2019-08-25 - Fatalism & Tramp Stamps

The tattoo shop is rather quiet today barring the light buzz of a tattoo gun being operated somewhere in the back and the low drone of the rock playing over the speaker. No one is to be seen at the reception desk, and it weren't for the low murmur of conversation coming from the back, it'd be doubtful if any employees were actually here. That is except for Geoff who is lounging out across a couch in the reception area. The man clad in a pair of faded gray jeans, heavy leather motorcycle boots and a plain black tee. He seems to be biding his time flipping through at trade magazine there, and regulars to the shop would know this to be his frequent haunt when not busy with customers.

The handful of times Harper has brought baked goods to Geoff (at least after he got out of prison), it's been at his home. Apparently the librarian is mixing it up. Straight from the library she arrives and whisks into the shop from the sultry August sun outside, blinking a bit as her eyes adjust from the glare. She exhales in a little puff and reaches up to tuck a curl of dark hair behind an ear. Over one shoulder and hanging across the opposite hip is her satchel from work. In her hands she holds a plate with plastic wrap over the top. It's easy to see homemade brownies neatly cut and piled on the plate beneath the plastic.

Moving up to the reception desk she scans everywhere but the waiting room in hopes of catching sight of her long-time friend. It's only after a moment when she casts a casual look off and to her right that she spies Geoff sitting right there. Her easy smile curves and she walks over to perch on the edge of the sofa beside him. "There you are, Geoffrey." It doesn't matter if his name is shortened or not. It never has. Harper is just Harper. "My keen senses of the cosmos told me that you'd been craving chocolate fudge brownies. Tell me I wasn't wrong." She sets the plate as if in offering atop her stockinged knees and leans in to brush her smile against the man's cheek, then draws back, her brown eyes full of questions.
(outfit, not pb: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/5b/87/7e/5b877e15682df51bbbc62624ac792159.jpg )

Geoff barely looks up from his magazine when the door opens, after all it is someone else's job to be running the desk not his. However when a stray glance reveals it is Harper who has come in a broad grin pulls across his lips, though he remains quiet until she finds her way over to him. Running his fingers lazily through his hair he begins to draw up so he can sit and provide more space for Harper "Hey, you know your keen senses of the cosmos have never been wrong about me and my love of chocolate." his lip quirking up in an amused grin he teases "Though I was kind of hoping that you'd come in so that we could get you a tramp stamp that read something like 'book babe' and have it flanked by open books."

Self control at an all time low he's immediately reaching for the goodies balanced on Harper's knee, and if not stopped will grab a brownie to munch as they talk "So what have you been up to lately? Getting into trouble." eyes narrowing in suspicion he asks "You haven't been using fire and zealous persecution of overdue fines to sort out your enemies again, have you?"

Harper's warm brown eyes practically light up at Geoff's warm greeting. "Good," she murmurs in regard to his love of chocolate. "You should eat more." That's as maternal as it gets. "A tramp stamp, hmm? And here I'd been saving my virgin skin for Sherlock Holmes." Harper dates now and then; she's no wilting flower. "You don't think some Nietzsche would be more apropos?" For the small handful of people who know Harper beyond the initially strong impression of relentlessly cheerful librarian, there are glimpses of something now and again, a fatalism that's far more dark than most people know. "But I can't argue with the alliteration." Because that's the measure of a good tat.

She doesn't stop him. She hardly keeps from shoving the plate into his lap in an effort to get him to eat brownies sooner and with more relish when he reaches for them. The plate remains, in the end, perched atop her knees as he sneaks a hand under the plastic for a delicious brownie. "I never get out of trouble enough to have to work to get back in," she teases back at him. "My scandalous job keeps most of the gossips busy." When Geoff gives her that narrow-eyed look she bursts into laughter then does her best to conquer it and clear her throat to reply solemnly. "Fines? How do you think I earn the big bucks? Zealous persecution is my favorite, Geoffrey. You know this. Don't take away my fun." She tips to lean a shoulder into the sofa-back and tilts her head in the opposite direction, giving Geoff a desultory look-over. "Whose hearts are you breaking these days? All brain tangled up with brawn, artistic license and that devilish imagination, hmm?" Hearts plural.

Geoff wobbles his hand "True I mean Nietzsche has a lot more punch, but nothing is supper succinct, and only professional athletes go for the wall of text look. Though I think you could pull it off." with a laugh he says "Or you could just circle your ass with 'if you stare in the abyss, the abyss stares back.'" The man bumping his shoulder to hers, his own since of fatalistic nihilism having been more honed by Schopenhauer then Nietzche in the depths of incarceration.

Taking a bite from the fresh brownie, he takes a bite and takes several long moments to savor it before finally swallowing "Oh I'd never dream of taking your fun away. After all if you had to give it up, the last true successor to the inquisition would be lost and we couldn't have that." his hand waving lightly as he carries on "Oh I've been seeing someone rather steady, could even get pretty serious but the shop isn't the best place to discuss this. What of you, I know you're a hellcat no matter how you choose to present yourself. There has to be someone you've been digging into, and if not then we're going to have to go drinking."

Harper always saw the intelligence behind Geoff's eyes all the way back to his more flammable and impetuous days. Perhaps her idealized mind saw him as more than he was at times. But her certainty about who Geoff was never faltered. He never saw pity in her eyes. Never sympathy or sadness. Only the highest of esteem and unquestioning affection. So when he goes between her ass and philosophical lines of thought, Harper just laughs, that warm, inclusive laughter that ends too soon. She drops her forehead, still smiling broadly, to rest it briefly on the nudging shoulder before she looks back up at Geoff.

"Of course you wouldn't," Harper agrees about him not dreaming of taking her fun away. 'Because you're Geoff' goes unspoken. "No, no. We absolutely couldn't muck up the natural order that way." Head lifting once more she searches Geoff's eyes as he speaks further, taking in the hand gesture as well. She opens her mouth to speak when Geoff mentions the 'someone'; she closes it when he puts off sharing any details. But Harper reaches out to slide her hand around Geoff's nearer wrist and squeezes. "I'm so happy for you. Geoffrey." There a little thrum to her words that hints at how heartfelt they are. "Remind me not to visit you at the shop next time, then." She smiles a smaller smile as the query is turned back to her. "I'm seeing someone, yes. He's a former biker. Now he owns a local business. You'll either be very pleased or you'll break some skulls, I'm not sure which yet." Brown eyes sparkle. She's not joking.

Geoff snorts and rolls his eyes "You can visit me anywhere you want, you're family and if the people in my life can't deal with that then I don't need them." his shoulders hiking up in a light devil-may-care shrug. His tone showing just how set he is in that line of thought, as is the fact that he uttered 'family' an all but taboo word for him." Though as news turns to the fact that she is seeing someone he just goes for encircling his arm about her in a tight hug, pulling her close in a warm squeeze "Look at you, going for the bad boy type. Never would have been able to guess about that one." his eyes dancing with amusement as he says this.

However there's a pause and he speaks in a light jovial manner that to some might sound like a joke, but might as well be a promise coming from him "Though if he hurts you or makes you cry his next of kin are going to inherit a pile of smoldering cinders." Giving her shoulder a squeeze before releasing her from that hug he says "I know you can handle yourself, but that doesn't stop me from breaking the odd nose does it?"

The words Geoff speaks are significant, and that fact isn't lost on Harper. Her brown gaze softens as she searches his own and then dips her chin just perceptibly. Harper easily slides against the crook of Geoff's one sided hug and she turns her face against his shirt-clad shoulder and flushes faintly. Family is a difficult word for the librarian as well. With hers all dead, and horrifically so, having someone who has known her as long as Geoff has call her family is a precious, precious thing. "Look at me," she echoes playfully and lifts her head. "I like to keep you on your toes. It's how I choose all the important things in life." Another capricious smile.

She shakes her head slowly when the affectionate threat comes. "I'll make sure to tell him." Other things don't get to Harper, but this particular demonstration of affection does and she puts a hand on Geoff's chest to push up and away, glancing to the side as she takes a slow breath and then meets his gaze, once again perched on the edge of the sofa. "I hope it never will, Geoff. You're one of my few constants. I'd like it to always stay that way." She shakes herself free of the building moment to ask more lightly, "Is there anything happening in your life right now that you can share while at your place of employment?" A challenging little smile.

Geoff scratches at his chin thoughtfully as he pulls out his phone to send the librarian a quick text as he says "Let's see, been riding my motorcyle a lot. Made a friend promise to punch me if I ever ended up bougie." wrinkling his nose he says "I might have money now, but I can't go forgetting my roots you know." gesturing out in the general direction of the trailer park he says earnestly "Honestly I spend a decent amount of time around the park still, taking care of the little stuff."

Standing he walks to look out the window "Feels like everyone there is just getting older or can't look out for themselves ya know? Figure if I can be a small change at least in that community it's not the worst thing." carrying on he just changes subjects because if the matter of who he is dating is slightly sensitive this next bit isn't "Been glowing a bit brighter too recently...Fuck if I know what that's about, it's a pain. Was already bad enough when I got /their/ attention on me. Don't need to glow like a bonfire to make it that much more alluring." Oh he hadn't mentioned gaining the certain dark entities, and it certainly wasn't important enough but mention off handedly in passing.

Harper slides a hand into her satchel and pulls out her phone, her gaze flickering down to the text and then flying back up to Geoff's face as if to check for veracity versus teasing. Wow, she mouths. Not bad, Geoff. Not bad at all.

Back to the words he's speaking she half attends while typing in some characters of her own and hitting send. "Bougie? What's that? You know I'll punch you anytime, bougie or not. You just have to ask nicely." She smiles that sweet smile most people know as the librarian's. Yep. She'd punch him. Probably wouldn't hurt, but Harper'd do it. As a favor. "I don't care where you do it, so long as you're happy doing it," she murmurs in response to Geoff's description of the time in the trailer park.

When Geoff rises, Harper slides back to settle her back to the cushions, her eyes following after him as he moves, measuring the communication beneath the frosting words. "You always were a natural alpha. I'm not surprised you're shepherding now." Gently spoken. The smile fades and leaves something somber on Harper's face. "You're careful, I hope. Not reckless? Not with this." She doesn't know if she'd survive something happening to Geoff, too. Not after so many others in her life. "You shine bright, you bring out the shadows. No catching on fire, getting shot by arrows, cursed jewelry or otherwise, you hear me, Geoffrey?" Harper knows it's not something he can promise. Not if he's burning more brightly. Not if he has Their attention.

Geoff laughs, a light of devilish mischief dancing in his eyes as he strides back over to drop down beside Harper "I'm careful I don't go playing with my gifts like a kid with a toy. Either I'll use them to break someone, or heal them, neither of which is going to come up easily." hooking an arm over the back of the couch he shares "Yeah...got their attention when a henchman came in to get a tat. It was a join or be thrown to the lions sort of deal."

Running his tongue over his teeth he says "So I told them politely to go fuck themselves and policy was never do something because I'm being threatened." glancing to her out of the corner of his eye he philosophizes "If you let someone rule you by fear you might as well be a prisoner, back in the joint I realized that. I have perfect freedom in choosing to live how I want to and in my actions and the choices I make. It doesn't matter how shit the world is, because lets be honest the world is shit and it's always going to get worse, the worst someone can do is threaten to live up to your expectations of the worst. So no matter what hell I'm thrown into, I can rejoice in the freedom of self determination, and the knowledge that every choice is uniquely and individually mine to make"

Coughing into his hand he looks a little sheepishly towards Harper "And I got side tracked with cellblock philosphy. I promise I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to end up in any of those situations. I'll be safe."

It's the devilish mischief that sparks the returning, curving smile on Harper's lips, behind her eyes. "That's my boy," she murmurs quietly. Go self-determinism! Rah. "How did they take that blow: you choosing your own path to spite them?" Because in her experience, making them upset doesn't always turn out so well. Still, she's nodding a bit, unsurprised and pleased with Geoff's -- to her -- predictable strength of character. Nod. The world is shit. Harper couldn't agree more. He'll be safe. Harper turns her head to watch him, dropping her chin to rest lightly atop her shoulder for a long few moments. "No. No, it won't be one of those. It will be something much worse." She smiles through that fatalistic lens at her dear friend. "How long have you been spending time with this friend of yours?"

"Oh she turned their attention on me...It's been a bit better since I ran her out of town. Though every now and then the world just kind of turns to shit...Paranoia, food is stale, claustraphobia with doors closed just like it was back when I was locked up. I chose this though, so they can go fuck themselves." Geoff says this in a conversational entirely matter of fact tone. A warm smile pulling over his features he shares "Oh no whatever finally does me is in probably going to be horrific and gory. Not looking forward to it, but all it takes is tripping at the wrong time in a dream to bite it." He sounds like he fully accepts that this is what what will happen to him at some undetermined point in the future.

As the talk turns back to his friend he easily replies "Oh a couple months now, she's surprisingly down to earth for one of them and despite the rbf she can be warm when she wants to." leaning back into the cushions he shares "Honestly I'm surprised she stuck around through some of the shit I've pulled and shared, and obviously isn't just into me for my adonis like physique." with a laugh he shares simply "I'm happy." as if those two words should be enough to speak volumes more.

Harper makes assumptions about this 'she' given what he's already said. Folding one leg across the other she leans to one hip and turns a bit back to face Geoff and the plate of brownies. She nods once or twice as he mentions the panic attacks that accompany a person who has spent real time behind bars. "I wish I could take a scalpel to you and excise some of those memories, but in the end they're part of what make you my dear friend. Life is convoluted and strange, yes?" The way it twists about so that bad becomes good, and good bad. Geoff speaks of his own mortality and unpleasant end and this earns him a conspiratorial smile. "We'll throw it in their faces for as long as we can and then go out in a blaze of glory." She says this as if they'll do so together, when it's highly unlikely that such will be the case.

A couple of months. Harper arches a brow. "I should have brought you some sweets earlier in the summer, I think." The smile curves to something more in the realm of teasing. "The good ones do." They stick around through all sorts of messy things. Amusement plays out once more over Harper's features. "That's what counts: you being happy," Harper murmurs finally. "It's all I wish for you, my friend. Now," A beat. "-- tell me when we can do something again, or risk me showing up when you least want a librarian around to muck things up."

Geoff shakes his head "You know, I wouldn't give them up for anything the good or the bad, they've made me who I am, and on a more selfish note they're mine." his expression turning wolfish for a second before softening, "Life is convoluted and strange and I don't think you'd change it for the world even if you could. After all where would the fun be in that?" grabbing another brownie he holds it up as if to toast "To our glorious and horrible end, huh?"

With a light dip of his head he confirms "Definitely should have brought me those sweets earlier in the summer." He looks about to speak more when a gangly youth who can't be more then nineteen begins to head back towards the reception, prompting Geoff to raise his gruff voice one more in an approximation of annoyance "The fuck are you doing Jake, ya fuckin' vanish for thirty minutes to go jack off by the dumpster or whatever the fuck you do and /now/ you come slinking back." he makes a gesture of dismissal "Go sanitize my chair again, I'll tell ya when you can come back." rolling his eyes for the benefit of the pissed off youth who disappears into the back again. Once Jake is gone he turns a mischievous smile on Harper "It's hard to find good help...Technically I'm not his boss but he's not going to disobey me." features softening as he studies Harper's face he says "And I want you to be happy to, seriously. If anyone in this town deserves it, it's you if you can actually manage to claw a little bit of it from the cruel grasp of reality for yourself. As for when you can come bother me? The answer is whenever you fucking want, in fact how about we go drinking soon. You free on Friday?"

Harper watches Geoff with a faraway gaze and an admiring curve to her lips as he speaks about the nature of life and existence. "No fun at all," she agrees. "And so very different." She lifts her hand to the toasted brownie and pulls off a corner of it between thumb and forefinger to raise it to her lips. "Our magnificently horrific ends." With enthusiasm.

She's slowly nodding about the early summer and time that's passed when Jake gets his dresssing down. She turns her head to watch the kid's reaction to Geoff's salty reproof, her smile small but ever-present. "He's lucky to work for you." And she actually means it. Harper hears an altogether different message from Geoff's words than he speaks. She always has. No one will ever convince her otherwise. Her fond attention slides back to Geoff, drifting over his features while he completes his diatribe. "Your job must be endlessly fascinating." How a librarian could think as much is testament to the unique individual Harper is. "I'm working on it, Geoffrey." Harper looks briefly startled by the abrupt and overt invitation. "I'd like that. Yes, Geoff. For time with you I'll be free this Friday. I think you'll find me woefully unequipped to drink the way you'd like, but I think I'll enjoy trying." She reaches out to pat Geoff's knee with her nearer hand and then pushes to stand from the sofa. A deep breath. An exhalation. "Text me. And in the meantime give me a hug so I can head off into the sweltering evening certain that your chocolate fix has been provided for, if only temporarily."

"Drinking's an adventure and you enjoy the journey not the destination, you'll be fine." Geoff says with all the confidence in the world, clearly not worried about what harm could come from Harper's inebriation. Standing up he stretches with a languid ease before he wraps his strong arms about Harper in a crushing bear hug, holding her close in a warm, familiar embrace "I'll text you, don't worry about that. You take care of yourself, okay?"

Harper winds her arms briefly around Geoff's neck and squeezes him as he crushes the air from her lungs. "And there's the philosophy I need." She drops down from her toes and steps back. "Don't forget," she murmurs, sternly teasing. "I'll take care, you'll take care. We'll both be so prone to care that nothing interesting at all will happen. Then we'll both need a drink." Once more a kiss to to Geoff's cheek and Harper pivots on her heel and heads for the door. "Make sure that chair is clean." A little wave and a sparkling smile and the librarian is gone.

Geoff watches Harper leave with a smile, and then it's back to business letting that cold look of annoyance fall over him once more as he's calling out loud enough to be heard from the street "Jake, are you not done with the fucking chair yet? Goddamnit. Get out here and watch the reception desk. I'll take care of it." and with deliberately heavy footsteps he trodding into the back.