2019-07-09 - Double-Shift Recovery

The front door opens, and Astrid is the first one in with a heavy sigh-- the kind that comes after a long day, and finally stepping into somewhere that gives serious relief. She staggers deeper into the foyer before she kicks off her shoes and throws her jacket and bag somewhere by where they should probably be hung up. Instead, she catches the closest doorjam and starts rubbing her feet. "Okay, let's not volunteer for a double-shift like that again." Not that they have much of a choice.

Thank god Astrid didn't shut the door behind her, which allows Ash to make her way through without having to lift her arms up, her bag dropped at the door, and enough shuffling, shambling steps are made so that when she pitches forward it is into the safety of the couch. She lays there, breathing into the cushion for a little while before offering, "No more double-shifts." Muffled words, and the knowledge that if there is a need for double-shifts they will of course work them.

Astrid breathes out a tight breath as she alights her bare feet on the floors, and then she shuffles with that same zombie like processional toward the living room where she plants face-down on the couch. Then she groans something unintelligible into the cushion before she turns her head, squinting at the offending room through some of her loose forelocks. "Easton is so making us work double-shifts again, isn't he?" Then she looks up at Ash with a slight smile.

"Tomorrow, and then next weekend....and the weekend after that." Ash replies before she gets to her feet, reaching down to tug her shoes off to toss them to the side, "Something about....I don't even know, but I think we're on the books for doubles for the rest of our lives." She heads in the direction of the kitchen, reaching up to gather her hair up into a ponytail, "You want a drink?"

Astrid turns her face back into the couch and releases big, fake sobbing breaths. "I hate being an adult." Then she pushes up to slump back into the couch before she offers a slight nod and wave of her hand. "Yes. But, god... please nothing that even closely resembles a Mai Thai. I swear that guy over at table six was basically trying to to clean Easton out of Malibu." Then she also starts to twist her head up off her neck, settling to rapidly braid it in deft, habitual movements until she's tying it off with one of those ribbon hairties that are all the rage. "Do we still have those dill pickle potato chips?" Even while she's asking, she's getting up with a dramatic wince and starts toward the kitchen.

"Might." Ash calls back, digging around in the cabinets until she finds the chips in question, those are a lot easier to grab than the drinks are. Or at the very least faster. The bag is dropped onto the counter before she starts to pull down bottles from the next cabinet over, checking the levels in each one before glasses are pulled down. She could make a drink that she knows, or she could just start randomly mixing in things, which is what she does, mostly alcohol, but eventually there's orange juice. For vitamin C.

Astrid takes the bag of chips up, cradling it against her chest like a sacred comfort object. She starts to pop chips in her mouth at a casual, but consistent pace. Then she is taking a break long enough to hop up on the counter so she can rest her feet, eat her chips, and then-- "Ooh." She takes the mixed drink, taking a sniff before she takes a sip. Then she breathes out a slow sigh, and pops another chip in her mouth. "Okay." This is said after two more chips and three more drinks from the glass. "I feel better now." She wiggles her toes slightly.

"Just don't drive anywhere." Ash points out as she starts to put everything away before she finds a spot on the counter across from Astrid, pulling herself up so that she can nurse her drink. It's a slow, methodical sipping that is happening, her attention focused on the warmth that spreads through her as she drinks. Then something teases at the back of her head, "You think we could convince someone to bring food?"

Astrid gives a wink and a finger-gun at Ash, complete with that little tcht noise. Then she sighs, lazily swinging her feet with a little tilt of her head. "Hmm." She takes another drink from her concoction of nameless booze and orange juice. "I could ask Marius." She tugs out her phone from her pocket, juggling everything at once. "He probably would love an excuse to get out of his house." She smushes some more chips into her mouth before she rubs her hand on the outside of her thigh, smearing pickle dust. "What should I ask him to pick up?"

"Ummm." Now that was farther than Ash bothered to think, and her heels drum lightly against the cabinet beneath her as she keeps sipping her drink. More alcohol will make thinking easier, right? "I guess pizza? No...shit." She scrunches up her face, trying her best to think as hard as she can, but post-work brain is making it a whole lot harder on her. "Burgers?"

"Burgers." Astrid starts tapping away at her phone after she's set down her phone. She snorts at something, looking up at Ash. "He must be practicing or something. He's being super slow." She taps a few more messages back. Then she puffs out her cheeks a bit. "Um. Do we do simple, or should we go all out? Cheeseburgers? Double cheeseburgers? Fries?" She lets Marius wait while she discusses this important detail with Ash.

"All out. Double cheeseburgers, add avocado, umm...bacon." Ash takes a moment to consider, sipping away at that drink. "Fries, but like...the ones with all the cheese and bacon and ranch on top. Because, yeah. Hungry."

"Milkshakes? Cherry?" Because you add chocolate chips and rum and it's basically like a drunk piece of heaven. Astrid doesn't really wait for Ash to refute the idea because she's already tapping out texts before she pops another chip in her mouth. "Um, anything else?"

"Nope, nothing else. Unless he wants to bring more booze." Which they really aren't actually running low on, but realistically if they go off the rails tonight there might be a few empty bottles come morning. "But tell him to hurry, because if he doesn't hurry I'm going to die...and then he'll want to have a viking funeral, and I'm not a viking, so I'll have to haunt him, and while haunting him I'm going to knock all his shit over."

Astrid rolls her eyes slightly before she casually reports that, "All you need is a sword and to believe, and so obviously we're getting Sigurd the Bull tonight. Do we still have that wooden mug we got at that Ren Faire we went to last summer." That was really just an excuse to get dressed up and get drunk before Fall classes started though, to be fair. "But he's on his way."

"Um." Do they? Astrid finishes her drink and sets the glass down before she hops down to her feet, starting to rummage through the cabinets for the wooden mug in question. "We could get Sigurd the Bull or Remy the Weasel, and as long as he brought food I don't care what silly name he wants to be called."

No mug. She shakes her head, then snaps her fingers before she scurries towards the bathroom.

Astrid watches Ash make her leave, and then goes back to eating her chips and slowly draining away that glass of OJ and booze. She waits, ears perked to hear if Ash may need her help, but surely there hasn't been enough drinking yet. She shoots off another text to Marius while she waits.

Marius was dressed for an evening in, and apparently Astrid and Ash are safe, because he shows up in baggy plaid pajama bottoms, and a light windbreaker over an a-shirt. At least he's wearing real shoes, given the weather outside. It's not quite raining, so he's not wet, just wind-blown. Carefully balancing a drinks-tray against his chest, he knocks on the door, then tries it, grimacing a little as it opens without impediment. "It's not Digiorno." As always, Marius's voice is a light baritone, far from the low rumble one might expect with the breadth of his shoulders and depth of his chest. His phone chimes, but he doesn't try to juggle the heavy bags of food and trio of milkshakes any more than he has to.

There doesn't appear to be any need for rescue, but Ash does take a really long time doing what she's doing. One being the fact she's changed out of her uniform, and she's got the wooden mug in her hand which is set down on the coffee table, "ASTRID!!" Evidently this is the call for the food being here.

"ASH!!" The call comes out of habit. But then Astrid pops off the counter, having now finished the bag of chips-- whoops. She crumples up the bag and drops it in the trash. Then she's licking some pickle dust off her fingers as she saunters to the door. She's still in her Two If By Sea shirt and jeans, but her feet are bare and her hair is braided up. She gives Ash a look, but there's a grin with it. Then she's opening the door with a dramatic whoosh, and she gasps desperately, "We're STARVING." And she grabs for the drink container.

Marius carefully holds the bags out in front of him at the twin calls, "Hey hey! I got the food, you don't need to eat me." But when Astrid comes at him with grabby-hands, he instead lifts both hands up over his head, food bag and drinks-container up by the ceiling. "You get off work and you don't even get food? I don't know, there's got to be some punishment for doing that, right? I heard Astrid's got a chem test. How about you, Ash?"

"I don't have a chem test."

Probably because Ash doesn't take chemistry. See, she was smart. She avoided having to take anything that advanced this year. "I don't have any labs." Which are all very neatly phrased words, and doesn't say at all if she's got a test or homework in some other kind of class. But between them, they will get that food. So to assist Astrid she scurries over, and reaches for an armpit to tickle in hopes he'll lower the food, not dump them on her head. Which is a possibility, and a probability, she failed to calculate for.

Astrid is ready for the combo. Ash goes for the tickles, and the brunette prepares to catch the food that may come tumbling from the attack. She grabs the bags of food, snatching them from the Viking monstrosity. "Quick, before he gets all bezerker!" She is sober enough still to move without stumbles, and she manages to achieve one bag of food.

"Suuuure..." Marius laughs as he's attacked by the two women in their coordinated assault. He twists away from Ash's tickling, his laughter rising to something booming that fills the entry. But he can't escape for long, and he bobbles one of the food-backs, just barely catches it, and then there's Astrid to steal it away anyone. He manages to keep hold of the shakes and the second bag of food, "Aaaah!" The long, drawn-out, wordless complaint comes amidst the laughter, so it's probably not serious, "No fair, double-teaming me." Shifting shakes and the second bag to the same hand, he reaches out with the other to tickle at Ash's side, "Berzerker!"

"Hurry! Run!" Ash moves to block Astrid's escape with the one bag, which her valiant effort in saving her other half is rewarded with tickles. There's a jump and a grab for the second bag, hoping beyond hope that she'll get it. But she misses by a mile, and the tickling quickly beats her. It's the spastic reaction of someone violently ticklish, which means there are dangerous elbows thrown before she falls on the floor. One arm out stretched towards Astrid as she croaks dramatically, "Remember me.....forever."

"It's how we roll," Astrid says firmly as she starts for the living room with the bag of food. Then she is turning back as she hears the last call of a dying friend, and Astrid is making a dramatic run for Marius, only to end up chucking a fry at him that she had rescued from the bag. Then she is moving to grab Ash by the hand in some futile attempt to drag her back to the living room. "Cm'on! I can heal you with food!"

The shakes are carefully handed to Astrid -- neatly taking up her second hand most likely -- and then Marius hands the second bag of food to Ash, looking totally calm and peaceful... until he ducks down and tries to haul the blonde up over his left shoulder, "Berzerker!" It's actually hard to understand with the renewed laughter.

"My hero!" Ash is very into this being rescued for food thing, but then there is her very own bag of food being handed over and she makes a happy squeal. "Food!" It's broken up by the fact that she gets hauled up like she's nothing, her feet kicking in the air, "Oh my this is so high up!"

Now Astrid just plops on the couch, and begins the ritualistic unpacking of fast food. She sets down the burgers, tears apart the bag, and once she has the second bag of food, she dumps all the fries out in one giant pile on the torn open bag. She flashes a sharp grin toward Ash and Marius. "Just dump her anywhere. I have the food now." Mwah.

Marius parades around the room with Ash on his shoulder, "Fee Fi Fo Fum!" As he stomps over toward the couch, he shakes his head at Astrid, "No you don't! Up up! You're getting rum for the shakes." Getting one hand at the back of Ash's knee, he leans forward to mostly-lightly dump her into an easy chair, "And that was the thanks I get for bringing you bacon cheese burgers -- with avocado -- and chili cheese fries? Tickles and theft? One of those is mine, by the way."

As she's paraded around the room Ash spreads her arms out to the side, "Wheeeeee....." Ash is perfectly happy to act like she's flying for a little while, until she gets dropped down onto the easy chair. "Rum!" She seconds this, since Astrid abandoned her to flying. "Thank you for bringing us food, Marius!" See, one of them can say thank you. Next time, it'll probably be Astrid. Maybe.

Astrid manages to get a fry coated in chili and cheese before she is commanded to the kitchen. She rolls her eyes, but good-naturedly before she bounces up, sucking a bit of chili off her thumb. "Fine, fine. You guys are both so bossy." Then she is headed for the kitchen without complaint.

"Rum!" Marius chuckles merrily, then comes around the coffee table to plop down on the opposite side of the couch from the spot Astrid claimed, passing her by as she gets up. "You're welcome, Ash." He settles onto the couch so that the springs give a little complaint, and then reaches out to dig a greasy, over-stuffed burger out. "Mmmmm. I needed food anyhow." He pauses a moment, then sing-songs, "Thaaaank you, Astrid." He lets out a long, slow breath, rolling his head back and looking at the ceiling, "I needed to get outta the house anyhow. Mom was working up to one of her 'you need to get out and socialize' rants."

"Thaaaaank you, Astrid!" Ash calls towards Astrid, and she gets to her feet, turning around to grab the arms of her chair, dragging it closer to the coffee table before sitting back down. She reaches for one of the burgers to pull it towards her, "Your mom just wants you to be out there, making friends....living your best life."

"You are both the worst," is all she says. But then Astrid is glancing back to them, walking backwards as she does. "For that, I'm going to go change first and then bring you guys rum." Besides, she's really about done to still be dressed in her work clothes. So she is heading into the kitchen to bypass it for the stairs so she can hop up them to the bedrooms so she can change.

"I've got friends," Marius says around a mouthful of burger, gesturing to Ash and then the departing Astrid with a fry. "And I don't see what's wrong with my life now. She's been on me about it since..." he considers, thinking, and then shakes his head, "...forever." Astrid's complaint causes him to groan, "Goddamnit. Now I'm going to have to get up and get the rum, aren't I?" He sets his burger down, eats the fry, and hauls himself back up to his feet, "Astrid, I'm eating your fries the entire time you're up there." He's not. Instead he's heading for the kitchen, "So double-weekend-shift. Bet you guys made bank on tips."

"You'd think." Ash replies, unwrapping her burger and turning her attention to wolfing it down like someone easily twice her size. There is a sound of agreement, though, around the full bite of buger, nodding to Marius. "Sure." She doesn't argue with him about the whole having friends thing, because pointing out that having just two friends isn't enough.

Time passes-- but not too much time-- and Astrid is stumbling back down the stairs in joggers and an oversized t-shirt, and then she's going for the rum, but Marius already entering the kitchen right as she does. She flashes an easy smile to him before she bounces on past. Back in the living room, she plops down on the floor to start in on her own food. "What's this about Marius not having any friends?"

"I know, right?" Marius nods to Ash, apparently taking her words for agreement with his complaint. As Astrid comes down the stairs, he looks up, grinning at her and shaking the bottle of rum he already claimed, "Too slow, A.B." He comes back with the bottle of rum, sets it on the coffee table alongside the shakes, and then starts popping the tops off the shakes so that they can be properly doctored, "My mom again. Just giving me shit." Sucking down an inch or two of one of the shakes, he groans, setting the cup down and pressing his hands to his temples, "Owowowowowow." Brain freeze.

"He has two friends." Ash offers as she reaches for one of the shakes, claiming it for her own, and helping Marius out by taking a sip. A slow. Careful sip. Unlike Marius she doesn't want to get brain freeze. "Rub your tongue on the roof of your mouth." She offers helpfully, then she turns back to Astrid, "He really does need more friends than just us."

Astrid is eating several fries before she speaks, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. "Oh-kay, well... I mean... you pretty much hang out with us and your brother sometimes, so." She glances toward Ash briefly and then back to Marius. "You probably could make some more friends." Her smile flashes up briefly, rounding out her cheeks. "I mean, we are pretty awesome." Then she looks to Ash again. "Um. Do I have more than two friends?"

Marius says, "Ah hab' f'nds," Marius insists, rubbing his tongue on the roof of his mouth. It helps, a little, and he goes back to pouring rum in the newly-lowered shake, a good healthy shot and half or two shots. The bottle is set back down, and he starts stirring with the straw, "I mean, besides you guys. There's... um... I mean, there are a couple of people from high school. But if I'm happy, why do I need more friends?" There's a pause, "I need a job so I can get a place of my own." And then he goes to the burger again, "Yeah, do you guys have more friends than the rest of us? C'mon... what's wrong with that?""

"I..." Ash starts, then stops, staring at Astrid as she starts trying to count friends, taking another sip from the milkshake until she's happy enough with the level that it is at. Then she reaches for the rum, pouring it into the cup, "I mean, you know more than two people."

Not the same thing! Ash knows this. But she doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that there is a difference.

"Um. Yeah. Not the same thing!" Astrid is laughing though as she takes another bite of fry, having mostly forgotten her burger for now. Then she snatches up a doctored milkshake and starts in on the rum-cherry-chocolate delight. "Alright, so... we are all each other's friends and we all need more friends so maybe we should, um... how do we make friends again?" Then she wrinkles her nose. "Though I kinda agree with Marius... I'm not sure we need more friends."

Marius blinks as Astrid steals his doctored shake, "Hey!" Still, he gathers up the third shake, starting to drain it away to make room for booze, "Fine. More shake for me." Listening to the two women work through things, he looks from one to the other, lapsing into quiet for a long moment. He takes more time with the second shake, but finally starts pouring in rum and stirring, "Not sure you needed all that, Astrid." Looking between the two, he shrugs his broad shoulders, "Do we need more friends? I'm pretty sure my mom doesn't get to decide what we all do with our lives. Unless you guys feel like you need more friends."

"I'm open to more friends." But. Ash puts the lid back onto her shake, picks up her burger and the shake and settles back in her seat, folding her legs up on the chair so that she can tuck the shake against a leg. "I'm willing and open to more friends, but like...they've got to be amazing." She takes another bite from her burger before waving it at them, "And they got to be able to keep up."

Astrid narrows her eyes at Marius. "Babysit your food." It's all she says before she sinks back into the couch, taking a sip from the shake before she pops another bite of fry in her mouth. She considers Ash and Marius in turn; then she rubs thoughtfully at her cheek. "I mean... I guess we could spend more time, like, out of the house when we aren't at school or at work..." But then she is flashing a grin toward Ash. "Then how in the hell are we friends? I hardly can keep up."

Marius laughs easily at Ash's requirements, "Ash... you realize that I can't keep up with you two sometimes, right?" The fact that Astrid claimed to hardly be able to keep up definitely puts a hierarchy to the trio, and he laughs again, shaking his head. "I spend plenty of time out of the house when I'm not at school." Probably about as much time as they spend at work, drawing and sketching. "I'm not babysitting, I'm just saying, if I'm going to catch up, I'm not gonna be able to drive home."

"Fine, then they would have to keep up with you." You. Marius. You. Ash finishes her burger before she scrubs her hands off on her pants, "Alright. Out of the house." She picks up her shake, tucking the straw into her mouth, taking a careful sip from it before she shakes her head, "No. Actually, no. I mean, I don't think we have time to be out of the house all the time making more friends." The struggle is real. "You can sleep here, duh."

Astrid is taking another bite of burger now that she's started in on it. She glances between Marius and Ash, but she almost chokes on her bite when Ash says Marius should sleep here. She then shakes her head with amusement. "First, yes... you can sleep here, Marius, but also... why don't you like... move here?" She glances toward Ash now. "I mean, let's really get down to the issue, right? Your mom is driving you nuts. We are nuts free here." Which is probably a LIE, but that's okay.

"Oh, okay. So they just have to be able to keep up with the slowest one of us." Marius grins crookedly, "I see how it is." He coughs at his burger, glancing over to Astrid and then to Ash and shaking his head, "I mean, this is the best part about Saturday nights but..." And then he snaps his eyes back over to Astrid, "You think I should move in here?" He checks his hand for burger sauce, then runs it back through his hair, gathering the long strands at the top of his head and pulling them back, "I mean... it certainly wouldn't be the same sort of nuts..." He flashes a grin to Astrid, and then back to Ash, "Naw, I don't have to do that. You guys got a good thing going here, I wouldn't butt in." There's a pause, "I mean... besides the fact that I've got shit for cashflow. No job."

There are probably at least a certain kind of nuts here. Like cashews, and walnuts. Maybe crazy nuts, too. Other types of nuts are lacking, admittedly. Ash takes another sip from her shake, shoulders lifting at Astrid when she looks at her. As Marius works through things she just waits, watching him, then watching Astrid, then watching him as she sips from the shake. "First...I mean, you'll get a job, and you can start helping with rent. In fact, help with rent would be kind of awesome, wouldn't it, Ast?"

"We'll still be pulling double shifts," Astrid says without missing the beat. She takes another bite of burger before she considers Marius seriously. Then she slowly nods, agreeable. "Yeah. Bet we could help you find a job. There's plenty of work around here, and then we can get you moved out of your parents place. It can be shitty." Then she interrupts her flow on the burger before she takes a sip of the milkshake. "But yeah, it would be great to get some rent help."

Pulling another big swallow of rum and cherry shake into his mouth, Marius carefully presses his tongue to the roof of his mouth to keep the brain freeze away. He considers as each woman speaks, bouncing his head from one side to the other, "Man... I really don't want to spend another summer mowing lawns." Especially since summer is halfway over. "It would be really nice to get out of the house though." There's another pause, "Are you guys sure it'd be okay? I mean, I don't want to..." he glances between the two, "You know, get in the way or anything. Throw off routines or... I don't know. I just don't want to be a bother."

There is a very long, drawn out moment where Ash stares at Marius, then she looks at Astrid, laughing, "He thinks we have a routine." The absurdity of that just seems far too amusing to her, and she shakes her head, "Yeah, we're sure." She gets to her feet, setting her milkshake down on the coffee table before heading to the kitchen to get herself a small bowl and a fork. When she returns she portions out some of the fries into the bowl so that she can sit back and eat them without making a huge mess, "There's that coffee place, could make coffee for people."

"I mean, we kinda do," Ast argues, but not with actual weight. Then she casts a dubious look at the idea of Marius mowing lawns before she offers a sober nod. "Yeah. Ooh, you could be a barista!" Then she pops another fry in her mouth, chasing it down with a gulp of milkshake. "But yeah, we're sure."

"Hey, I don't know if the two of you sit around in camis and panties watching movies and having pillow-fights," Marius protests, then grins somewhere between bashful and sneaky amusement, "I mean, you don't have to change that routine." He takes another draw off his milkshake, then sets it down and grabs his burger, "I'd totally hate coffee more than I already do... but that's not the end of the world. Coffee shop... that might work?" Letting out a breath, he looks from Astrid to Ash and back, leaning his elbows on his thighs and smiling faintly, "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the offer."

"We do?" Ash shakes her head, shoveling another bite of food into her mouth before she makes a face, "I guess." She doesn't sound like she's thrilled about something as mundane as a routine being applied. Even if it's true. When Marius brings up sitting around in barely any clothes to watch movies she beams at him, "Sitting around in camis and panties would be a change in the routine, we sit around naked and watch porn and talk about their technique."

"Ash!" Astrid sputters at that, forgetting her food and shake with a wide-eyed look at Marius. She blushes high at her cheeks, scowling as she does. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that!" But she's blushing, so it can't be very true. Or it's very, very true. Then she is finishing up her fries, and grabbing her shake. Then she is giving Marius a long look before she shakes her head. "We will do our cami-panty-movie-watching when you're at work."

Thanks. Marius was just eating like four fries at once. Now he's choking on them, sitting up straight and hammering on his chest to try and get them down through his throat and into his stomach -- or at least up out of his lungs. It takes him a long moment, "Jesus Christ." Once more, he looks from one to the other, going red from collar to hairline. "Damn it, Ash, I'm eating here. And that's not the kind of thing you tell a guy while he's eating. I almost died." He didn't almost die. Wheezing a little he draws in another breath and then lets it out again, "I just mean that I don't want to screw up the good shit that you guys already have."

"Oops." Ash is not at all sorry for the results to the naked movie watching comment. Not sorry at all. Then she hops to her feet, setting her bowl down on the table. "We know CPR. It's when you put your mouth on someone and blow." She then steps away from the table, sweeping the pair an elaborate bow, "I'm going to go shower, then fall on my face."

And then Ash is off to do just that, leaving the pair to finish their food, drink their drinks, and probably eventually pass out on their own.