2019-08-17 - No Monsters Here

Jaime sits on a log not too far from the pond with his acoustic guitar on his knee. He plays quietly, classical guitar, a lilting melody that rises and falls along with the strength of the breeze. He seems to just be out enjoying the weather and not having to work today.

Kelsey is taking a break from any kind of exercising today, having assaulted one of the punching bags at Kelly's Gym rather vigorously in the late afternoon yesterday. So her arms feel like noodles again. So instead, she takes to Gray Pond. Where she's heard rumors of a monster living. Though they've seemed to dissipated as of late.

The sound of music draws her attention, and oh look. There's one of the Kelly men now. She doesn't speak just yet. Only drifts a little closer, into his peripheral vision. Listening to him play. She's glad in a pair of dark blue jeans and an Aerosmith T-shirt, hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Jaime has heard plenty of rumors, but he largely considers them all horseshit, even the one his brother told him about some siamese twin snake thing. He hasn't been eaten by any R.O.U.Ses. (Reptiled of Unusual Size). It's easy to tell the Kelly twins apart, even being identical, if one knows them at all. Jaime smiles more and is the musician in the family. Joey's the one more likely to punch you in the face. He notices the movement in the periphery of his vision and glances up, not stopping the song as his fingers move over the strings. He's in a pair of jeans and work boots with a plain grey t-shirt in. "Hey," he says in greeting.

Kelsey's likely at least vaguely acquainted with both twins. She's been here a year and a half and frequented their gym as much as any of the others around town. "Hey." She gives him a little up nod and then settles down on the ground near him. "You play pretty well." Pushing a few loose strands from her face. "Escaped the gym today I take it?"

Jaime doesn't actually work at the gym. That's all Joey, but he's there often enough that someone might think he works there. He's actually a truck driver, and depending on who he is driving for and what route, might be out of town for a few days to a week at a time. He studies her for a moment and then grins, "I can escape whenever I like -- not my place." He continues to strum, though shifts over into something a little more modern. "What're you up to?"

A thoughtful noise at this revelation. Because yeah, she did just assume. But, then again, you know what they say about assuming. Kelsey gave a wry smile. "Lucky you then." Chuckling. Her face and throat still have a hint of a few scratches on them. But thankfully that's almost over and done with and she can stop being reminded of worms in her throat. "Enjoying the weather, same as you. Gotta soak up the last few chances of sunshine and all before summer ends."

"Still got a little while before the fall chill sets in," Jaime says, glancing out over the pond. He doesn't really notice the scratches, or if he does, they don't really seem to be anything that concern him. He lets his fingers come to a stop, then, letting the song fade to a close. "Kelsey, right?" he asks, confirming whether or not he remembers her name right. "Been by the gym today?"

"It'll go by fast though." Kelsey counters with a light shrug and flashed a smile. "Yeah. That's right. And I know you ain't Joey. So you must be Jamie." She leans back a bit on her hands. "Nah, I was there for a while yesterday. Better to beat up a punching bag and a person, you know?" She grins, but also she's not joking.

"That'd be me," Jaime says, confirming with a nod. He rests his elbow on the guitar comfortably and regards her across the short distance. He nods when she says she hasn't been by the gym today. "I'll have to swing by on the way home," he considers, then pulls out his phone and taps something into it before tucking it back in his pocket. "Or you know, both. I'm an 'all of the above' kind of guy." He flashes her a grin.

That makes Kelsey laugh. "I mean. I'm not above kicking someone's ass if they deserve it. But some people just piss me off and I know it ain't really their fault." She shrugged. Then shifted again because, nope, her arms were not taking it today. So instead she just shifts so she's sitting crosslegged and can lean on her thighs. "How long've you been playing?" Nodding to the guitar.

"Usually if you've managed to piss me off, it's your fault," Jaime says. He's definitely the more laid back of the twins, and getting him riled takes quite a bit. He flashes a grin over to her, then glances over at her arms and chuckles. "You've been at the heavy bag again, eh?" Though when she asks about his playing, he says, "Since I was a kid."

"Key difference with us then." Kelsey mused. "Lots of things manage to piss me off. I've just accepted it." She chuckled again. Glancing to her arms. "Yeah. I'm a glutton for punishment." Looking up to him once more. "You're really good. I used to dabble with piano some when I was a kid. But didn't stick with it."

Jaime nods his head, grinning a bit at that, "Well, at least you've figured out a constructive enough way of dealing with it." He nods toward the aforementioned noodle arms. He shifts the guitar on his lap then and says, "Thanks. I'm joining a band again, I think. We don't have a name or anything yet, but we practiced together and didn't sound half bad." He then adds, "I like the piano but I'm not all that good on it."

"Oh yeah? That's pretty cool. Maybe I'll have to hear you all some time. I'm a big fan of music. Especially when it's halfway decent." Kelsey laughed. "It was fun, but wasn't really my thing at the end of the day. Keyboard would probably be better. But I keep busy with a bunch of stuff so there's no real time to be adding more things to the mix."

"Well, considering that we'll probably be playing at the gym, that's highly likely, since the last time Sparrow had a band, she rented the space from Joey," Jaime says with a bit of a laugh. "Figure I can get her an even better deal this time around since I'm in the band." He flashes a grin. "Yeah? What kind of stuff?"

"Hey, I'm all about some free entertainment." Kelsey laughed, giving a little shrug. "I do some freelance writing. Investigate weird shit, rumors. Collect curios. Do odd jobs for money. Work out, occasionally try and be social at one of the bars or something. That kind of stuff."

"Cheap is good, but free is better," Jaime agrees easily enough and then asks, "What sort of stuf do you write?" That seems to pique his curiosity. "And collect.." Because that seems pretty interesting as well.

Kelsey shifted a little, straightening up some. "All kinds of things." Answering both questions really. "I do some fiction stuff. Travel. Weird History things for the writing." She turns so she can focus on him better. "Collections...well. Have you seen Ripley's Believe It or Not? That kind of stuff. Weird things, trinkets, haunted items. Potentially cursed things. Specimens..." There was a touch of light in her eyes as she started talking about it, but seemed to quell it. "My livingroom kinda looks like a museum."

Jaime grins a little curiously at that and says, "Yeah? What kind of fiction stuff?" It's not that he's not interested in the other stuff, but they seem to be self-explanatory. He tilts his head a bit and then shakes his head. "I mean, I've heard of it but I've never actually been to one." He grins a bit and says, "What's your favorite item that you've collected?" He begins to strum the guitar again, though this time it's with a Cat Stevens song, and he hums a little bit quitely under his breath while he still listens.

"Horror mostly." Kelsey shrugs. "Thriller. Little short stories. Nothing to really write home about." She explains. Listening to him play as she thinks over his question. A thoughtful noise. "Well, I dunno if I have an overall favorite. I love them all...but I got this old school clock a while back. Supposedly right from the Amityville Horror house. And that's pretty neat."

"Yeah? You got stuff published?" Jaime asks as he strums along, letting the playing continue even if he's abandoned humming the song. "What kind of clock? Like a big grandfather clock style clock? Cuckoo clock?" He grins. "One of those bell shaped scrolly mantle clocks?"

Kelsey nodded. "Yeah. Web-zines mostly. Some story sites. Nothing in like a physical hard copy." Pushing a hand through her hair. "And it's not under my name." And she's not volunteering what it is under! So good luck Jamie. "Nah, like one of those...Mantle clocks. It's not hand carved engravings on it and stuff. Original hands, made of wrought iron I think. It's beautiful."

Jaime grins when she says it's not under her name, and then doesn't tell him what it is under. He can apparently take a hint, because he doesn't ask and says, "That's cool," instead. Then he nods about the clock, "That's cool. Some of those are pretty cool looking." But he has no particularly deep knowledge of clocks to really pursue that topic further, instead saying, "Sounds like you definitely have plenty to keep busy with."

And Kelsey's more than happy to let that conversation end there! Smiling a touch. "Yeah. So, no more hobbies any time soon." A beat of pause. "How about you? What do you actually do for you then? Since you don't work at the gym."

"Do for me?" Jaime gestures at the guitar. "Pretty much this, play music. This is the thing that I do for me." He grins, "For work, I drive trucks. Deliveries. Sometimes for a local company making runs between here and Seattle mostly between distributors and local businesses. Sometimes I do longer hauls cross country, but not quite as often."

Kelsey looked interested at the mention of him being a truck driver. "Yeah? Where's the farthest away you've been on a delivery?" Quirking a brow. "Sometimes I think a bit of travelling might be neat for work. But I dunno. I like it here and what all I've got going on."

"I drove a trailer with a couple of sports cars in it from Seattle to Miami once," Jaime says. "That was probably the longest single haul I've ever done. I don't do those all that often. I don't like being away from home for weeks at a time, so most of what I do is the short haul stuff in-state."

"Cause you like it here or cause you got family? Both?" Kelsey shifted to pull her knees to her chest now. Just curious. "Never been to Florida before . Or many places really. Actually. I've lived in exactly one state in each section of the country. Vermont. North Dakota. Now here." Making a thoughtful sort of noise at the revelation.

"Family," Jaime says. "I mean, sure, I like it here. I've never lived anywhere else, but I don't like leaving my family back here." He shrugs and says "I haven't seen a lot of the places I've been other than the highways and a lot of shitty motels." He chuckles. "Though I can afford to stay in less shitty motels these days. I've had enough work to keep me alright." He grins at her revelation and says "Now you need one in the middle."

"Makes sense I guess." Kelsey agreed when he talked about family. Chuckling softly. "Less shitty motels are nice." She mused. "Hmm. Maybe. And deep south. So...what. Alabama and maybe Oklahoma?". Another laugh. Sighing quietly. "But I doubt I'm leaving any time soon."

Jaime laughs, "Not sure I'd call it nice, but it's alright. Better than the alternative." His grin is good-natured. He begins putting the guitar away in its case, though and begins to latch it. "Oh god, not Alabama. Maybe Missouri." He shakes his head then and asks, "Why would you want to? Hey, it was good to see you Kelsey. I'm sure I'll see you at the gym. I gotta go pick up my niece, but I'll catch you later?"

"Maybe Louisiana." Kelsey flashed a grin. Watching him pack up. "See you around Jamie. Tell Joey I said hey when ya see him." She gave a little wave before starting to relax back out.