2019-09-13 - Like Old Times

Joey texted Poe to come on over at some point and when he got there led him to the back which has too many uses for one bombed out little boiler room. More than one unfortunate discussion has happened back here in addition to various milestones in people's lives, and more often than not just a secondary crash space for Joey when he's got to open the place up too damn early or needs to just crash in the middle of the day without his niece yelling through the house.

Poe is not one of those people he has to have unpleasant discussions with and as they step beyond the 'staff only' door to the back he gestures to the one chair that's there. "Well, I got some good news for a change. The question is you still lookin to pick up some work?" yup, right into it with the subtlety of a bullet.

Poe had actually been to the gym earlier that day - but very early. Then he'd gone back out into the world to find coffee and breakfast, just to be summoned back by the text message. He wasn't really doing anything else, so it didn't take long to make his way over to the gym and join Joey in the back room.

"I always figure you've got good news, man." He says, flashing a quick smile and dropping down into the seat with a grunt. He stretches his legs out in front of him, wearing close fitting jeans and a black muscle shirt. It's a pretty common look for him. "Yeah. I'm still looking for work. I haven't found a secret stash at grandma's yet." His face takes on a somewhat haunted expression. "Not a stash of money, at least." The look clears and he lets out a breath. "What do you have?" He seems good with getting right to it.

Joey finds his coffee and arches an eyebrow with a faint trace of a grin, "Not always, but lately? eeeeh." Taking a pause for Poe's predicament he asks, "Underground cat peddling not panning out as you'd hoped?" He shakes his head slowly. Damn shame that. The interest at finding some stash though has one eyebrow up in interest in that quiet indicator of talk to me later on that one. "Soooo I dunno if you remember the guy that was running fights between here and Seattle, Collins?" Lukas Collins, bookie, fight promoter. Got them into more than one scrap int he past for some cash. That guy.

Sitting on the edge of the bed on that old ass blanket that was probably with his uncle in the damn war Joey informs, "Seems he's moved onto some other things," he declines noting that one of those things is the afterlife. Not important. "and Felix asked me to take over looking after some of his old shit and cleaning up the circuit." Big fucking promotion there. That's a lot of fucking cash and responsibility to say the least. Those sharp green eyes watch Poe for a long time as his friend lets that sink in. "I got a few guys on board. , but as my fucking best friend and a fucking Brahma bull in tight jeans, I think it could be a great fuckin way to get green in your pocket." Sincerely he adds, "Gotta look out for my own."

The look that Poe returns is a clear: yup, tell you later, might need a drink? Luckily the business at hand soon grabs his attention so he can take his mind off of whatever he found and the tale of many cats.

He nods along with Joey's explanation, seeming to remember the Collins fellow once his memory is poked on the subject. The being dead part really isn't important in the moment, but Poe may very well assume the worst if he's no longer running a pretty lucrative business for Felix.

His eyebrows shoot up when Joey reveals where he's going with all of this. "You're taking it over, man? Shit. That's not small time in the least." His tone is impressed and the smile that splits his lips is genuine. "Congratulations. You going to start dressing in fancy suits and getting yourself a cleaner accent once you're sleeping on a bed of green? Fuck, that's a big deal. Yeah man." He nods, eyes on Joey's face, sitting forward a bit in his seat. "Like I said, I'd be game to get involved again. I've been fighting in LA since I left and was excited to hear it might be happening again here."

Joey turns both hands up with a tilt of his head, "So I've been told." When asked if he's going to clean up his act he snorts and that expression widens into a grin, "I ain't Byron man. But maybe." He wouldn't know what he'd need a suit for but it might be kinda cool to have. till, if there was anything he could rely on it's Poe getting it and being excited as hell with him. See, this is why having the right friends is important!

That grin eases up onto his face still a bit whelmed by all that's got to go into it. "Yeah it was a little messy for a while. Couple things gotta happen. Gotta turn over volume, our producer needs to get paid out on time but I'm pretty good with knowing who we're collecting from and keeping em honest so... weirdly that's less a concern. And now you're tellin me I might need a suit..." He considers this squinting at Poe with amusement and that unspoken Whatta ya doin to me here?

"Half of the circuit runs Fight Club rules man. Two at a time. No gloves. None of this MMA stuff. It's boxing old school as the Irish intended it. We got medical staff on hand and cops ain't gonna be an issue. can get a lil bloody though."

"Medical staff on hand?" Poe gives a low whistle. "This is going to be high class fighting." He leans back in his seat again with a lazy grin, his fingers flexing at his side into a fist. Is that on purpose or just a nervous habit when he's thinking about punching? "They didn't give a fuck about body count in LA. They tossed us in there, no hair, teeth or punching below the belt. Anything else was open season. They'd try to splash some water and give you a rag to clean up with afterwards, but I saw some guys who had to be carried away by friends." His eyes tighten a bit, shifting away from Joey to sweep around the room before he lowers his voice. "Wouldn't admit it to many, Joey, but it was fucking scary. Almost every time. I know it's not supposed to be a cake walk, but whoever was running the show didn't care about the fighters." He gestures across toward Joey, meeting his eyes again. "I know it's going to be rough here, but I also know you're not a monster. Likely better business to keep your fighters fighting too."

Well, that was heavy. "Totally need to get you a suit though. Need to look like you're in charge. Not like the rabble who are in there getting bloody." He hardly misses a beat - "You're planning to fight, right?"

Joey eyebrow waggles. Fancy af indeeeed. Really Felix seems to have hooked them up with enough resources to get up on their feet. Running is going to be an entirely different challenge. A slow nod of agreement at the rules. "Yeah if you gotta hit a guy in the balls in order to win you can't fucking box." Street fights are an entirely different issue where winning matters above all else.

The admission though receives a furrow of his brow. joey leaning forward, holding onto the edge of the blanket as Poe talks about the kind of fears guys like them have to worry about. The truth of it is the kind of shit that punches him in the chest and Poe has, absolutely the right of it. He's brutal, but he ain't no monster. "Yeah, s'why I try to be careful who I've worked for." Trying for optimism he assures as well as he can, "Monaghan? He's always done right by me ya know. He ain't overly sentimental but he doesn't set people up to fail. Ad you know how I feel about my guys. I want a good fight. I want to make money, and i want them to make money. Ain't no value if they can't fight again. not to me or them." His finger reaches into the shell of his ear to give it an itch and he admits, heart heavy, "We lost a guy this past week. Police Captain up in here. one of our fighters, 22 year old fella, got KO'd. Had a damn seizure and is all fuckin scrambled two weeks later." He takes a deep breath and holds it looking back up from the floor to Poe, "I wanna help these guys get out ya know? I don't like it when that shit happens, but it does sometimes happen so I know knowing people are gonna be fuckin prepared." Which is just sometimes the nature of the damn sport.

That rough hand rubs his face and the mood breaks when he's informed he's got to get a suit. "Fine, I'll set something aside. We'll make Byron go with us." There's that eyeroll, but he's not going to tell Poe he's fucking wrong either. And then the last question, "Hell yes I'm fighting! And you're not allowed to put money against me neither."

"If we wanted safe we could find safe. Always work to do out there that pays a hell of a lot less and likely won't get your nose caved in. No one comes into these things expecting to be handled with care. Still, means a lot to be fighting under someone who is looking for you to be there next week and the one after that - instead of just whatever they can get out of you before they move on to the next able body. LA had too many guys looking to earn some dollars and they didn't know what the fuck they were getting into. They were big and strong, but couldn't fight. The look they'd get when someone half their size started to kick the shit out of them. Fuckers had never even been hit before, Joey." Poe shakes his head, letting out a short breath and then waving it away with a quick gesture. "Long way for me to say I'm pumped to fight here. This is going to be tight."

His face twists at the tale of the kid who got messed up. He nods, though. They both know it happens - even with the good ones. It only takes one bad blow to do a lot of damage. "Yeah, I know you're trying to help. Can't help everyone, but some will use it to get away. The rest of us? I think we're lifers."

Joey counters flipping his hand over with the variables, "Well it's fighting. It's not made to be safe but there's stupid and less stupid." And that said he pushes himself back on the bed to rest his back to the wall pulling a leg up. "Well that's what happens when you put non-fighters in charge of fucking fights. The world is full of assholes though so, ya know, take their money and let them figure out where they went wrong." He pauses and snorts, "Or feed em their teeth, but yeah. Shit when I was in county it was the realization I had that big guys are really shitty at fighting comparatively cause they rarely have to do it. Someone gets stupid? They stand up. Problem stops. Me? You? We'll fuckin fight em til we're burger, but the few aside those guys never get the practice. They don't know what to do when someone closes the damn distance."

Eyebrow lifting to Poe there's silence and a slow nod. The expression is one of grim resignation. All their life people told them exactly where they'd wind up, and they were right. What many didn't know is they'd find a way to get good at it. "We are. Honestly? Would we want to get out though if we could?" Joey just shakes his head. It's always been who he was and made peace with that at 7. "I'm gonna see if B wants to get in on investments. Leaving Geoff out. He's... really trying to turn some shit around and he should be able to have that chance ya know/ Good for fuckin him. Jaime?" He shakes his head in a flat 'no'. "He's got other things goin on and if he wrecks his hands bro's fucked. So from our crew? Is us, but I think we got some guys here at the gym hungry for it. Couple of the bouncers in the area too. I got a meeting with Crislater tonight before he goes on. That'll be good."

"Even in a small town they'll start coming out of the woodwork once the word gets out to the right people that this is the place to come if you want to fight and put some money in your pocket. You're the lucky sunnabitch who gets to match them up with someone who isn't going to break too many pieces in the first bout. I mean, if you need some help with that process my schedule is pretty open. And might get myself some business on the side teaching some kids how to get some punches in." The wheels are turning. Can make decent money just from fighting, but if an entire industry springs up around it, Poe might be able to do pretty well for himself outside of the ring too.

"You know, I tried. Not very hard, Joey. But, I thought I'd try to get my shit together in LA. Was trying to break into doing full time stunt work for movies? It's a fucking riot when I could get jobs. But, not enough work to really keep a roof over my head. I don't think I could ever get out unless it was something like that. I need the thrill. I can't just push papers around." He pushes a hand back through his hair, nodding along with the news about other old friends, a fond smile touching his lips. "Whether they're getting their shit together or not, I need to get together with them all again. "

Joey rests his head against the brick and murmurs, "Like bullet ants punching their way through bein broke as fuck. I think we can do somethin with it though. Just... gotta not get shut down by the feds, maybe sure the odds are paid out in balance... get real fucking good at math again, and not get shot." His eyebrow arches to Poe and declares, "Easy."

Like hell.

That wry, dimpled grin forms, "Man if you get a gig as a stuntman full time fucking do it. I'll visit you in the hospital when you get your ass blown up out of a helicopter. Or thing about remembering to send a card." NOW he's picking on him for the prison bit, but meh, it's from a place of love for his own. "Until then? Yeah... might need a suit. And it's nice to get everyone together again." Totally conversational and less out of a 'work mode' he dredges up, "Shit you know who else i ran into? Remember Geoff's ex, Nicole? The blonde from I wanna say junior year? She's back from like Arizona. went out with her the other night. "

"I was in some shit. I'll text you the title. You'll never have heard of any of it but you can see me doing stuff that should have gotten me killed. The big guys train and have some sorta plan when they do stunts - small scale movies have no budget for it. They hand me some cash and tell me what they need done and it's so stupid. I don't know why I'm not dead. I could say that about most things I've done and plan to do." Poe taps idly on the arm of the chair, watching Joey a few feet away. "Let's work together on making sure you don't grow any bullet holes. You're on your own with the math though. If you need I've got an engineer living in the house with me right now. He's likely good with counting?" It's likely true - but Blake might be the worst possible person in this job. Maybe that's what brings the smile to Poe's lips this time?

"Sure. I mean, vaguely. I've been hit in the head a lot of times in the last decade. Arizona, yeah? Everyone always ends up back here it seems. You went out, like hung out, or you went out." The emphasis on those last two words and the raise of Poe's eyebrows. Hooking up with Geoff's ex?

Joey considers the truth of that, "Yeah man we should. I'd watch the hell out of it. Also makes me think I should get a projector for in here for when I pull late nights. Toss Netflix up there or somethin." At the offer to get someone to do the math he snickers, "Fuuuuuck that. Naw, I got it. It's a pain in the ass but it's why I get paid. I'll manage." There is a pause and he looks down at his t-shirt considering Poe's plan. His hand brushing across his chest where he's used to planting such holes he never talks about. "Yeah. I'm decidedly a fan of not leaking from the chest. Makes it harder to hold my liquor man."

There's that slow nod. Yup, everyone comes back. No one gets out. Not really. It's the Sarlacc of the Pacific North West. The amusement holds. He loves these damn moments. Shooting the shit, being honest enough, making plans, and plotting trouble. His finger taps on his sternum where he's hand has come to rest and he clarifies only, "Caught up. hung out. Hit the strip club on a dare the other night. Ohs hiiiit you missed it, Jaime and I made bank off amateur night on a whim. It was kinda a fuckin riot really. Nothing Jaime and I haven't done in a public library ya know." And got pretty much arrested for. "So Jaime's hooked up with a friend of hers a few times who is cool and we were thinking shit Nicole needs to get out more cuase she was complainin about it. So Sparrow and I got this bet goin and she drags Nicole there and I thought she was going to crawl under the damn table. Naw man, she gets up on it and was actually pretty damn good." Blinking he looks really fucking confused, "And it makes me wonder, Geoff the fuck were you thinkin pal?! It was a good time though. Sad you were busy for it. After Itzhak, de la Vega and I got the best damn ribs you can find at 4 am."

"You and Jaime went up? Fuck. I would have liked to see that." Poe says, laughing and shaking his head. "I seriously was going to go that night and I had some other shit come up and just couldn't make it. I was out there for body shots night? That was fun. It's a good little club. I thought anything here would be a lot less classy than that. But, it's decent. Decent." Every word his friend says about the night seems to draw more of a smile from Poe, shaking his head in some degree of disbelief. Maybe a bit of disappointment that he wasn't able to actually be there to witness it all.

"So you get her out there and she's pretty wild? I remember her being pretty easy on the eyes. It was a decade ago, but I'm sure things haven't changed too much." Not always a safe assumption, but he's going to make it this time. "Going to have to get out to meet her. Like I said, want to get in touch with everyone again. Figured I'd just run into some of them around town but seems like I keep missing. Only been a couple weeks though. And I've been busy at times." He shrugs.

"Alright, Joey. Keep the holes out of your chest. I should go do some more cleaning. I'll be back here tomorrow - need to put my work in so I don't get bloodied too badly when the real fighting starts." This said, he climbs out of the chair to make ready to depart.

Joey just grins and shrugs. "What can I say, the Kongos will never be the same. We should though- rally folks back together. Give you a welcome fucking home party or something." And then there's the talk of cats. Whoo boy. He pushes himself to a stand and slaps Poe on the shoulder giving it a squeeze. "Yeah funny enough she's fun to talk to. Give it a shot." Wandering back up to the door that separates the illegal and personal side of the business he pauses and tells his old partner in crime, "Sorry LA didn't work out. I'm glad to have you back though. Keep your ear out and lemme know if we got money or talent floating around. I trust you to be fucking discrete."

"You know I know how to keep my mouth shut when it's supposed to be shut. You don't last this long if you're telling the wrong things to the wrong people. If I see anyone I think fits I'll let you know and we'll make sure they're safe to approach." Poe says, bringing his opposite hand around to slap and squeeze Joey's shoulder at the same time. They both hold the position for a few seconds in some kind of embrace before he lets his hand drop away.

"Might get bak to LA, but I'm happy to be back. Didn't realize how much I missed it here. You. Everyone. Weird how you forget when life is throwing other shit at you. But, I'm here." He steps through the door back out into the gym.

"Take it easy, man."

Joey holds his hands up, "Hence, me sayin I trust you." Because Joey's not one for blowing sunshine up someone's ass to be nice. But there it is, fuckin trust. "You too, call me if you wind up with trouble with the moving, or with the stash." There's that eyebrow waggle. "Take it easy, brother." And that's the continuation of a beautiful friendship.