2019-06-27 - Three's Overwhelming

Down on the boardwalk by the bay, it's a warm summer day, but not too warm because it's still Washington and it's still overcast, giving everything kind of a greyish tinge. Even so, things don't feel quite as oppresive as they have over the spring with the constant storms. Elias Weber is sitting on the railing between the boardwalk and the drop to the rocky beach below in a pair of faded jeans and screaming neon green chucks with a white t-shirt that sports a porcupine on the front of it and the words "I'm prickly on the inside, too" beneath it. In one hand, he has an ice cream cone, and seems to be fighting a winning battle to keep it from dripping everywhere.

Winning battle is right. Thankfully Frankie has skipped the need to fight this battle by not having ice cream at all, instead she's leaning against the railing next to Elias, her eyes settled on the front of her shop a little ways down. Today she's sporting a more summery version of her work clothes, which means that she's wearing an off white cotton lace dress with a paisley shawl with fringe wrapped around her waist and gold bangles on her wrists.

It's a warm summer day. So the natural thing for someone who happens to enjoy staying healthy is to jog on the boardwalk. Tyler is wearing a tight, dark blue Tshirt with the Gray Harber Fire Department insignia printed over the breast. He's wearing a pair of those short, nylon black running shorts that people to run all the time wear, and underneath those is a pair of full length spandex running leggings. His cheeks are a bit flush and his hair is damp from the exertion of having been running for a while as he begins to near Elias and Frankie, not noticing them yet.

Elias offers the ice cream out in Frankie's direction, but unless she decides to take some, he draws it back, taking another lick from the cone before he sees Tyler running along the boardwalk. He leans over to Frankie and says, "Remember the firefighter I was telling you about?" He gives a nod of his head in Tyler's direction. He grins a little, and only when Tyler gets closer does he call out, "Did you read the book yet?" He's loud, loud enough that a few people nearby turn around and look in his direction. He just grins.

That ice cream isn't accepted, but there's a quick flash of a smile for Elias' offer. However, it's the arrival of the firefighter that gets her to straighten up from her lean, "Really?" She wonders, her attention swinging towards the man in question, head tilting to the side a moment before a bright smile flashes across Frankie's face.

Tyler notices the shout out, and he jogs his way up to where Elias is on the railing. He comes to a stop, hand on the rail, as he smiles and takes just a second to catch his breath a little. "Hi," he offers to Elias. "Sorry, no, I haven't started it yet. There was a house fire, so..." With a little shrug, he grins again. "I did promise, I'll tell you what I think. Just... You know, I'm not a big reader, so don't expect me to finish it in a day, right?"

"I was teasing," Elias says with a chuckle when Tyler begins to explain why he hasn't finished the book at lightning speed. "I was just trying to get your attention, and I figured just whistling and cat-calling was kind of rude. Tyler, this is Frankie. Frankie, this is Tyler." He then asks, "Everyone okay after the fire?"

"I'd have cat-called and whistled." Frankie points out to Elias, voice a little more quiet before she moves to offer Tyler a hand, that same smile in place, "Nice to meet you, Tyler." She lets her eyes travel over him, then they seem to unfocus just a bit to look through him, her hand remaining out towards him in offer.

Tyler shrugs, "No one is really okay after a fire. But, no one got hurt, so that's positive." He lifts his chin just a little, offering a charming, boyish smile as he shakes her hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Frankie. Are you and Elias friends or..." He glances between them both, clearly asking if they are dating or not.

Elias grins over at Frankie and says, "Fine, I'll do that next time. Or you can." He continues to keep an eye on the ice cream though so he doesn't end up letting it drip all over himself. Both brows raise a little when Tyler asks Frankie what they are and he glances over in her direction, letting her answer that for herself.

"You asking because you want to date me? Oh my god....that is so sweet." Frankie gushes at Tyler, keeping hold of his hand far past the usually polite amount of time, fluttering her lashes at him before she turns towards Elias, "I'm sorry, my darling, but I must now break up with you. Someone has stolen my heart."

Tyler's brow raises just a little at Frankie's answer. He opens his mouth, then closes it, looking between each of them once more. "Oh." He isn't sure what's even happening here. "I um... You two are kind of cute together." He pushes a smile back on his little face. "You two just enjoying the break in the weather??"

"You cast me aside so easily? All it takes is one smile from a pretty face and you dash my heart upon the rocks below?" Elias gestures with his ice cream cone to the rocks below, but carefully, because if he goes too fast that ice cream is truly going to be sacrificed in this grand betrayal. "I'm crushed, wounded, broken.. never to be whole again."

"Yes." Frankie replies cheerfully to Elias, then she glances at Tyler, looking him over from head to toe, then she leans back against the railing, "What are your intentions with Elias? Because if they aren't pure, I'm afraid I'll have to put a curse on you, and get another rooster to shove your soul into."

Tyler grins at Elias. "I'm just treating her the way I hope others would treat me, is all." He wipes the sweat off his forehead, "I didn't mean anything by it. Sorry." He offers his attention to Frankie then. "My intentions? That sounds... I mean, I just..." He furrows his brow, pursing his lips for a moment in thought, before he finally concludes, "Cursed, huh." He exhales, considering, before looking back at Elias. "I thought you were the witch?" he asks, playfully.

Elias is trying so very hard to maintain that illusion of heartbroken hurt, but he can't possibly hide the sparkle in his dark eyes that is all mischief and amusement. "Oh, I am the witch. That doesn't mean that she isn't nearly if not more wicked than I. Trouble, the both of us." He gives his cone another lick, capturing another drip before he says to Tyler, "You really don't want to be cursed by her." He shakes his head gravely.

"Not a witch, I assure you." Frankie shakes her head, that bright smile remaining in place as she watches him, "I'm just a psychic...and sometimes medium." She lifts a hand up, a fingertip tapping lightly against her chin, studying Tyler with a little more seriousness, "You will be blessed in love, though. Weak in money. I can help with that, though."

Tyler nods, "I'd rather not be cursed by anyone, honestly." He smiles at Frankie, and shakes his head at her predictions, "Okay, so now I know you're lying because of all the things that hit me, being blessed about anything isn't on that list." He leans a little against the boardwalk rail, having finally caught his breath fully. "So Frankie, do you work at the book store too? How do you know this book worm?"

"Surely you can't have all bad luck," Elias says. "You did meet us, after all, and we're at the very least, entertaining, if nothing else." He begins the process of slowly whittling away the cone as he glances from Frankie to Tyler and lets her explaian how they came to meet and where she works.

"I work there." Frankie points towards the psychics parlor down the boardwalk, "And believe me, I'm never wrong in my predictions." She glances at Elias, offering him a dreamy little smile, "Elias is my best friend, and we met back in school, a long long time ago. How did you and Elias met?"

Tyler looks at the parlor, "Oh. Heh, so, you really ARE like, a psychic." He looks at her once more, discerningly, "For reals? Or just like, faking it for entertaining people for money?" He glances at Elias, "My luck's okay, I guess. So, I met Elias at the diner by my house. There was this weird lady with a dead animal, and evidently, dead diner animals act like a summoning spell for this guy," he says, as he gestures at Elias.

"It's true, how do you think she gets me to visit her place? She's the one with the other demon-eyed taxidermy critter. She's got a rooster with red eyes like the raccon," Elias tells Tyler. "Works every time." He finishes off the icecream cone and licks the tips of his fingers. He flutters his eyelashes at Frankie and says, "We've known each other since we were kids," a little more seriously. Then he tells Frankie, "Lillith and I were trying to make him blush. It worked, a little bit."

"I know, you told me. I just wanted his answer." Frankie replies with a laugh, then she nods, "Scratch. That's my rooster with the red eyes, and he's glorious. Very good pet." She then glances towards her shop once more, then back to Tyler, then to Elias before she looks back, "I'm really a psychic. Which is why I'm certain that you are destined for great things when it comes to love. Not so much for money."

Tyler offers a little scowl, "I didn't blush. I don't blush." He rolls his eyes, looking away for a moment as he dismisses that entire moment. "So, what, you have the future woodge? Is that a guess on emotions, or a quick mind read or...?"

Elias just smiles at the scowl and makes no further comment on whether Tyler does or does not blush, at least for now. "You should give me a reading," he tells Frankie almost at random. "I haven't had one in a while." He then looks back over toward Tyler and asks, "How do you know you weren't enchanted at the time?"

"I just know these things." Frankie replies with a shrug of her shoulders, then she pulls herself up onto the railing next to Elias, her hands adjusting her dress, "I can give you a reading any time. But..." She leans towards Tyler, staring at him with a slight narrowing of her eyes, "I'm trying to figure out this one, first."

Tyler shrugs, "Maybe I was enchanted, I guess." He grabs the bottom of his shirt, lifting it up to wipe the sweat off his face from the run. Maybe it's utilitarian. Maybe it's to counter the teasing with ridiculous abdominals. Surely it's the first, right? Once finished, he inhales slowly as he considers Frankie. "Figure me out?" He looks at Elias then, a little concern on his face. "Like... what's that mean?"

Elias watches without a hint of shame as Tyler lifts his shirt and shows off his abs, going so far as to lean over toward Frankie and say, "See? Firefighter hot." If he's gonna show them off, Elias is gonna comment. It's just the natural order of things. When Tyler looks at him concernedly, Elias shakes his head though and waves a hand, "Nothing to be too concerned about. She doesn't seem like she's going to curse you." He looks over at Frankie questioningly then and says, "So what are you trying to figure out, exactly?"

"I might still could curse him...but maybe not." Frankie replies, leaning forward to rest her forearms on her knees, chin settling on her hands, "Well." She starts, then pauses, glancing back and forth between them, "First, I'm trying to figure out if he's for real." She glances at Elias, winking at him, then she looks at Tyler, "So do you like my friend, or do you think you were just enchanted with Weber magic?"

"Don't curse me," Tyler says quickly. He smiles at Elias, probably for the firefighter comment, and then asks Frankie, "I um... I feel real?" He lifts his brow a little, "I like you both. You seem nice. Except when you're being creepy about cursing me." He glances at Elias, then back at Frankie.

"I think perhaps we can hold off on the cursing at this point. He's been a very good sport thus far," Elias says to Frankie as she settles in and glances between the two of them. He reaches out one fingertip and lightly pokes Tyler's shoulder experimentally. "He does, in fact, feel real.. or at least solid, so we know he's not a ghost." He laughs just a little bit at Tyler's response, though.

"Oh, he likes us both!" Frankie looks cheerful at that, a hand moving to nudge against Elias, "You here that, he likes me too." She then smiles at Tyler, amusement dancing in her eyes, "But you're right, we should hold off on the cursing.. So, how'd you become a firefighter?"

Tyler laughs a little when Elias pokes him. It's a charming laugh that's probably just a little more than what that poke should have evoked. He remains smiling as he answers Frankie, "Same way everyone does. I applied. Took the tests..." He shrugs, "It's not really that interesting."

"I think she more meant, what inspired you to become a firefighter. What made you want to do that job rather than, I don't know.. beekeeping, or park rangering?" Elias asks, glancing over toward Frankie as he says, "He does like us both."

"Right, what made you want to become a firefighter." Frankie agrees with a quick nod, her fingers dancing across her cheeks as she rests her chin against the heel of her hands, watching Tyler for a moment before she leans towards Elias, whispering towards him, "But does he know that that means?"

Tyler furrows that brow once more, watching the two of them as they interact and talk about him. He's not sure what to make of all this, and it's clearly on his face. "Oh. Um... I dunnow. My mom died in a fire when I was a kid. I guess it made an impact." He tilts his head a bit, watching Frankie. "Were you hoping for something better? Or is that a good enough answer?"

Elias suddenly turns and asks Tyler, "Do you own any formalwear? A suit? A jacket at the very least?" It seems to be a genuine question, though completely out of left field and not relating to anything else that they'd been talking about thus far. He does pause though and say, "I /am/ sorry about your mom, though. That's pretty rough."

"An honest answer is always the best answer." Frankie replies with a smile, then she glances at Elias when he starts asking if Tyler has any kind of formal wear. She glances back at him, "If not, I bet we could find you something appropriate."

Tyler waves off Elias' note about his mother, "It was a long time ago." Then he takes a slight step back, "Wait... No... I mean, I don't have a suit. What would I need a suit for..." He scrunches his brow again, glancing between the two. "What... I don't understand... What is happening here?"

"We're going out tomorrow night," Elias informs Tyler, "To do silly things in formalwear, things people don't usually do in formalwear, because it's fun, and funny, and you're going to come with us. We'll find you a jacket if you don't have one, or at least a tie." He then reaches out when Tyler takes a step back and catches his shoulder lightly, "What is going on, Tyler, is that you are being assimilated into a prestigious organization -- the entourage of Miss Francisca Dubois, Queen of the Evening, for the pure adventure of it. What, did you think I just sat around in a bookstore all day without finding some way to entertain myself in this insane little town?"

"Adding to the insanity is usually the best way to find entertaining in this town." Frankie offers helpfully, sounding rather cheerful at the whole thing, "We're going to get drinks, first. And then after that there are a few different ideas, but we'll decide on which one we'll follo once we're out and doing things." She hops down off the railing, straightening her dress before she moves to Tyler's other side, "You like to have fun, right?"

Tyler looks a bit like a deer in headlights. "Oh, no no no, that's... I mean," he shakes his head, "I don't drink. And I don't think- I mean, I don't really do making insanity, you know? I'm kind of... boring... really."

"You don't have to drink," Elias tells Tyler with a shake of his head. "I mean, you can drink, but gingerale or something non-alcoholic. Drinking isn't required, just a sense of adventure and a willingness to be entertained." He says, "You fight fires, man.. you can face an evening out having a little fun where nothing goes up in flames."

"That's perfect!" Frankie points out, throwing her arm around Tyler to give him a hug-shake, "We'll teach you how to make with the inansity, the fun...the adventures. Just think about us as your two guardian angels, showing you exactly how to have the best of times. Right, Elias?"

Frankie's hug is received amidst a nice layer of runner's sweat, and Tyler watches Elias as this all plays out. "I can?" he responds, about the evening out without fire. "I um... Honestly, I dunnow..." He shakes his head, "This sounds way out of my league, guys..."

"I don't think anyone has ever called me an angel before," Elias chuckles at Frankie but doesn't argue against her point, either. Instead, he watches Tyler in turn and says, "Tell you what: you come with us tomorrow night, and give in to the adventure, and if you hate it -- if by the end of the night you have not had any fun at all, and never want to do it again -- we will never drag you out again."

"Nothing is out of your league." Frankie shakes her head at Tyler, giving him a sympathetic look before she, gives him a hug and pat on the shoulder before releasing him, "Trust in us...it'll be great fun. I promise that you will have fun with us." She moves back to her little spot of the railing, "No drinking required."

Tyler laughs nervously, "A LOT is out of my league." He scratches the back of his head, thinking. He looks off at the beach and exhales. He purses his lips, as he tries to decide, and then finally, he looks at Elias, and points directly at him. "You better be worth this," he says, sternly.

Elias seems to agree with Frankie on that count, "Nothing is out of your league." He nods when she confirms that the drinking isn't required and that he will have fun. He follows Tyler's look out toward the beach and then back, one brow cocking a little bit as he waits for the reply. When it comes, he laughs and says, "Oh honey, I'm priceless."

"Why do you think a lot is out of your league?" Frankie wonders, reaching for a pocket that actually isn't there. She makes a frustrated sound before hopping down to her feet, "You two stay put." She lifts a finger, pointing back and forth between them before she turns to start heading for her shop at a quick scamper.

Tyler opens his mouth to respond to Elias, but before he does, Frankie is off. He watches her go, and then looks back at Elias. "Okay, so, I am SO confused right now..." He sighs, and leans against the railing. "Maybe I'm too boring for you two." He looks at Elias, "I'm starting to suspect you're going to be very disappointed in me."

Elias watches Frankie as she suddenly heads off, leaving the two of them standing there, and then turns back to Tyler. He gives a crooked little smile and then asks, "What is confusing you?" He studies Tyler's expression, and reaches out to give a little tug to his shirt. "You seem to think I have some grand expectations. I don't."

Tyler looks downward at Elias' hand as it tugs on his shirt, and he smiles widely. He looks back then at Elias. "Sorry. I don't have a..." He starts again, "I'm not very good at all this really." He stands a little straighter, watching Elias closely. "Your friend. She's kind of a lot. Are you?"

"At all what? People? Having fun? Not being so very serious?" Elias asks as he tilts his head just a little bit to the side and studies Tyler. His eyes flicker off in the direction that Frankie went and he chuckles, "She's just exactly the right amount, actually." He then looks back to Tyler and asks, "I don't know, am I? For me? No. For her? No. For you? Only you can answer that question."

Tyler shrugs, "All of that, I guess?" He smiles again at whether or not Elias is too much. "I'll um... I'll let you know when I figure it out, then." He just stands there then, for a long moment. Staring right at Elias' eyes, enjoying the view. Finally, he looks over his shoulder toward where Frankie went. "What do you think she went after?"

What she went after might become clear as Frankie comes back from the direction of her shop, a bounce in her step. She has something in her hands, though, and it looks small, and glints in the sunlight, metal, jewelry-like.

"There's starting to become a small pile of things that you need to get back to me on," Elias observes with a little bit of a smile that ticks up the edges of his lips. "Her Highness is a mystery," he says when Tyler asks what she went after. "One must prepare one's self for a constant state of surprise." And then there she is, returning with something in her hands that glints in the sunlight and he arches a brow. "I guess we'll find out."

"You're keeping a list?" Tyler asks, playfully. "Uh oh." He looks over Frankie's way as she approaches. He just watches her, not really saying anything else.

"Here." Frankie holds the item out, which seems to be a necklace with a single crystal dangling from it, cloudy and green. "This should help out some." She then glances at Elias, leaning over to rest her head briefly against him, "So when are we going out?"

"Yes, I'm keeping a list. I have to make sure that you keep up your end of it, don't I?" Elias asks, and then he watches as Frankie returns and hands the crystal over to Tyler, studying his reaction. He slips an arm around Frankie's waist when she gets closer and kisses the top of her head. "Tomorrow night. We'll meet at the book shop at nine. Then we'll head out. And don't worry, Tyler, we'll have something appropriate for you to wear for the occasion."

Tyler lifts his brow a little. "Oh." He takes the stone necklace. "What's this?" He looks at Frankie, and then watches the way the two of them interact. He hefts the necklace a little, and then nods. "Um, okay then." He smiles just a little, still a little wary. "I'll see you at nine then." He turns, and gets ready to head back off on his run.

"You don't have to leave." Frankie points out, smacking a hand against Elias' leg for a moment before she straightens up, "And that is to help sort out your money troubles. Wear it next to your skin as much as possible, it'll absorb all the bad luck. In a month, bring it back to me."

Elias raises a brow at Frankie as his leg gets smacked and gives her a quzzical look, but he then looks back to Tyler and reaches out to wind fingers in the edge of his shirt once more, trying to tug him back before he can leave. "We were just discussing when we're going out tomorrow, not what our plans are for tonight. No running away."

Tyler's shirt is caught, and so, it seems, is he. He turns back to face them, and tilts his head a bit. "Sorry. I just thought you two were... or..." He rolls his eyes, "Nevermind. I just..." And then he bites his lip a moment, looking down at Elias' shoes, and admits, "...was running away." He looks back up at them, "Okay, but to be fair, I was out running. So I wasn't running away running away, I was just running. And it was away. Because I was running. That way. Away. Running." His shoulders slouch just a little, and he simply offers a goofy little grin in the hopes maybe he doesn't sound like a complete idiot.

"We two were what?" Frankie prompts, hopping back up on the railing, settling her feet so that she probably won't go falling over to the rocky shore below. She adjusts her dress, then the shawl in a jangle of her bracelets before she turns her attention to Tyler for a moment, then glances at Elias, then back to Tyler, "Why running away...at all?"

"You were running, but now you're not, because we've captured you, and I think your abs will survive another day even if you don't run off to finish that run right now," Elias says, not letting go of Tyler's shirt, but instead using it to pull him just a bit closer to where he sits on the railing. He glances over to Frankie, and then back to Tyler, as though curious as to the answers to her questions, as well.

Tyler begins to counter Frankie, but before he does, Elias mentions his stomach, and he glances away, perhaps to hide the sudden flush of blood racing to his cheeks. "Stop it," he says, rolling his eyes. "Just forget it. Or..." He waves his hand at Frankie, "You're a psychic, I shouldn't have to tell you." He folds his arms over his chest, and he flops his back against the rail beside Elias.

"You're right." Frankie agrees, glancing at Elias, then she leans over him so that she can look at Tyler, "You like Elias, and by like I mean you want to get naked with him. He makes your inner self blush, even if you're not blushing on the outside. But you're really, really confused by the fact that he's being handsy with you. But me, too. So now you're trying to figure out if Elias and I are a thing, or at least if we're sleeping together, and if you've got a shot with him, because the signals are way messed up right now."

"She is," Elias reminds Tyler when he says that Frankie is a psychic, "So you may as well give in and answer, otherwise.." and then Frankie leans over and lays it all out. He studies Tyler's reaction to what she says, watching his face, but not commenting on anything that she's said, at least not yet. But he does still have his fingers wound in the edge of Tyler's shirt, just in case he tries to run again.

Tyler's face passes from embarrassed, to annoyed to flustered, and he looks down at his feet as Frankie announces her theory. "I don't want to get..." He trails off, and then looks back at Elias for a moment before turning to Frankie once again. "So."

"You don't want to?" Frankie's brows lift a moment, then she shrugs, "Maybe I was wrong then." She doesn't sound like she thinks she's wrong though, instead she settles her hands on the railing, turning her attention towards watching the tourists that are wandering long the Boardwalk. "Either of you hungry?"

Elias slides down off of the railing until he lands on his feet on the boardwalk and says, "That's what he said," to Frankie, smiling a little crookedly. Then he says, "Dinner sounds good, though." He looks at Tyler and says, "Come have dinner with us." He then glances over at Frankie and asks, "Out? Takeout? Yours? Mine?"

Tyler furrows his brow at Frankie's reaction, and he sighs. He smiles at Elias and notes, "I'm kind of gross. I've been jogging. I could eat, though, just... Maybe I could meet you somewhere in a bit?"

"Takeout is fine, my place is close. But yours is fun, too." Frankie slides down off the railing as well, reaching up to gather up her hair, then she flicks it over her shoulders before she laughs at Tyler, "Gross? You're a sweaty hot guy. Believe me, neither one of us is going to be bothered by it." Then she glances at Elias, "Corn dogs and nachos, or fish and chips?"

"You can go and shower and change if you want to," Elias tells Tyler, finally releasing the edge of his shirt, and his hold on the man, "So long as you promise to meet us at my place, and give us your order, so we can pick up the food and bring it there. Though, if you stand us up.. I'll just eat your dinner." Then he says to Frankie, "Fish and chips, I think. Corn dogs do not do happy things in my stomach."

"Fish and chips is fine. I'm not terribly picky," Tyler answers. "I um... I don't know where you're place is." He notes to Frankie, "I'd be bothered by it."

"Fish and chips it is." Frankie then gives Elias' arm a squeeze, "I'm going to go stand in line for the food while you give him directions to your place." She then wiggles her fingers at Tyler before heading to the fish place down the Boardwalk.

Elias takes out his wallet and pulls out the same receipt that Tyler wrote "his number" on and he writes down his address on it, which is a little drawing of a house. But then he does actually write the address below and passes it over to him. "We'll see you there."

Tyler looks at the receipt, and he grins. "You kept this?" That seems to set him a little more relaxed, and he nods. "Okay then. I'm going to run home and clean up and see you there in a bit." He backs away a few steps, still watching them, and then finally turns and runs off.

After giving Tyler the address, Elias joins Frankie in the Fried Fish line to acquire dinner for all of them. Eventually the food is ready and they had back to the Weber House and take over the kitchen. Fortunately, most of the family is out doing their own things, leaving the house mostly quiet. There's the occasional cousin who comes tromping in the door to disappear up the stairs.

Elias sprawls at the table and picks up a french fry, popping it into his mouth before taking a sip from his drink. "So, bets on whether he just keeps on running and never comes back? Think we totally scared him away?"

"We might have totally scared him away." Frankie agrees, moving around to put some music on, rifle through closets. Do whatever she does to keep herself occupied while they wait on Tyler, "Honestly, I can't figure out if he's just...super shy, or maybe deep, deepy in the closet. Or like...I don't know, maybe he just has the hots for me instead."

"Who wouldn't have the hots for you?" Elias asks with an amused smile as she rifles around through things in the house. Fortunately, the family is so used to Frankie being around and rifling through things that no one would bother to question it either way. "Well, I do retract my former guess that he was just fucking with me because Lilith and I were trying to make him blush. He really doesn't seem to be the type. I think we probably overwhelmed him, more than anything else."

There's a knock at the door. Tyler waits patiently on the other side of it. Showered and changed, he's now wearing a pair of fancy jeans and a tucked in beige Tshirt with a low v-neck cut that hangs tight over his thick chest. He has his hands shoved in his pockets, still not convinced this is the smartest thing to be doing.

"Well...stupid people and guys that only like guys....and girls that only like guys. Which I'm pretty sure that is at least three-quarters of the population." Frankie returns to where Elias is sprawled at the table in someone's bathrobe with a large floppy sun hat on her head, "He's here. Unless someone else is knocking at the door."

Elias grins and pulls himself up when he hears the knock. He's still wearing the same thing he was wearing on the boardwalk save for the sneakers which have been eschewed for just the plain white socks on his feet. He pulls himself up from the table and goes to answer the door, pulling it open. He grins when he sees Tyler and says, "We were taking bets on whether we'd scared you off so bad you just kept right on running." He steps back so Tyler can come in.

Tyler smiles widely when Elias appears in the doorway. "I hope you won?" he notes, and then heads into the house. "Hey," he offers in greeting to Frankie. "Smells good," he adds, sniffing out the fish in the air. "Sorry if I'm late, I changed as quick as I could."

"You're not late." Frankie points out, pulling what is probably Mother Weber's hat off her head, hanging it on the top of one of the chairs before she drops herself into her seat, legs crossing, "Did you want malt with your fish? We weren't sure, so we got some anyways..." She starts to rifle through things, hunting for the little packages of it.

"I won," Elias assures him, though whether that means the bet, or because Tyler showed up is not entirely clear. He heads back toward the kitchen where Frankie has on his mother's hat, and one of his cousin's robes. He settles down into his chair and says, "Dig in. We got a ton of food." He has a basket of fries in front of him that he's been nibbling on so they don't get cold. But he grabs a piece of fish and plops it down on top of the pile to dig in to it. "Feeling better?" he asks Tyler.

Tyler smiles again, "I'm glad." He makes his way into the kitchen, but as he makes his way through the old house, he's looking all over, taking it all in. "This place is really nice," he says quietly to Elias as they make their way to the table. He sits, and he helps himself to some of the fish and fries. "I'm clean, if that's what you mean," he answer to the question of if he feels better.

Once she finds the malt of vinegar, she sets it out where anyone can pick it up and use it if they want. "You look very nice, Tyler." Frankie reaches for her own piece of fish to start pulling it apart to take small bites from it, keeping herself occupied with eating instead of trying to terrorize Tyler. For now.

For now. Elias doesn't seem to be set on flustering Tyler any further for the moment either, instead eating his food and pushing some of the items closer to Tyler so that he can grab some as well, everything free for sharing. "Thanks," Elias says and glances around, "Our family's been living here and kind of adding onto it since the town was founded, pretty much. There's a little bit of everyone here. I like it. Plus, there's no rent, which is an added bonus." He grins a little bit.

Tyler just picks the fish piece up and takes a big bite of it. It's kind of a manly maneuver with little thought to etiquette. After chewing and swallowing, he smiles at Frankie, "Thanks." To Elias, "I didn't realize your family was here since the beginning. Is it hard? I mean, do you ever feel like pressure to live up to that kind of history?"

"They were running away from the witch trials, in Salem." Frankie offers helpfully in regards to the Weber family, of which she is not part of. She finishes destroying the piece of fish, and finishing it off before she picks up a few fries to idly munch on as she leans back in her seat. She shoves a fry into her mouth, glancing towards Elias.

"Well, sortof. I mean, they came from there, and people thought they were witches, so that ws what was assumed when they got here. Whether they actually were witches is debatable," Elias says. "What they were, though, was pretty sensitive to the weird shit that goes on around this town, and that made them weird enough for it to stick." He considers the question and then shrugs his shoulders, "Our family is known for being weirdos, eccentrics, and outcasts. We've got money and we've got history, but nobody really expects much from us other than to be weird." He grins, "Which you seem to have survived being subjected to."

Tyler listens to the story, interested. "Yeah. So what about you?" He sits his fish down, looking at the two of them. "Are you sensitive to the weird shit going on around this town?"

Frankie lifts a hand up, pointing at her when asked if they are sensitive to the weird shit in town. Then she smiles very faintly at him, "I'm a psychic in a town where we frequently experience ghosts and other....oddities. So yes, I'm sensitive to it."

"Yeah," Elias says, "I am. Have been since I was a kid." He nods toward Frankie and says, "We both were, from when we were pretty young. Was one of the reasons that we hung out a lot as kids." He takes a bite of his fish and then gestures a bit with his fork, "My whole family pretty much is. I don't know if it runs in families or not, but it just happens that a lot of us are."

Tyler smirks at Frankie, "Sure, but I mean... the psychic thing could just as easily have been a money sham. I didn't want to just assume." He takes another fish and bites a hunk off it, chewing it up. "Yeah. I always figured when I grew up I'd finally move the hell out of here, but... When it came time, I just couldn't." He kind of looks around at nothing in particular, "I feel like there's something happening here and I need to be a part of it."

"What is happening here is that the otherside is reachable....you want to talk to your Great Aunt Tilly? There is a very real possibility that you'll be able to here." Frankie dusts her hands of, then settles them in her lap, "I'd never leave, as weird as things are here, it's the only home I've ever known...and it'd feel wrong to actually leave."

Elias nods and says, "Most of the family ends up coming back, even when they move away for a while. There's something about this place that gets in your bones, and then you just keep coming back." He shrugs his shoulders, having long ago accepted that he wasn't going anywhere, but then, he's never had much desire to. He nods then to Frankie and says, "Besides, if it wasn't completely insane, it'd be a pretty boring little town."

Tyler listens with some interest to Frankie's explanation. "I don't have anyone I'd want to talk to but... that's really crazy." He leans foward, putting his elbows on the table. "There was nothing here for me, so I just figured I'd go. But yeah, I don't think I could. Can..." He grits his teeth a moment, staring at his fish as he decides if he's going to ask. Finally, he decides to go for it. "This is going to sound weird, but... Sometimes that weird sort of... gets inside of me. Like, sometimes, if I'm around someone who's really emotional, I can like... feel what they feel."

"That's always rough." Frankie agrees with a nod, "Being so intune with those around you can be very problematic, actually. It can be distracting, but when you learn to focus more, it becomes....well, you can tune it out better." She glances at Elias, beaming at him, "I love our insane little town."

Elias leans back in his chair, sprawling comfortably as he watches Tyler and Frankie, taking a sip through the straw from his drink. He then holds the cup out in front of him when Tyler asks about the weird getting in him. When he takes his hand away, the cup simply lifts up into the air and spins slowly where it is, hovering above Elias' hand. "There's a bit of weird in all of us. You can see it, when you look at us, the shimmering around us, the weird that is a part of us as much as it is the town. Me? I can move things... among other things." He makes the cup spiral around slowly back down into his hand once more.

"Well, I'm not good at reading emotions, it doesn't happen all the time or anything," Tyler responds to Frankie. "Is that how you do your future readings?" He leans a bit forward more, "Is that how you knew firemen don't make good money?" Looking at Elias, his eyes widen a bit at the cup. "Whoah." He smiles in wonder, "You have telegraphy! That's amazing!" So, maybe he's a bit more jock and a little less brains sometimes.

"Sometimes." Frankie replies with a laugh, "Telekinesis, that's what Elias can do." She then leans forward, holding her hand out towards Tyler, "Give me something of yours, doesn't matter what. But something of yours, and then I can show you one of my tricks...which is far less cool looking than Elias'."

"I think it's kind of universal knowledge that firemen aren't rolling in cash, in general," Elias says with a little bit of a grin. "But then, neither are bookstore owners." He grins when Frankie corrects the name of what he can do, and nods a bit. Then he glances over to Tyler to see if he will give her what she asked for.

Tyler isn't sure what to give her. "I don't really have anything on me... my cellphone? Wallet?" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. "Will this do?" he hands it over if it will, or if she'd rather the wallet, he'll let her have that instead.

The phone, evidently, is what she takes, and there is a quick smile offered. Frankie is a professional, and she can't seem to not put on a show. She scoots to the edge of her seat, her eyes falling closed as she curves her other hand over the top of the phone, eyes closing. It's clear that she's listening, absorbing the energies. Whatever it is that she does.

Elias just sits back and watches Frankie and Tyler for a bit, his ltitle show over, watching her do her thing. In the meantime he grabs another piece of fish. For someone as thin as he is, he eats well enough, the fries having been devoured, as well as some onion rings, and two pieces of fish.

Tyler tilts his head, continuing to watch Frankie. "Sorry. I warned you I wasn't very interesting..."

"You really shouldn't be so sad." Frankie points out after a moment, her eyes opening as she flips the phone open, a finger swiping across the screen before she taps in the passcode on it. Then she goes about pulling up his contacts to start adding in numbers, "You can find a place to belong, in fact, we're trying to find you a place. You just have to relax enough to accept the offer, and not be so worried about being boring."

Elias smiles a little as Frankie opens up his phone and starts putting numbers into it. "Be glad you didn't give her your wallet. You haven't seen what she does to my closet." There's a wry little smile on his lips as he finally finishes eating and gets up to wash off his hands.

Tyler gets suddenly serious at her assessment of him. He slowly leans back in his chair, sitting the fish in his hand onto his plate and gently pushing it away from him, no longer hungry. "I'm..." He swallows, and then smiles, "I'm not sad. You're probably picking up something else. But um, I appreciate what you two are trying to do, I think." He looks at Elias and chuckles, before returning his gaze on Frankie. "I did agree to whatever tomorow night is," he reminds her in his defense.

"It's not my fault listening to your pants is entertaining as fuck." Frankie points out, but once she's done plugging in things, she continues to mess around with Tyler's phone, sending two quick texts. One to Elias. One to her own phone. Then she slides it back across the table to him, "You know that you don't have to be ashamed of being lonely. We're all lonely until we find our pack."

Elias smirks over at Frankie as he washes his hand and says, "Gods, tell me you don't go digging around in my underwear drawer." He then shakes his head and dries off his hands, turning around to lean back against the counter. "I mean, we're not really trying to do anything in particular. We're just being us." He smiles a bit wryly and then says, "And yes, you did agree to tomorrow night, so you are a brave soul and are clearly making all the right choices toward a more adventurous life."

Tyler looks back and forth between the two of them again. Finally, he smiles, noting to Frankie, "If you're going through his underwear drawer, I'd like to join you." He glances Elias' way as he laughs at that and puts his phone away. "So what's really the deal with you two? I mean, you both have way more woodge than me," he notes, wiggling his fingers, "You um... You said it yourself, Frankie, so..." He shrugs, folding his arms over his chest, "Are you two a thing? Like, is this some kind of trendy package deal?"

"I have before." Frankie points out before she reaches for a few more fries, shoving them into her mouth. In fact, she points to herself, and the fact that her mouth is full, so that she's clearly unable to answer the questions that Tyler is asking. Helped by another handful of fries that she shoves in before even swallowing the rest.

Elias opens his mouth when Tyler expresses an interest in going through his underwear and then closes it again, shaking his head with a little bit of a laugh. "Fine, but I am not to be held responsible for anything you find there." And that seems to be all that he is about to say on that topic. Though the question that follows, he does actually answer. "We're best friends, with benefits." He studies Tyler and asks, "Would you like it to be?"

Tyler smiles widely, "I bet it's a fascinating drawer of drawers." He glances at Frankie, who doesn't answer him, and then returns his attention to Elias when he seems willing to. The initial answer is a little surprising, apparently he thought it was just a joke to embarass him, but then Elias asks if he wants it that way, and the fireman responds with those flushed cheeks and an awkward shift in his seat. "I um..." He clears his throat. "You know, that's cool... or whatever..." He pushes a jittery smile to his face. "Is um... Is that what you two want...?"

"His drawers are very interesting." Frankie is fully capable of offering up that comment, her hands brushing together before she shakes her head, "That's not a question for us to answer. That's a question you have to answer, because it got asked of you first. Which, you can feel free to answer it honestly."

Elias shakes his head at Frankie with a grin and says, "You know, when he does finally see them, it's going to be very anticlimactic." Since there's nothing particularly exciting about his drawer of drawers, in and of itself. He nods his head in agreement with Frankie. It's a question that was posed to Tyler, and Tyler would have to be the one to answer this one.

Tyler furrows his brow and he stares at the table. "I um... I dunnow... That's not really what I had been thinking about. I've never been a third wheel." He looks at Elias, a little sad he doesn't have a better answer. Instead, he sighs, and just kind of stares at his plate. After a long moment, he notes, "This all seems really intimidating and kind of unfair." His brow scrunches a bit as he works it through in his head.

There is a very small frown before Frankie tilts her head, "What were you thinking about?" She reaches for a fry, but this time sticks to just taking a bite out of the one, "Plus...how unfair? I can see intimidating. Just in general, but unfair?"

Elias has no idea what Tyler had been thinking about, or what that whole exchange was about, exactly, and so his own brow furrows a little bit, uncertain of the reaction. He pushes away from the counter then and walks over to sit down next to Tyler, bumping his shoulder against his and saying, "Sorry, that last part wasn't meant to be intimidating, or a joke, or anything like that. I just wanted to know how you felt about something like that." He does look a little bit apologetic, "Plus, you're not a third wheel."

Tyler inhales deeply, and then exhales again. "I was thinking about him," he answers to Frankie first. "I don't really go out, but when I first met you at the diner, there was this... I felt something. I don't really feel like that. Maybe it was the woodge, I dunnow, but..." He looks at Elias, "I went to the book store to see if I could feel it again. I did, so..." He looks at Frankie, "It's unfair because you have all the cards here but you're placing all this on me." He lays his hands on his temples a moment, then removes them, and he pushes up to his feet. "I um... It's gettin' late. Thank you for dinner." He pushes a simple smile to his lips, before turning to make his way to the door.

"Sit down." Frankie gets to her feet, grabbing a couple of fries before she moves to kiss the top of Elias' head, "I'll see you later." She then moves towards the door, still wearing her stolen robe, and doing her very best to quick-walk around Tyler to cut off his exit.

Elias listens without interrupting Tyler, though he does glance over toward Frankie, a quizzical look crossing his face for a moment and then he looks back to Tyler. He opens his mouth to say something, but then Tyler is standing to go, and Frankie is kissing his head and scooting around him toward the door, and he lets out a bit of a sigh, pulling himself to his feet. "Wait."

Tyler furrows his brow again, looking around at everyone. His shoulders slump a bit as he sees he's made a mess of all this, and he also calls to Frankie. "Don't go. I'll go." He looks at Elias, "It's okay. I need some air." If she'll let him, he moves to slip passed Frankie to head to the door once more in this contest to see who can exit first.

"Nope! I can't hear you!" Frankie calls over her shoulder as she hustles her way to the door, but at least she doesn't exit when she gets there, instead she stops, and turns around to plant herself in the way so that Tyler can't get out. Clearly she's expecting for Elias to do something about the exiting.

Elias stands there in the kitchen watching this entire contest to see who can get out the door first and he rubs a little bit at his face. When Frankie blocks the door he moves over to Tyler and just lightly touches his shoulder, "Come talk to me for a minute.. and then you can go, okay?"

Tyler bites his lower lip as Elias asks him to stay. He looks at Frankie, then back at Elias. The fingers of his left hand twitch, so he shoves both of his hands in his jean pockets, closing his posture up. "One minute," he repeats quietly.

"You two have fun." Frankie seems to relax when Tyler decides to stay, even if it's just for that one minute. She then lifts a hand up, blowing Elias a kiss before she starts to hunt the pockets of the robe for her keys and things so she can make her own exit.

Elias seems to relax just a bit as well, both when Tyler agrees to stay, and when Frankie seems to relax. "I don't think it was the .. woodge, at the diner. Unless you just meant the shimmering, and then maybe it was, but I don't think that's what you meant." He lets his hand fall and slips his own hands into his pockets.

Tyler leaves his own hands in his pockets. He swallows, it's a louder sound than he'd like. He basically is ignoring Frankie now, though he doesn't actually respond to Elias with anything more than a little nod.

Once her keys are found, and her phone, Frankie lets herself out of the house with a final wave.

"And we don't really have all the cards, we're just used to playing like we do. But it's not all on you, either. It's on us, too," Elias says. "I just wanted to know how you felt, because I don't know. And not because I was trying to trick you into anything.. but because I do, even if I play around, care about your actual feelings."

Tyler lifts his chin, looking skyward a moment as he thinks. "You asked what I thought and I said I didn't know. When I asked the two of you, you wouldn't answer. When I tried to go, she wouldn't even let me go." He finally pulls one hand out of his pocket and he rubs his temple. "She's beautiful, she's just... I don't really like... date... this is kind of all new, and it's clearly not as simple as I was told it would be." He drops his hand to his side with a little slap. "Look, she's beautiful, you know. Somehow, I've ended up with not one but two when I wasn't really looking for any and I don't even understand what's happening, so, I really just was hoping I could go figure this out, you know?"

"Alright," Elias says, and he takes a step back, putting a little bit of distance between them, not that he was blocking Tyler from leaving either. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I liked you, at the diner. And I was surprised when you turned up at the shop. And I thought the 911 thing was pretty funny. And I wanted you to meet her because I'd told her about meeting you, and how I wasn't sure.. what was there, if anything was there. I'm not always certain of everything, myself." He takes a breath and says, "But sorry.. for keeping you when you wanted to go. I just.. didn't want you to go." But he does take another step back, making it clear that he's not going to get in his way or physically try to hold him back this time.

Tyler slowly nods, looking downward a bit, kind of embarassed by this whole thing now. "It's okay," he responds softly. "I hope- I mean," he squishes his mouth a bit, trying to not sound stupid. "There's something here." He offers a little grin, and then he makes his way toward the door. As he passes Elias, he pauses a moment. His eyes stare right into Elias's, then they move to his lips, lingering there a few seconds before they return to his eyes. He doesn't muster the courage, so instead, he opens the door. "I'll um... I'll see you tomorrow." He grins just a little. "Nine o'clock."

Elias doesn't poke fun, or try to make Tyler blush this time. Instead, he just nods a little bit and says, "Okay," and returns that little grin with a bit of a smile of his own. He meets Tyler's eyes, but he's pushed things far enough for one night, so he doesn't make any movement toward him. Instead, he nods as the door is opened and confirms, "Nine, at the shop." He only moves forward to hold the door when Tyler goes through it, watching him from the doorway for a few moments, and only closing it once he's no longer visible from the light of the house.