The Devil's Nest, Monday Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

"Wait, you are?" Verity couldn't stop beaming at her phone. "Sarah that's great news! I can't believe you're enrolling in--wait." The joy in her voice suddenly turned to suspicion. "You're not showing up in Baltimore to keep an eye on me because my parents asked, are you?"

Tiny was wiping down the counter, trying to eavesdrop. He could just make out the cadence of another woman's voice over the line.

"So Grandma and Grandpa asked, then?"

The voice sounded vaguely guilty.

"No, no, it's fine," Verity sighed. "I should have known immediately it would have taken something huge to get you out of Manhattan. What does Artie think?"

The voice started to babble indignantly and Verity laughed.

"Teach you to try to pull a fast one on me. Okay, I'm at work, I've gotta go and make my co-worker start scrubbing the bathrooms for trying to eavesdrop on my call. Love you, Sarah." Verity's phone was back in her pocket and she glared at Tiny, finger pointing towards the restrooms. "March!"

Comments

Mod Your Bar

[arboreal_priestess]

When Tiny comes back and Verity has made him wash his hands five times.

Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

When she's not glaring at the DJ and demanding he pick a goddamn beat.

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

Jono wasn't here for drinks, naturally. Jono was here because Sarah wasn't the only person who was supposed to be keeping an eye on Verity.

//So... felt the urge to stuff any students into a closet, yet?//

Well, that, and for socialization. Even an introvert like Jonothon had to get out of the house for something besides work occasionally.

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"Surprisingly, not yet," Verit said, giving Jono a grin. "But then, last week, I introduced them to one cryptid species that's half-cat, half-cactus and another that was half-cat, half-magpie, so I'm preemptively tormenting them." Lesser griffins were adorable, but absolute pains in the asses. "You?"

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

//Had one conversation about 'songs about home' turn into talk about why country songs so often have tight jeans as a topic,// Jono offered. //Which I think has been a highlight so far. Oh, and I burst the bubble of a student who thought Tracy Chapman was a man.//

He spread his hands a little.

//I take my little sadistic moments where I can, I suppose.//

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"I mean...I guess?" Verity said, face scrunching as she tried to figure that one out. "She's got a really deep voice, but, still."

Oh children. Granted, Verity was only twenty-two herself, but still. Oh children.

"Why do country songs so often have tight jeans as a topic?"

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

Jono just gave Verity an amused look at that.

//It's a little bit the 'work clothes' aspect of the country lifestyle, I think,// he replied, almost, almost managing to sound like he was about to give a serious answer. //And a little bit, have you ever seen a nice bottom wrapped up neatly in a pair of tight jeans?//

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity laughed, thinking back to some of the nicer bottoms she'd seen. "Yeah, I have," she said. "But what you're all really missing out on? A nice bottom wrapped up in tango attire. Blue jeans eat your heart out."

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

//Oh, I think I'm going to require photographic evidence of that one,// Jono replied easily. //Most dance lessons I've been hauled off to over th'years have either been swing or ballet.//

He could blame one on Hannibal and the other on Jubilee. He wasn't even going to specify which was which.

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"Have you ever seen Dance or Die?" Verity asked. "Dance competition reality TV show. I'm fond of it."

She--or, rather, her professional tango dancing alter-ego, Valerie Pryor--had placed second last season.

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

It had been nearly three years, now, since Liam had felt anything even remotely like the Taelon Commonality. And this was a single presence, not the symphony he'd been used to for the first half of his life... but still. Similar enough that he found himself looking over at the source of it.

The seemingly-on-fire might have given him pause, at one point, but since it didn't actually seem to be bothering the guy in question, Liam just offered a friendly smile and a "Hey."

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

Meeting people for the first time, on the island, generally tended to go one of three ways. There were the curious-but-polite, the mistrustful-or-disgusted, or the outright-bloody-terrified.

It was always a relief when somebody spoke to him for the first time and it was that first one, yes.

//Hey,// he replied, raising a hand in order to wave, since smiles weren't exactly his easiest form of greeting these days. //Good evening for, ah, a drink, huh?//

... He didn't do 'bar small talk' as often as he did back when he still had a mouth. Dammit.

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

That was a new experience. Human telepaths existed in his world- much like everything else, the product of alien genetic manipulation- but he'd never actually met one himself.

"I'm more here for the company, to be honest," Liam said, and sure enough, that smile maybe turned a bit goofy as his gaze slipped over in Verity's direction.

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

Ah, so there was a topic that Jono could follow, right there. He followed Liam's gaze, and that smile he hadn't bothered with before was showing up anyway, right around the corners of his eyes.

//Ah,// he replied, //I see. Less for the bar, more for the bartender. I can respect that.//

As a man with no mouth who also had eyes. Sure, he was married. Didn't mean he was dead.

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

"I'm also making a concerted effort to be more social in general," Liam admitted. "Hence the saying hi to a complete stranger." Well, that and the 'loud pinging of psionic awareness' thing, but that wasn't the sort of thing he brought up until he was at least aware of someone's name. Which, speaking of... "Liam Kincaid," he introduced himself, offering a hand.

Re: Talk to Verity

[furnaceface]

//Jonothon Starsmore,// Jono greeted, reaching to give Liam a friendly-if-firm handshake. //Also a member of team needs-to-be-more-social, admittedly. I'm Verity's teaching buddy at the school this semester, so I figured I'd get the hell out of the house tonight and see how her students are treating her thus far.//

Which had turned into a long conversation about how screwed up humanity in general and his reality in particular seemed to be, but that was how socialization worked, right?

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

"Not how she's treating her students?" Liam checked, because if there was one thing he knew about Verity, it was that she could give as good as she got, and he highly doubted teenage sass (even accounting for Fandom's tendency to attract atypical teenagers) stood much of a chance.

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

Unlike Sarah and Jono, Liam was under no instructions to 'keep an eye on' Verity. He did, however, greatly enjoy her company, which was why he was stopping by tonight.

"How's the night going so far?" he asked as he slid into a seat by the bar.

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"Night just perked up considerably," Verity said with a smile just for him. No disrespect to Jono, obviously. But he certainly hadn't taken her to the rainforest to meet a new species of cryptid. "And you, oh sheriff my sheriff?"

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

"Seeking a much-needed break from the rigors of enforcing the law around here." Which was a bald-faced lie, of course, as there were generally no rigors to speak of.

Except for the bee lady, of course, but she was more of a nuisance.

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"Does that mean I can't get you to take a look at all the damage the wee-fee is doing to the glass in the bar?" Verity asked with a straight face.

Verity, you were terrible. Get the man a drink and maybe a kiss.

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

The absolute worst. But drinks and kisses would definitely offset said terribleness.

"I still don't know what she wants me to actually do?" Liam said, kind of hopelessly. "At this point I think she just enjoys complaining for the sake of it."

Re: Talk to Verity

[arboreal_priestess]

"She might just be bored and lonely," Verity said, popping the cap off a bottle of the beer that Liam tended to order most. "Send Ralph over to, like, help her hang more crystals or something?"

She set it down in front of him and gave him a slightly goofy smile of her own. "You're pretty good at making people feel heard."

Re: Talk to Verity

[firstofitskind]

And oh, look, that compliment earned her a blush that crept all the way to the tips of his ears.

"That's actually- a really brilliant idea," he managed after a moment. "And it'd have the added bonus of hopefully keeping Ralph out of trouble."

OOC

[arboreal_priestess]

It's already been a long-ass week and it's 9am on Monday.