<NYC> 403 {Geekhaus} - Village Lofts - East Village | |
There's kind of a college-dorm feel to this place, though some of its occupants have left college behind. Entering the apartment finds visitors greeted by the perpetually messy living room, a mismatched assortment of couches and chairs (and milk crates) surrounding the wide table in the center. The wall holds a range of posters; some political, some sporty, some from video games, and a string of white lights strung over the kitchen doorway might be a holdover from Christmas. A widescreen television stands against the wall opposite the couch, shelving beside it holding a host of video games from different consoles. More shelving beside the windows on the far wall carries stacks of board games, as well as sourcebooks from various RPGs. The kitchen adjacent is just as cluttered, its table unfit for eating due to its perpetual covering of books, papers, cereal boxes, projects; the fridge is usually sparsely populated. Ketchup. Beer. Not a lot of food. There are two bedrooms here and one bathroom situated between them, split between the three people who live here. It's late in the afternoon, and before /too/ much longer it'll be Game Night here in Geekhaus. At the moment, though, it is apparently Sewing Time; Dusk has cleared off /one/ section of the living room table, though the rest of it is still cluttered with notebooks and textbooks and RPG sourcebooks, magazines and empty dishes, a half-finished bag of chips, a few empty bottles of Bawls... it is not really in condition yet for gaming. It's not /really/ in condition yet for sewing either AND YET. Dusk has perched himself on a crate beside the table, lower lip caught between fanged teeth as he focuses on the cloth panel he is working. Perhaps eventually it will be a shirt! Right now it is getting extra large holes hemmed up; /eventually/ place for his wings to fit through. Right now, just a panel of cloth. And some holes. He's dressed as he usually is at home, which is to say Not Very; faded bluejeans, no shoes, no shirt. Kaori rode back into the neighborhood, confident in her destination this time. The twins had given her directions! Which was super helpful, and now she /knows/ where to go. She hops off her BMX, stows the bike helmet in her Yoda backpack, which is a pretty expensive looking replica of the movie character, clinging to her back. She's wearing fitted, bright blue cargo pants, a spandex white biking shirt with a fair number of sponsor decals, but it's still the kind of thing anyone could pick up at a sports store. Her neon green hair is pulled into three ponytails: one down her back, and two out to the sides, like pigtails. She shoulders the lightweight bike at the entrance to the building, scans the buzzer board, presses 403, and bounces gently on the balls of her feet. Idly, she checks her hair in the reflection of the glass doors. "Yep?" It's a male voice, crackling out through the speaker in short order. "Konnichiwa, Dou-<crackle>, it's Kaori. Can I come up?" This time, the pause is a little bit longer. Namely, the time it takes Dusk to frown at his intercom, head to the window to peer four floors down to the street, and then return. There's no answer, just the buzzing open of the front door. Kaori hauls the door open, banging through the opening as she tries to wedge her bike into the entryway with her. Readjusting it to sit on her shoulder better, she cocks her head and frowns at the mysterious slot next to the elevator, and turns to face the stairs with a sigh. Fortunately her sport bike really isn't all that heavy, but four floors is still /four floors/. She arrives on the landing and sets the bike down, taking a moment to catch her breath, fix her hair, and take a moment. Glancing around, she spies 403, rolls her bike to that spot in the hall, and knocks on the door. Dusk's dark eyes are wide when he opens the door, enormous wings pulled in against his back though their upper claws still make for prominent spiking pinnacles rising to frame his head. There's a long moment after answering the door when he just looks Kaori over with a faintly incredulous look, before shaking his head abruptly. "You're -- wow, um, hi, you're -- not. Here for game night are you?" Kaori's expression is equally wide-eyed, but for her part, she needs a moment with the /wings/ rising up over Dusk's shoulders. "Oh wow..." she says. Her expression is not fear, or revulsion, but just /impressed/. Which is still not a particularly polite expression, but that's what she's got. "Those are... wow. Oh, sorry. Sorry! Um, hi. Is Doug here? Shane said Doug lives here." "Wait, wow? What's --" Dusk turns his head to look back over his shoulder. "What's um. No, wow's my line." He is digging his phone out of his pocket, frowning first at the time in mild puzzlement before unlocking it to send a text. "Shane said -- ohmygod, that's right, he said he met -- um, are you sure you remembered the apartment right, Doug's just one floor -- well, he'll be down here soon actually we have a party this time every week but." His eyes have only left Kaori for the brief time it takes to check that he's entered his message right. "You know Doug?"
Kaori idly pulls funny faces that she doesn't realize she's making as she rocks back slowly on her feet, and then forward again, watching as Dusk texts furiously. She also takes the opportunity of his distractedness to eye his wings a little more closely. Eventually she just sits down on the cross bar of her bike, rolling it sideways back and forth in the hallway. Dusk's wings are shifting against his back, flexing slightly, pulling back in. He glances up to Kaori's face, a faint flush of colour dusting his cheeks as he pulls the door open wider. Gestures, with one wing -- even larger than it seems when folded, as it expands to invite Kaori in. "Doug says he's just around the corner, if you want to um. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee. Juice. Um. How did you meet Doug? That's just -- so cool." Kaori's face is an interesting mix of expressions. She's finally catching on to the fact that Dusk is a fan, which should generally be handled a certain way. But then his wing /opens/ even further and she's just. Stare. At exactly the same time Dusk is saying 'That's just -- so cool', she says virtually the same thing, and then giggles. She takes a deep breath, and nods. "Yeah, thanks." She rolls her bike into the apartment and leans it against an open stretch of wall near the door. "Maybe just water? Thanks." She offers Dusk a sweet smile. "I met Doug over at the Riverside skate park. I've been practicing over there the most, lately. Almost too cold for skating though. But that's ok. That means it's snowboard season!" She /actually/ bounces and spins once in place. Apparently she likes this idea, and it makes her three ponytails spin. "What's cool?" Dusk seems genuinely perplexed by this. He closes the door again once Kaori is in, wings unfurling -- slightly, there's not actually /room/ in the apartment for them to stretch out fully -- and then tucking neatly back in to fold against his back once more. "Oh! Hey, I used to go there a lot. My roommate's at college at Columbia, I'd meet him after classes for --" He waves one hand vaguely, hopping over an upturned milk crate to head towards the kitchen and wash a glass so that he can fill it with water. "-- I don't actually /know/ anywhere I can snowboard anymore," he admits with a crooked grin. "Skating's easier, at least." Kaori makes a quick bow of her head and says, "I'm so sorry. I meant... you're wings are cool. I'm terrible at these things. Always... pointing. So sorry." She follows Dusk to the kitchen area, and adds, "Ug, I'm sorry, is it nowhere to snowboard because of your wings?." Her english is so good, sometimes her little grammatical hitches come out of left field. "You know, New Zealand people have been kind of cool, sometimes. About... mutant people. Well, some of them. I go there to snowboard in the summer sometimes. And maybe-" Kaori stops her babbling and just looks down at the counter. "Sorry." Thumpathumpathump. This is the sound of a sneakered foot at the door to the apartment, indicating the arrival of Doug. The reason for the sneaker knock is that the teenager is laden down like a pack mule; a stack of flat boxes balanced on one hand; a bag of clinking bottles in the other, and a backpack hanging from one shoulder. He's dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt with the Triforce on the chest. He bounces on his toes for a moment before he lifts his foot to thump again, just once this time. "Yeah. People don't really like to have mutants --" Dusk's crooked smile curls a little wider. "Well, anywhere, actually. But especially not places they're paying to be." His wings twitch slightly at the compliment. He holds out the glass of water towards Kaori. "New Zealand looks gorgeous but I'd always be expecting elves and hobbits to pop out at me. I don't know, maybe some day if I win the lottery --" His head shakes, and he glances over towards the door at the knocking. "Oh! S'probably Doug, party's not for a -- bit." His wing brushes lightly against Kaori's shoulder as he passes, heading back out to open the door. "Oh, hey. Sorry, I stole your guest. You know, I had no idea you even /did/ web -- I mean, that's like an entirely different field than -- sorry, Kaori's in here. Um. Do you need a hand with --" He gestures at the bag in Doug's hand. "Oh hey," Kaori says, turning to see Doug in the doorway, glass held in both hands. Her expression is unmistakable, for those who can read such things. This young lady is crushing on a boy who it seems everyone but her knows is unavailable. "Hi," she repeats. She apparently forgets the part where she should jump in and offer to help too. She just watches. She takes a sip of water, which is convenient to have, because she's suddenly very thirsty. Doug grins when the door opens, and wrinkles his nose at Dusk's apologies. "You didn't damage her, did you?" he teases, handing over the bag readily when help is offered. "Oh, hey, thanks. I got some of that kosher soda, and some pies from the take and bake place. There were a lot of people here, last time." He lifts a shoulder at the comments on his web design, wrinkling his nose. "I started out making web pages," he says. "That led me into coding and then.." there's a waggle of fingers at his temple, and another shrug. "I still do it, just not as much." He smiles brightly at Kaori as he enters the apartment, heading for the kitchen to set down the pizzas. "Hey, Kaori. I didn't know you were coming by, or I would have gone out earlier. What's up?" He seems chipper as he shrugs off his backpack. "Oh, hey," he says to Dusk, holding up his backpack and patting it. "I got a good game for tonight. Vintage, even." Dusk takes the bag of sodas, moving over to set it on the kitchen counter. "Probably a lot of people this week, too, I think Hive has some of his -- frat brothers in town, they're celebrating his --" He shakes his head, and glances over towards the already kind of overflowing shelves of games against a wall. "Yeah? What game? Y'want to put it, uh --" He frowns at the shelves, and then flicks a wing towards the door of his bedroom. "Just in there anywhere, I gotta clean this fucking place up. I don't think I broke --" He looks back at Kaori, and then quiets. His eyebrows raise. His eyes dart between her and Doug, and he turns aside, directing a smirk down to the counter. Kaori seems to gloss over a lot of what Doug is saying at first, as she watches him move about. Then he's asking her a question. She blinks and resurfaces from her imagination where things were happening. "Oh sorry, I should have called. Sorry. I just, looked over the mock-ups you did, and thought we could go over them." She clears her throat and takes a sip. "Go over them over dinner, but you have a party and everything planned. I totally should have called. Sorry..." She stops herself again, waiting for Doug and Dusk to get everything sorted out. Of course she misses Dusk's smirk, because she's only watching one person. And it's not Dusk. Doug is unaware of any smirking, as well, as he opens his backpack and pulls out a battered-looking cardboard box. "Behold the 1981 classic Dark Tower," he proclaims, holding it up over his head like Excalibur. "The daring game of magic and mystery!' He grins, and drops his hand, tucking the box under his arm with a nod. "Oh, the mock-ups?" he echoes Kaori, blinking for a moment as his brain recalibrates. "Yeah, we can go over them, but tonight's..." he holds up the box with an apologetic look. "You're totally welcome to stay," he offers. "But we might not have a lot of focus on business-type things." He offers a tight grin, and pushes into Dusk's bedroom. A moment later, his voice drifts back. "....holy /shit/." Dusk grinds a palm against his eye through Kaori's fumbling words, staying put where he is near the counter. At least until Doug mentions the game, at which he straightens with a sudden widening of his eyes. "Holy /shit/!" He darts after Doug towards the bedroom, staring at the box with a widening grin. "-- Seriously? And it still works and everything holy /shi -- wait what are /you/ excited about it's your game." He leans against the doorway, and flicks a wing back to Kaori in indication. "She was totally trying to ask you on a date just now, dude. You probably want to give her an, uh, answer on that." Kaori trails after the boys, eventually, ducking slightly to peer under Dusk's wing at the excitement in Dusk's room. She pulls a sideways face, probably a little confused about the excitement over the board game, but not judging. Just confused. She looks like she's about to say something about the invitation to stay, when Dusk makes his fateful explanation of everything. Her eyes go wide, her face goes red, and she rolls away from the bedroom doorway to lean back against the wall between room and living room. She grips the glass of water and just stares into it for moment. "Yep," she finally squeaks. "What he said." Doug is standing in Dusk's room just STARING at the computer system there. He looks very much like he might fall to his knees and start /worshipping/ it. "This...is..." words fail him, and he staggers a half-step forward, his attention firmly on that. So it takes a minute for Dusk's helpful input to filter through to the working part of the blonde's brain, and he turns with a perplexed sort of look. "A date?" he echoes, and his brow furrows as he considers this. Finally, the realization makes its way through, and he colors. "Oh, wow," he says, chewing on his bottom lip. "I'm really flattered, and all, Kaori, but I don't think that'd work." Which sounds really crappy, and he knows it, as his color deepens. "I mean...I don't date. Girls, that is." "Oh. Oh, /that/. That's Thayet, she's kind of my baby. Ian and I built -- well. You should've seen his setup, too. It's actually down -- Liam needed a new computer so." Dusk shrugs one wing, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe and pulling his wing back to stretch it out /behind/ Kaori so that she can better see into the room. He is quiet through the explanation, watching Doug with an almost expectant look before he straightens. "You're still totally welcome to stay for the party. Games, people -- usually really excellent food." Kaori bites her lip when she can hear the let down coming. But when it comes, she blinks for a second, and then her eyes light up and she smiles. And still looks embarrassed. She swings around to lean against the door frame, under Dusk's wing, matching Doug's blush. "Oh my gosh..." She just pauses a moment. "I totally thought... because." She sighs, and thinks for a moment. "That is actually not a bad let down, though. Because..." She giggles and says, "Well, it's not like... you like a /different/ girl. And... I don't make a very good boy." She takes a deep breath. "So, but, maybe the three of us, could just... maybe not tell anyone, if I stay for the party, about my big gay crush?" She grins hopefully at the guys. Doug's brow twitches into a small furrow at the unfinished thought, but he lets it go, exhaling heavily when the girl appears to take it in stride -- sort of, anyway. "Yeah, I'm sorry. You're really cool and all, and fun to hang out with..." He grimaces, and breaks off. "I'm just going to shut up, now. Your secret dies with me." That comes with a gentle, friendly smile. Then he's shifting focus to Dusk. "I had no idea you had this down here," he says. "I should have had you help me with that system I built a couple of months ago." He looks back at the computer with a wistful sort of expression. "When I make my millions, you're /totally/ building me one of these." "See," Dusk's tone is light, mild, "there's a good way to handle someone not being into you. And, uh, if you ran into /Shane/ and he sent you up here -- well. If you were as subtle with him as you were just now he /probably/ already knows about the crush." He gives Kaori a quick smile. "-- But he's a sweet kid I doubt it's going to be headline news." His smile brightens at the mention of his computer. "Yeah, my mom taught -- um." He draws in a quick breath. "I mean, I've been working on computers since basically as soon as I figured out how to operate my /fingers/. Hold things. Put together desktops." His eyes lower to the ground, wings flattening against his back. "Yeah." This is quieter. "When you get rich I'll come work for you." He pushes away from the doorframe, turning back to the rest of his apartment. "-- Holy shit, alright, feel free to entertain yourselves with the --" He gestures towards the TV and its assortment of games. "I have got to clean this place the hell up before people get here." | |
