2019-10-12 - Certified, Certifiable, Who's Counting?

It's a late Saturday afternoon at the Pourhouse and Jaime is settled in at a seat with a beer in front of him fiddling on his phone. He occasionally glances up and looks around the room, idly people watching between whatever text conversations he has going on. The beer is approximately 2/3 full, and he doesn't seem to have been there for very long, so it's likely his first one.

Kass comes ambling in through the front door, eyes glassy, looking mellow, smelling heavily of an earthy, even woodsy strain of pot with just the faintest hint of sweet underneath. While most might be settling in for a night of sheer lazy munchies and movies, the strain is just strong enough to mellow out the young woman and make her act... normal. She offers a wave and smile towards Jaime, towards anyone that's around really. Hopping up onto a stool, she smiles for the bartender, who tsks heavily and rolls his eyes at the sight of her. They know each other. "Heeeeeeeey. Sorry about before. I was just kinda wound up and nervous and things happened. I promise its all good now. Cna I have... uhhhhhhh... do you got like... Rolling Rock maybe? Or Yuengling?" She sets her bag down on the bartop, something inside rattling and clanging lightly from within.

Jaime gives a nod to Kass when she settles down at the bar in return for her wave. He's lived in town his whole life and so he's pretty familiar with the locals. The truck driver/musician lifts his beer and takes another swig, idly observing the interaction between Kass and the bartender with a sort of idle not-quite-eavesdropping since it'd be impossible not to notice due to proximity. They've likely never been introduced, but she's recognizable in that screaming-red-hair sort of way.

Kass may not be immediately recognizable, she's only been 'back' for maybe a day or two. But when the introduction happens, the name might ring some bells, depending on if the news of her 'story' reached his part of the city. She looks over to Jaime and offers another smille, leaning a touch to the side to offer a hand out to him, "Hey. Kass. Kassandra Hughes. Did we used to know each other, maybe?" Likely not know-know, he's a bit much older, would likely have been out of school when she 'went crazy'. But if he has any family that was in high school at the time, he might have heard. Story has it Kass was sort of a rebellious type as a teen, hung out with the wrong crowds, got into trouble at home a lot... always riding that line between 'not enough' and 'too much'. Then shortly before homecoming, word had it the girl had a complete meltdown. Things went sideways at her house, and somehow, the thirteen year old managed to beat both her parents so badly they ended up at the hospital for stitches and broken bones. And Kass.. went away. Her parents would never say and nobody else was able to pinpoint it. Some said she ended up in juvie, others say she ended up in the nut hatch, even more figured she got sent to live with some farflung relative. She was never heard from again, though her parents are still here, slowly sliding deeper into poverty and apathy.

And now she's back.

Jaime takes the offered hand and gives it a shake in greeting, "Jaime," he says. "Jaime Kelly." The name may or may not be familiar to her, but the twins are pretty easily recognizable in town as trouble. "I think we've seen each other a few times, but never been introduced." Whatever he may or may not know of her story, he doesn't give any voice to. Instead he just says, "How's it going?"

"Oh hey! You're one of the Kelly twins, right? Yeah, I remember you... pretty sure half the girls in school had a crush on you guys. Bad boys, you know? That sorta thing." Kass shakes his hand with the smile growing briefly to a grin at recognizing the face if not the name. She gives a bobbed nod and chuckles, "Yeah. I was too young for you guys back when. Probably saw each other in some places though, I think we ran in the same crowds just.. different age groups." She tinks about his question for a few moments, seeming to give it serious consideration. "Not so hot just now, but its looking like it might get better soon. I dunno, alot's gonna depend on if I can keep the job I just got. I gotta remember to fortify before I go in there or I'll end up doing or saying something wrong to get me fired." She lifts a casual shrug and looks back to him, one brow popping up, 'What about you? How's things for you?"

Jaime raises a brow and an amused smile touches his lips at Kass' words, shaking his head just a little bit as he lifts the bottle to his lips for another swig. "Yeah, something like that." Which part he's referring to exactly is somewhat unclear. Maybe to most of it. "Congrats on the new job," he says, saying to the bartender. "Put her drink on my tab. In congratulations." He then asks her "What sort of job did you get? Oh, things are fine. Driving. Playing in a band. Staying out of trouble." Mostly.

Kass gives a wide-eyed glance when he offers to pay for her drinks. Swallowing the mouthful she'd just taken, she grins briefly, "Hey, thanks!" Turning back to the beer, she lifts it again only to look back at him. "Oh, uh. Cocktail waitress? At, uh.. Cabaret. its.. its the only place that would take me." She shoots a brief, dark glance towards the bartender, as if perhaps he were one of the many that turned her down in her jobhunt. "I don't exactly have a ton of experience with.. well, much of anything right now. But they were willing to give me a chance, so I'm gonna suck it up and do what I gotta, y'know? I can't stay with my parents, they don't want me there. So I gotta get working and get a place of my own." She shrugs once more like its nothing, though she looks vaguely uneasy for a moment. Looking back to him, she can't help but laugh again, "Yup. And that's why girls fall all over you both, right there. Driving cool cars, playing in bands, being broody bad boys... well, one of you anyways. You're not really broody." Blinking, Kass looks back to him, solemn for a moment, "Its.. thanks. This is gonna sound weird but.. thanks for not like.. completely changing or disappearing or something. For being exactly who you were before. I.. I've lived here my whole life, but when I came back it was like.. like I ended up in some parallel universe or something, y'know? All the places look the same, even a lot of the faces are familiar.. but its like everything's changed and I don't know anyone anymore and its been.. kinda scary. Intimidating. But here you are, exactly like I remember and its just... comforting, I guess." She shrugs and shakes her head, "Sorry, I probably don't make any sense at all..."

"Yeah, sure," Jaime says, apparently not finding the price of a couple of drinks to weigh too heavily on his wallet. He nods then when she mentions the cabaret and chuckles. "Joey and I danced up there for amateur night not too long ago." It was ridiculous and terrible and funny as hell. He nods as he listens to her talk, seeming content to swig his beer and watch her as she explains the new job and such. One brow ticks up as she talks about him and Joey and he smirks a little bit, "Yeah, I'm not much of a brooder. Joey's got that part down." Though when she goes serious, he tilts his head just a little bit and then nods, "You're welcome, I guess?" He chuckles. "Though I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing." The whole not changing for years thing. "I guess that means I haven't lost my boyish charm." Or that he'd grown up at all.

"Its good. Definitely good. Its... like, you might have changed as a person, you know? We weren't like super close or anything so I don't know how you really acted or whatnot. I just... I wanted to say thank you. For not like.. doing a 180 and becoming a lawyer or accountant or something, I guess. For still being a bad boy with a souped up car and a band. Even if inside you're not the same guy anymore, if you grew up or whatever..." Kass shrugs and offers a faintly embarrassed smile before burying her face in her glass and taking a hefty swallow. Glancing over at him, she offers half a grin, "And no, you haven't lost anything. You look maybe a bit more muscled and filled out, if anything, but the charm's still there. Same as it was. I used to watch the older girls just like... strutting and slinking around you guys. Like peacocks. Or cats. It was really funny to watch."

Jaime can't help but laugh at that and says, "I don't think there's any danger of me suddenly becoming a lawyer. That'd be ironic. Also, I don't have the souped up car. I have an old beater of a truck that is held together by rust and a paryer, but I am in a band that's starting up and hopefully we'll start playing gigs soon. Though, I still do my own stuff, still." He says, "I've been boxing at the gym a bit more in the recent years." Which would explain the greater defintion in his musculature from when he was younger. "As for the strutting and slinking, that's mostly Joey, too, probably because of the aforementioned car." He flashes a grin.

Grinning at him, Kass gives a nod, "Good. I kinda like that there's still people I can recognize and... you know, not feel awkward as fuck around." She blinks, then stares down at the bar, "Huh.. I thought yours was the... okay! Twin mixup, sorry about that. I thought you had the car and he had the beater. But cool, I'll remember that." A brief pause and then she glances at him, "I could probably fix it for you... if you want it. I'm trying to do this thing where like.. I'm not breaking stuff so much anymore and I'm fixing things instead? You know, creating, not destroying. I did some... really bad shit before. I guess I'm trying to even out my karma or something..." She lifts a shrug and lets out a sigh, "The pot helps." Looking back at him, Kass smiles, "Congratulations on the band. I'd like to listen to you guys sometime, maybe a practice jam or something? If its okay for random chicks to show up, I mean." Giving a nod to his explanation of boxing, she murmurs, "Do you go to the fight nights? I thought about going. Just to watch. Help patch up anyone that gets beat too bad.." Shrugging lightly, she moves right along, flashing him another grin. "Cars aren't everything. I'm sure girls would strut and slink for you if you just showed up somewhere. Got that whole charm thing going, right?"

"Nope, he's got the car. I've got the truck that's still limping along," Jaime grins as he swivels on his barstool to sit with his back against the bar, facing the rest of the room and watching people as they come and go. "It's alright. Lots of folks mix up stuff between us. It's the drawback of being identical." He doesn't seem to mind at all, not from the way that he grins. He raiss a brow and says "If you're a mechanic, then why are you working as a cocktail waitress at a strip club? Mechanics can make better money." When she says she'd like to listen he nods, "Whenever we get something going, I'll let you know. Pretty sure Garrett and Sparrow wouldn't mind an audience." He nods when she asks about the fights, but since they're illegal and all, he doesn't say too much more than that in public. "Maybe," he agrees on the topic of slinking. "Some of the guys, too."

"I'm not certified or anything. I'm just... good at fixing things. Otherwise I'd be looking for a job in a shop. But they won't hire me without certification, so... here I am." Kass lifts a shrug again and lifts her beer for a drink. The answer came quickly, maybe even too quickly. There's something just a little off in the statement, though what she said was true enough. She doesn't turn when he does, apparently preferring to keep regulars from recognizing her as 'the Hughes girl', but she keeps up the conversation well enough. She flashes him a grin and offers, "Well I can tell you I won't forget again. I know you're used to it, but... I don't know, I want to try and keep you two separate in my head. So I know who I'm talking to." Kass runs her tongue over her teeth and nods, "Cool. And, uh, Maybe I'll see you around then, too." Because she's said enough about the fights. Taking another drink, she flashes a grin at him, "Nothing wrong with equal opprtunity. I've seen some guys that can slink better than the girls. They're some of the best guys to know. No judgment from them." She glances at him and lifts a brow, "So you guys danced at the Cabaret? Kinda sorry I missed it. Gonna be around for the Masquerade stuff?"

"Well, alright, you can take a look at the truck if you want to. I mean, worst thing you can do to it is put it out of its misery at this point," Jaime says, indicating that it's more likely that the truck is on its last legs than anything else. He notices that there's something a little off about it, but like most things that are a little off in Gray Harbor, he just ignores it. "Oh, it's not hard to keep us separated once you actually talk to us more than once in a decade," Jaime grins over at her. "I smile more." Then he chuckles and says, "Some of them can, yeah. Yeah, we did this whole double trouble thing. Tight pants, no shirts, the whole nine yards." He shrugs about the Masquerade and says, "Not sure. Haven't decided. Will have to see if the band is playing at one of the events or not. I don't spend a lot of time at the Cabaret. That night was the only time I've been there."

"Cool. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised at what I can do. Who knows, if the Kelly boys start talking up my mad mechanic skills, maybe someone will overlook the whole 'no certification' thing until I can afford to go through the schooling for it," Kass sends him a broad grin and and a nod, lifting her beer towards him in salute before tipping it back for a drink. She just doesn't even acknowledge that there was anything off about any part of that, like the whole thing was totally fine. And it is! Chuckling, she gives a nod, "Yeah, I'll have to start doing that more often. But... I'm back now, I was released fair and square. Long as I keep my appointments and don't get into trouble, they can't do anything about it." The part about tight pants and no shirts has her looking at him in a more.. critical fashion. Less ogling, more considering. Flicking a glance back up to his face, she lifts a brow, "So like, there's a bunch of events and then a Goblin Masq dance at the Cabaret. Everyone's gonna be in masks and costumes and stuff. What if I could get you a badass goblin mask, you could do like.. leather pants leather jacket and be some hot, mysterious biker goblin king or something. And I'll help you fend off the drooling masses. Would you think about it? I might could even get two masks, and you could both come? If you think your brother would, I mean."

"Maybe. Stop by the house and I'll let you pick up the truck, unless you've got a place I can take it to work on it," Jaime says. He then finishes off his beer and gets up to his feet. "You'll do fine. Just keep up with what you need to do and you'll be alright. Fresh start. All that." He laughs at the mental image of him as some kind of leather biker goblin king and shakes his head. "Yeah, I'm not feelin' that.. but maybe I'll think of a costume and turn up. We'll see. You have a good night, Kass. Catch you soon."