ArchivedLogs:Pokemon

Pokemon
Dramatis Personae B, Melinda, Shane, Tak
In Absentia	2015-01-10 '
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Spacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to plentiful artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants. The seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play. The chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. A pair of single-user bathrooms flanks the stairway in back of the cafe; at night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits up the stairs above the coffeehouse. It's busy in here, on Saturday night -- or at least, there's a busy stream of /people/ coming through, up to the club upstairs. The actual cafe isn't particularly packed, half the tables full though many of the couches are just occupied (judging by the colourful outfits worn) by people getting caffeine'd up in preparation for dancing upstairs. The actual counter doesn't even have a line, just Tak slouched against the counter looking kind of bored as he browses tumblr on his phone. The muffled thump of music vibrates through the ceiling. There are not one but two small blue sharks lurking in the cafe. B is on hir computer, tucked into a side table as ze slowly tries to plow through a veeeery overcrowded inbox. Ze is in thick multicoloured socks that disappear up beneath hir flame-hued pixie skirt, scrunchy black legwarmers, stompy black boots with enormous buckles, HERBIVORE sweatshirt worn over a black tee, buckly-strappy black and silver armwarmers, silvery leather jacket discarded behind her. Shane has been upstairs, but is just trotting down from the club, disappearing briefly into the back before he reappears. He's black-on-black tonight, vest and slacks and dress shirt and jacket all just -- black. Except his bow tie, that's flame-hued to match B's skirt. He plops himself down at B's table, bonking his forehead lightly into his twin's shoulder. "Made a dent yet?" "{No}," B answers Shane in Vietnamese rather than English, "{Not hardly. I'm starting to think /I/ need an assistant to handle my schedule.}" And switching back neatly into English, "Tony Hawk wants to do some. Promo thing. Demo my. Hoverboards. And there's like a /million/ interviews I haven't even looked at and -- {you know, I've never even seen Back to the Future?}" Shane snorts, at this. "{You probably should see it now.}" Melinda makes an appearance in the cafe at least Saturday night. She shucks off her heavy winter coat to reveal an argyle sweater over a white button down, a denim skirt underneath. Thick, fleece line tights keep the frost bite from her skin, while bunched up gray socks cover her calves warmly. She scuffs her boots off as best as possible on the carpet near the entrance before heading in further and making her way to the line-less order desk, smiling to Tak. "Hey, here's a question, what exactly is your limit on the number of espresso shots you can put in one drink and sell legally?" She glances over her shoulders at this point, picking out the proprietors. Tak's eyes widen faintly at this question, hand lowering to set his phone back down on the counter. "Legally, ah -- that's --" Over at the table, Shane's head has tipped, ear tilting towards the counter. "S'no legal limit to espresso shots caffeine in drinks isn't a regulated substance," he calls back out kind of lazily towards the barista, "but we don't actually have a mug that'll hold more than a dozen I think and you'd maybe give yourself a heart attack." Tak spreads his hands, looking at Mel. "A dozen? Plus heart attack?" "I was mostly curious. May I have a medium latte with only one extra shot? Hazelnut milk, if you have it." Melinda pays for the drink and turns in the direction of the twins, giving a little smile. "I think today was the first time I was asked that question at work. Though, now that I have heard it, I am wondering why no one has asked it before while I have been on shift." She gives a little shrug and lets her gaze travel over the twins' outfits. "Has your day been dull or interesting?" "Hive was the first person who asked me that," Shane answers Mel. "First goddamn day we opened, bastard. I had to look it the fuck up." Tak gives his head a small shake as he takes Mel's payment. "I have coconut, almond, or soy, are any of those okay?" He waits for her answer before turning aside to make her drink. "Dull as fuck," Shane is answering Mel, kind of simultaneously with B replying: "... I guess sort of interesting --" though she seems a little uncertain about it. Her eyes haven't left her computer screen, fingers still rapidly moving against the keys. "B went and got hirself accidentally famous," Shane explains. B blushes at this, head ducking. "... it really was an accident," ze mumbles. "How are you?" "Coconut, please." Melinda agrees to the switch before turning away again and stepping toward the twins. "Dull and interesting at the same time? I see. How did you get accidentally famous? Is it a good famous?" She doesn't leave the bar though, hovering while waiting for her drink. "I... have had an okay day. Nothing much happened aside from the interesting caffeine question. We found a mug that allowed for nine shots, but the individual requested room for cream, so we dropped it back to eight." The small quirk of discomfort she starts her answer with dissipates as she continues talking about coffee. "Yeah, at the same time but," Shane answers this with a sharp thin flash of teeth, "in different places. This is hard for a lot of people to believe but we don't actually live the same life. We did different things with our day, see." B's blush deepens at Shane's answer, though ze curbs the reflex to apologize for hir twin. "I don't know, I started a company and I guess there was a movie with hoverboards --" She shakes her head uncertainly. "She's being modest. She invented the fucking future. People are flipping their shit but then they flip it worse when they realize the kid that invented hoverboards is blue with sharkteeth. It's like oh fuck we need an interview! -- oh fuck maybe, uh, no pictures, shit." Shane snorts, slouching back in his chair. "Will eight shots make you vibrate?" "Poor phrasing on my part. I apologize. I know you two have very different interests and entirely different lives." Melinda turns back to pick up her drink before heading over to the twins' table, looking for permission to sit down. "Hoverboards? Wonderful. Isn't... this the year from the second movie?" Her eyebrows crinkle as she pulls her phone out of her pocket to begin to examine internet, in search of the date. "Not that it's important. I think people would lose their shit over hoverboards period. Not sure what to say about interviews as the sort -- that's more of a personal decision." Her lips purse, taken back by the last question. "Oh, I guess so, if you drink it fast enough." Shane stretches out a leg, kicking a chair out from the table in unspoken invitation to sit. "Yeah and everyone all over the internet is all, 2015, fuck, weren't we supposed to have hoverboards by now, and B is just fucking, pfft, /on/ it." B's blush doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon. She rubs a palm against gills that are starting to flutter, pressing them back down. "They've been selling really well so that's. I don't know. People can hate my teeth all they want they're still going to put me through college." "That's an understatement. By the time she fucking graduates she can retire." Shane hooks a leg up onto the seat of his chair, heel hooked at the edge and his arm curling around his knee. "I should try it. Stuck here till closing since Pa's not --" His teeth grind, briefly. Head thunks back against the back of his chair. "I think it'd take more than eight shots for /you/." B presses hir lips together thoughtfully. "At least to keep it up. You'd vibrate early and then stop. We burn through them faster." "Well, B, you've got a knack for foresight. Now, you just need to pioneer some of that ridiculous fashion from the movies and get started on flying cars." Melinda settles into her seat, setting the coffee down in front of her. She looks up at Shane when he mentions Jax, concern tugging at her features. There's coffee talk to level her out and she chuckles lightly. "Yeah. There is a problem with workin in this industry. We grow tolerances that would stun mere mortals. And you two with your metabolism. I'm surprised you haven't hooked a hose up to the espresso machine already." She lifts her cup to blow on it. "I suppose that is why we serve it hot. Nothing tastes as good with scalded taste buds. It forces us to slow down." "I'm -- actually working on a flying motorcycle," B admits softly. "But not for sale. Just for. Us." "S'fucking badass, though. Guess the flying cars'll come next." Shane tips his head to the side, resting his temple against B's shoulder. "You want a hoverbike, B can hook you up." B wrinkles her nose. "... not /yet/. Anyway aren't we talking about slowing /down/?" "Nah, it's okay, I could use a few more years before I start cruising around on a motorcycle of any type. I'm guessing they'll have the same tendency toward toppling as the non-hovering versions." Mel smiles and exhales across the surface of her drink once more before sipping. "Mmmm. Delicious. Yeah, you have to take some time off from being a mechanical genius to do that whole college thing. Finish that coming of age thing that people do at that point in their lives, take over the world after that." "What? No. I meant /you/ slowing down," B clarifies with a small twitch of smile. "Hoverbikes are fast. /I'm/ going to be a mechanical genius /in/ college." "Fully expect," Shane agrees brightly, "that ze'll have the world taken over by hir junior year." B's lips press together. "Sophomore." Hir eyes lower, the smile fading. "Anyway, I think we came of age a long time ago." "Yeah, probably. I... mostly wanted to swing by tonight to let you know that if you ever needed anything, anything I can provide, I'd be happy to. I know you're probably physically fine and it sounds like you have more than enough income between your endeavors. I just... saw Jax and Micah last night. Wanted to give you two a safe place to spend time if you needed it. Spence, too." The twins fall into silence. Shane sits up, gills fluttering as he looks over at B. B looks down at the table. "Spence probably needs it," B finally says. "I mean, he's been coming out to school to see us," Shane continues, "and he's got Sera to hang out with and /his/ school friends and Flicker and --" "-- kids at the Commons but things at home are --" "-- shitty as fuck and he's not." "... happy and he probably," "needs it more. We're okay." Though Shane's other leg is pulling up to the chair, now, both arms wrapping around his knees. Gills rustling fast against his starchy collar. "I mean, we go to /boarding/ school. We've got space." "Jax might die." B sounds oddly bland when he says this. "I'm not even sure Micah cares." "... I'm not even sure Micah notices." "Next time you see Spencer, please let him know. Tove is home a lot. I don't think he would ever arrive there and find it empty." Melinda lifts her glass and takes a longer drink before she inhales deeply once more. "I'm going to work to stage an intervention for Jax's sake, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. They are both so poisoned at this point, I doubt either of them is thinking straight. I offered to babysit, try to give them a chance to... wake the fuck up, but Micah lost it and I ended the conversation." Shane's head thunks back down onto B's shoulder. His eyes close, his own shoulders tensing. "{I'm sorry}," he says to his twin, "I should have let you smash the fuck out of that damn egg." B lifts a hand, fingers pressing to the side of Shane's collar to hold his gills down. "You should have," she agrees, "but it wouldn't have changed /their/ decision. They still wanted this. More than --" Hir lips thin. "They're poisoned now," Shane agrees with Mel. "They weren't when they /decided/ this was more important than our family." "You are right. They were not poisoned then. Just oblivious and optimistic." Melinda falls silent for a moment, covering for her silence and thoughtfulness with a long sip of coffee, holding the mug near her lips for a while. "You two have my support and sympathy. I had originally offered to talk to you two about talking with them - but you're almost adults in the legal sense as well now and I think you're probably going to be okay, in comparison to where they are at." "Thanks." Shane stays leaning against B, eyes still closed. "I don't want to talk with them." B's voice is softer still. "I mean, I want them. They don't want us. They just want..." "Pokemon," Shane volunteers with a fleeting-crooked quirk of smile. It fades quickly. B huffs out a sharp breath. Not really a laugh. "Yeah. I want a /family/. Don't really want to be part of someone's collection. Look how good we are. Look how many poor helpless creatures we saved." Shane wriggles his feet back down onto the floor, pressing a kiss to B's temple. "I should get back to work." "That is a fairly ... intriguing comparison." Mel smiles and exhales moodily. "And a little accurate." She wets her lips and clears her throat. "Oh, B, I am..." she shakes her head and waves a hand, expressing the futility of words, "filled with sympathy, concern, and frustration. I regret bringing it up. I don't want to put you through more. I should just let it go." She blinks a few times, trying to get her eyes to stop being moist. Shane circles around the table, curling his arms down around Melinda's shoulders. He presses a kiss to the top of her head. "Thanks for stopping by." His gills are still fluttering as he turns to head back behind the counter. B's eyes return to her computer, her shoulders a little bit tighter. "Make sure Pa doesn't die, okay?" "I will do what I can, I promise." Melinda exhales and leans into Shane's hug, squeezing him back, then lets him go back to work. She turns her attention to B for a moment, then turns to her coffee and finishes. Then she moves to embrace B, hugging hir tight. "Take care of yourselves, okay? We'll figure out what to do with your former dads." B just leans back into the hug, eyes briefly closing. Hir gills flutter once, then press flat. Ze only nods, mutely, claws scraping down against hir keyboard and hir eyes still fixed on the screen.