2019-07-11 - Thanks?

Sometimes you need something eat. Sometimes a bear themed diner is the first place you come across when that's the case. It's early enough in the evening that the place hasn't really filled up too much, and that's just fine with Eli. He'd been out taking a walk when the desire to eat struck him and he made his way in, finding a table by the wall and considering the menu. If anything, he seems quite comfortable sitting by himself in the restaurant, lost in his own little world and doing his best to ignore the other patrons. Every couple seconds he finds himself looking up from the menu to consider some more of the unique decor of the place. So many bears.

So very, very many bears. Frankie is not a bear, however. The red head swans through the door in a flutter of brightly colored clothing in the form of a long skirt with panels of silk and velvet giving it volume, a velvet burnout shawl hanging from her elbows with long golden fringe, and a t-shirt with Freddy Fazbear emblazoned on the front. Topping off her complete look are bangle bracelets that practically go to her elbows and dangly earrings. There is certainly some statement that she's trying to make as she gets five steps in, looks around to not find what she's after. Instead she finds Eli sitting there alone, her brows lifting upwards before she heads towards his table, inviting herself right in to sit across from him.

Eli's appearance falls on the opposite end of the spectrum. His bluejeans are unremarkable and he wears a tan coloured t-shirt which threatens to have him blend int with the background of bears. He gives the impression that blending into the background might not be the worst thing in the world. Still, blue eyes shift up from his menu consideration to see who has come through the front door and he leaves his eyes on Frankie for longer than is entirely polite, brow furrowing just a bit. He likely does manage to look back to his menu before she spots him staring, and he has lost himself in his own head quickly that he has a raw look of surprise on his face when he looks up to see the brightly clad woman sitting across from him.

He blinks. Then he sets his menu carefully down on the table and reaches out for a glass of water that had been delivered to him. "Have you seen great trouble or prosperity in my future and have need to warn me?" He asks her after he takes his sip. His voice is steady, but his shoulders are stiff and fingers tight on the water glass, body defensive.

"Everyone has great tragedy and great prosperity in their future." Frankie points out with a dreamy half-smile for him, "I could warn you of both, though, if you're seeking a warning." She carefully adjusts the hang of the shawl on her elbows before she leans forward, those very same elbows settling on the table before she holds her hands out, palms up.

It is very, very clear that she's requesting his hands from him. The gesture is not that cryptic, and the expression on her face is expectant, like she fully believes that he is going to give her exactly what it is that she's wanting him to give her. His hands.

Blue eyes maintain eye contact, head tilting just to the side at her statement. "I'm not sure it would give me much comfort to hear either. Just confirmation of things I should already know." Eli eases the water glass down on the table and takes up his napkin to dry his hand where the condensation had dampened it, lips twisting in a bit of a frown at the way Frankie presents her hands toward him.

He hesitates for longer that is perhaps polite, but finally drops his own elbows on the table and reaches forward to settle his hands atop of Frankie's. It's done with a very 'why the hell not' attitude, though he's still strung tight.

When he finally puts his hands into hers there is this bright, sunny smile that is offered to him, and she pulls his hands closer to her so that she can bend over them, studying the lines of his hands. One hand gets released so that she can use that hand to start tracing the lines, finger barely skimming over skin. It is very, very well practiced, this movement. Even the thoughtful expression on her face is well thought out, well crafted.

"I see here that your love life is a very messy situation, or...Has been in the past." She tilts her head, seeming to think further about it, expression going puzzled, "It is not that you've not had relationships presented to you over the years, no. It's that you are very closed off, not open to them usually." She glances upwards at him through her lashes, perhaps checking for his expression to see just how on the nose she's getting it.

"I want to meet the person who you find who has had a simple and clean love life." Eli remarks quietly, watching her carefully while she studies at his palms, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue. When she looks up he gives a small shrug. "Careful about who I let in close, yes. That's accurate enough." Does he consider that to be messy? Is it messy now? He doesn't really elaborate any more, but also doesn't pull his hands away, allowing her to continue searching for more 'truth' in those lines. As the seconds pass some of the tension seems to go out of him, still on edge, but not quite as ready to bolt as he was when she'd first sat down.

"Accurate, certainly." Frankie agrees, glancing back down at his hand, pointing to what seems to be a random spot on his palm, "This tells me that you have found something recently, but that you aren't certain about it." Then she releases his hand so that she can sit back, her hands carefully folding in front of her, "Consider yourself at a crossroads, you can choose the left path, or the right path. Both will have their own spots of enjoyment, and both will have their tragedies, the only difference is they each take you two different ends."

"Aren't we always at a crossroads with those options before us?" Eli asks, taking his hands back and leaning back into his seat. His eyes stay fixed on Frankie across from him as though he's trying to read more of the truth than just her words are offering. He can't say anything more for a moment, because someone comes by to take his order. He places it and takes a sip of his water before refocusing on his table partner. "I'm sure there are no roads that I can take that won't have ups and downs, but for the first time in a long time I'm pretty certain about what road I want to be on. To be honest, for so long I didn't feel like there was a road at all. A lot of darkness and struggle, putting one foot before the other. I'm sure you see a lot of that reading the palms of the locals in Grey Harbor." He twines his fingers together, placing them on the table before him, otherwise very still.

When the waitress comes over Frankie flashes them a smile, "Chocolate cherry shake and fries." She then turns her attention back to Eli, "I see a lot of that in a lot of people's hands." She spreads her hands out to the side, "But I caution you about the path, because I'm fairly certain I know which one you've chosen." She leans forward, her expression growing darker, more serious as she drops her voice, "It involves the greatest sacrifice of them all, the sacrifice of self, and self-identity. If you are willing to make that sacrifice, then you might find happiness on that path."

"You say that as though the self is worth keeping as it is. That it wouldn't be better sacrificed to become something new." Eli replies, letting out a soft sigh and watching while Frankie's expression changes. "We've both lived in this town for a long time, Frankie. I think we both know it's hard to trust how you feel around here at the best of times. When something seems like it might lead toward happiness it is very easy to find ourselves trying to sabotage it. I've done that more times than I can count in my life here. Maybe I'll try something different." He leans forward just an inch toward her, as though trying to see something, but then eases back. "Maybe you're right to cling to what and where you are. You seem to thrive in it."

"Not every sacrifice of self is for a change for the better. Sometimes it's simply a sacrifice that ends in a loss, a nothingness....a lack of." Frankie replies with a shrug of her shoulders, leaning back in her seat. "But I wouldn't say that I cling to my sense of self, I simply have adapted to my place in life, and thrive that way."

"I'll take it under advisement. But, I haven't been making much of my life here. Call it treading water or making ends meet, but it has hardly been satisfying. I think what makes me nervous about things being better is that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and them to be worse again. Then I wonder if those are my thoughts at all." Eli furrows his brow once again and shakes his head, blinking and looking across the table toward Frankie. "At least it's the summer and things always seem better in the summer. You've been doing well?" He asks, perhaps the kind of question that would normally come up sooner in a conversation. Maybe neither of them are good at normal small talk.

"The other shoe always drops." Frankie points out, a small, amused sound at the words before she reach towards the ketchup already on the table in prep for the fries that are going to eventually be delivered. Hopefully. "Summer certainly does offer an upturn in business, if nothing else. So I've been doing better since tourist season has started."

"I'm just hoping I can dodge, rather than get crushed." Eli remarks about the shoe - and food does arrive just a couple seconds after he says that. It looks like he ordered a salad, but given the amount of dressing that is on it chances are it's not a lot more healthy than the fries. "It's good to hear that business his picking up a tick. Everyone always wants an edge up on the future. You have a pretty good read on me, or maybe I'm just an open book. Or maybe you poked at something general and just got me talking about it."

"I guess that you'll never know." Frankie replies cryptically, that smile turning upwards at the corners, "This is what I do, and I'm very good at what I do.." She pops the top on the ketchup, turning it upside down so that she can start squirting out enough ketchup to make the pickiest of children happy with life. "But, it's the business in summer that keeps me floating through the off-season, which I think is becoming harder and harder every year to get through."

"Do you ever pick up work on the side?" Eli asks, pushing his fork around the leafy mess that he ordered and then jabbing downwards to spear a few leaves. He looks back across the table. "I'm certain you'd make for a very entertaining bartender. Serve up some cocktails and also tell me about all the impending doom on the horizon - make me need a few more cocktails to down those worries." He almost smiles. Not that this town really needs a lot more doom in the forecast. "You do seem to be very good at what you do. You wouldn't still be doing it after this long if you weren't. I gave you my hands in full skeptic mode and you managed to make my mind work."

Work on the side? Frankie shakes her head at that, picking up a few ketchup covered fries to shove into her mouth, buying herself a bit of time before she answers with words, "Never, I work all year. It doesn't matter if business is up or down, I toil and brew my little potions, all my...whatevers." She shoves a few more fries into her mouth, smiling at him, "I'd make a terrible bartender, though. I'd just get distracted and forget to make people their drinks."

"It seems you're able to make ends meet despite the slow times." Eli agrees, nodding mostly to himself. He falls silent for a minute while he engages more directly with his salad, eating efficiently without being out of control. He doesn't seem to judge Frankie's mouthful of fries, content to let her eat however she wishes. He takes another sip of water before eventually looking across the table. "I wasn't looking to extract a free reading from you this afternoon. I'll pick up your meal at least - though maybe that's not enough? I've never looked into how much it costs to discover my destiny."

"You don't have to pick up my meal for me." Frankie replies with a laugh, reaching for her shake to tuck the straw into her mouth, taking a cheerful sip from it before she sets it back down, "But I'm not going to say no if you're going to insist on it." Which she will assume even if he isn't. "What's been keeping you occupied all this time? Please tell me it is something fun."

"All this time? That would be a lot of details. I don't remember the last time I ran into you." And even if it hadn't been that long enough, it hadn't been such a long conversation as this one. He jabs away at his salad a bit. "Life in Grey Harbor. Mostly navigating day to day. It was a difficult winter, but they all are." He replies, keeping his voice low but his body language has become easier as the time they spend together continues. "My work has been steady and I don't need to go into Seattle much these days. I have enough contacts that I can just stay here." He sounds quite relieved by this. "As the lines on my palm suggested, I've met someone pretty recently who has slipped past my barriers in a pretty good way. Despite your dire warnings." He shares a brief smile with Frankie before popping his bite into his mouth.

"It'll end messy." Frankie points out to him, taking another sip from the shake before she returns her attention towards the fries, "I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I hope that I am, but I just think that you should keep your eyes open, because things aren't going to be happy and pretty kittens. You know?" She leans back in her seat, slowing down on the fries now that she's gotten rid of about half of them. "This is Gray Harbor, though....how much isn't doom and gloom, right?" She offers him a quick smile, then tugs the shake closer, "Glad your work has been steady, though."

"Are you speaking from experience?" Eli asks, turning down to fork up more of his salad. "I know you're in a profession where you have to play the odds and I know very well that most relationships get messy and end poorly. I'm not blind to that. But, for once in my life I'm not going to be foolish enough to push something away that's good because it could turn foul. I've done that over and over again since - well, since forever." He considers the lettuce on his fork, shaking his head. "I don't think it's going to be easy. Happy isn't easy here. As you say, doom and gloom is in the forecast." He takes the bite, chewing and then asking - "Do you find yourself giving more good news or bad? Always figured people didn't come and pay to get bad news."

"Me? No. I don't have bad relationships. Not since that one time." Frankie replies with her eyes widening, expression turning fractionally more innocent, "I had to put his soul into Scratch, now that Lilly-Bear has brought me dear Scratch. Before that it was just...hanging around." She is probably not being serious, not serious at all.

Eli watches her across the table, more like a mystified stare at her explanation before he finally gives a little shake of his head. "I'm not sure all of those words made sense. But, I'm not always the best when it comes to talking." He shakes his head and stabs a bit more of his salad, shifting back to more casual topics. "I'll assume that your love life is exactly as you prefer it. Where are you living these days? Have an apartment in town?"

"Same place as always." Frankie simply assumes that other people know, because she knows. She's all about herself, after all. "Above the parlor down on the Boardwalk." She takes a sip from her shake before she sets it down on the table, leaning forward to rest her elbow on the table, her chin settling in her hand as she smiles at him, batting her lashes before she teases, "Why, you wanna come see it?"

Eli chews his salad thoughtfully, blue eyes fixed on Frankie when she bats lashes and teases. He just shakes his head. "I've been in those places before. They're fine as a place to sleep, but not really something I'd go out of my visit just for the sake of it." As though it was a serious offer to come enjoy the decor. "I usually prefer being outside if I'm just going to go visit a place. I don't know what that says about me that I prefer to look at the outsides and never really care much for the details on the other side of the door. Maybe I just don't want to open my door, as you suggested." He says, eyebrows raised then looks down to stab another bite.

"Well the apartment is fine, I kept most of the occult shit downstairs." Most. Not all. Either way she leans back in her seat, nodding, "Right. There's plenty of people that enjoy being outside, though. But you shouldn't ignore what is on the other side of the door, you know.

"I'm trying." Eli admits, taking his last bite and chewing it before washing it down with a glass of water. "This is me trying to be open. Or more open. And talk to a person who just dropped in on my table when I was having a quiet dinner in a somewhat overbearing restaurant." He doesn't actually seem to be upset at having been invaded. All parties are likely upset at the pun, however. "I've been pretty convinced for a long time that keeping my distance and safe bubble was the best way to deal with this town. Lately I'm not so sure."

"Keeping your distance and alone just leaves you open for things, we're all open for things, honestly. But I think being alone leaves us open for more...you'll end up with people thinking you're crazy." Frankie reaches for her straw, starting to stir it in her milkshake, "You need to have like...your people with you, you know?"

"I think some percentage of the town already thinks I'm a little crazy. I'm not. I don't think I am. But, as you say - you stay apart from the crowd and you end up with undesirable labels." Eli says, giving a small shrug. "Not that I much cared about the labels. Still, I think you're right about it being harder alone. Or at least no easier. But, it's also hard to come back after a long time away and it not be entirely awkward. I know a lot of people here, but I don't have 'my people'. Well, I have a few now. For the first time in awhile." Despite being quite clammed up when Frankie had first come in, he seems to have relaxed and indeed opened up some.

"You have to find your people." Frankie suggests, continuing to swirl her straw around in her cup for a little while before she pushes it a little to the side, leaning forward, "It's not easier alone, well...maybe, less worrying about others getting caught in things. But also less for you to have on your side when things go bad, too. Sort of a crazy balance, I guess."

"That's the snowball though, Frankie." Eli says, some tightness to his voice. "I worry about bringing people in close and somehow dragging them down with me. If I'm by myself I'm the only one that can get hurt. It weighs on me. When I think about what road I'm going down, that's what worries me more than some loss of self. And I don't just mean with romantic relationships - any friendship I think I have always been nervous that I'd bring more bad than good." He lets out a slow breath and shakes his head. "Never been much good at balance."

"That's the balance we all try to strike in our lives...some of us are willing to take those risks, others aren't. Some are really, really good at it. Most of us aren't." Frankie shakes her head, "Your choices. No one else can make them for you."

"No, I suppose not. But, if you sit down at my table you're going to have to listen to me wax poetic about them." Eli points out, flagging down the waitress to have the bill brought over. All one one bill is fine. "I don't know that anyone has a real handle on this town. Maybe it's not possible. But, doesn't hurt to try something different." Well, it might hurt. That seems to show in his eyes.

"That's fine." Frankie replies cheerfully before she starts to get out of her seat, "You should drop by sometime...let me give you a real reading." She takes one final sip from her shake before she heads out with the same abruptness that she arrived with.

Eli seems much less surprised to see her depart abruptly than her arrival at his table. He pays the bill when it arrives and then packs up his own things to follow outside into the evening air.