2019-12-10 - Candles Glow Brightest in the Dark

It's a pleasant autumn evening, all things considered, given the lack of rain and warmth that lingers on into december. Situated at a front table by the window, Yule's dressed in a button down, light blue shirt whose cuffs have been rolled up midway upon his forearms. A pair of black slacks and ankle high black boots completes his outfit. Held in his hands? It's a newspaper, of all things, perused and unfolded as he settles into place, a cup of coffee settled down on his table before him.

Ignacio re-enters the coffee shop in his usual slow, uneven gait. He works on 'flying casual' but he is still using his right leg to pull the rest of himself along with difficulty, and without complaint. He comes in and looks around as if for someone, and not finding them drops his backpack into the seat not entirely near the window. He's greeted in a familial way because Ellie pays her staff to be nice, but even then there's a 'Hey Ignacio, what'll it be?'

Oh the indecision leads to a Peppermint Mochaccino and the Cranberry bliss muffin. That New York accent is thick on those vowels. Eventually he comes back and takes up a table near Yule. Coffee down first, then plate. Phone comes out of his back pocket to drop on the table, black and red moto racing jacket to drop on the back of the seat. Sitting he pulls his laptop out. and thengoes to take a sip of his mochaccino, pauses and looks around as it's leaving a little coffee ring. He's used to spilling things apparently because there's taht resigned sigh. The little dispenser is... over there. one hand shoots out like a Sith lord or some sort of lopsided Jedi. Nop...newp... trying... if he wiggles his fingers it'll work right? "C'mon this is the Harbour. Why does the force suck when I need it?" Sigh. Looking to Yule he asks, "Hey man, I hate to bug you but would it bug ya terrible if I could have one of those napkins you got over there? My cup runneth over."

With the paper folded in half, it requires a finger from the M.E. to be lifted, tugging down at the corner of it all to pull it down enough for Yule's brown eyes to flicker of Ignacio when he hears that accent drift his way. He's just about to go back to his casual browsing when the adressal becomes far more direct towards him, and despite the words? There is a touch of good natured humor as he responds, "Terribly. But, I'll just chalk it up as my good deed for the day, yeah? Surely it'll get me a lot of karma points." It's not just one but two of his napkins, perhaps erring on the side of caution given how familiar the man seems to be with small messes, and out his arm stretches to hold it out. "Sounds like you've come a long way to find yourself in Gray Harbor, of all places. Been a few months since I've heard that particular accent. New York, yeah?"

Ignacio warms a half-smile to the guy. "Dude, I will totally sign off on that." He opens the laptop and hits the power button on the top of the Surface. When the napkin is passed his way he take it with a murmured gracias and lifts up his cup, wipes the bottom of it with a twist and then sets it on the table to soak up the partial ring there, and proceeds to use it as a coaster for the while after taking a sip.

The question of being called out as a New Yorker gets a wry grin, and a nod. "Eeeh yeah you can say I'm a Mets fan. Came out this past summer and moving this last couple weeks. Now either ya ran into Itzhak I'm guessing or get out a bit? You local or in for the holidays visiting framily and stuff?"

"Yeah? From Queens, then, or do you just always root for the underdog of the city?" Comes Yule's first response to the man's words, that paper folded down once more to make sight lines far easier to see as he considers Ignacio. "Nah. Don't know Itzhak. I'm originally from here, born and raised. Left at eighteen though, and spent right about twenty years in NYC. School and work." Down that paper is placed by the man onto his table, one hand reaching out to curl around his cup of coffee to pull it in closer, even as his brown eyes study the other gent for a few beats. "Moved back a couple of months ago, now. Still have a lot of family in the area. How about you? What is it that's brought you out to this particular little neck of the world?"

Ignacio flashes a wider grin that pulls at the less responsive side of his face, "I am from Queens and they're not the underdog, they just finally convinced others to step up their game." Yup, he will make every excuse under the sun there but hang onto his home-team. His head tilts, curious. He signs into his laptop and then pulls up his email and Chrome to hunt down a website but lets his focus rest on Yule all the same. "No shit? NYU?" He considers the question and looks back, "My brother moved out here. Didn't like why he had to SO I thought come out here and spend time with him. Support him. Figure out how to get my own shit together." He breaks off a piece of the muffin and asks, "What'd you go all the way out there to study? Music?"

"Well, the rest of the baseball world thanks your team for their selfless efforts in making the league more competitive," Up Yule's cup comes in a salute to that quip Ignacio gives out in defense of the Mets, a ghost of a smile curling to the corners of his mouth. "Yeah? Seems like an odd place to get put together at, given almost no one around here can figure out how to turn things around. I remember it being bad when I left, but it sure seems to have managed to make things worse in this town. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Home is home, regardless of what it is like." A dip of his head comes at the guess of which university, "Yeah. Studied hard, got the opportunity, and I jumped at it, back then. And medicine. I'm a Doctor, of sorts." He offers up as to that particular profession, "And you? What is it you plan to do with your great move across the country?"

Ignacio sits up, a bit cocky, and takes the gratitude with more than a modicum of prode. "Queens accepts your gratitude and yoooooou are welcome." He lifts his cup in salute back. One then both eyebrows arch in agreement with Yule's statement tha tthis is the least likely place to get one's shit together. "Yeah, and yet. Hey, I'm tryin to do my part in that, man. And yet, kinda scared me sober in a way so, anything's possible." His molars tap together thoughtfully, "Truth is I'm staying for someone, and... I'm kinda glad I'm doing it. In New York, ya know it's got a plan and you can deal with things one way or another and it might not be what you want but i's survival. Here? I duno. The same, but it's different. Made me take a hard look at myself. Answering the questions that I had and giving me mroe in return. I think that's just life though...now with ghosts and busses that flip over and crazy ass casino shootings."

A soft snort of laughter comes from Yule for that display of pride, his a wry smile touching to the corners of his mouth as he lazes back in his chair. "Different challenges. Different way of looking at things. In my line of work? People had a lot of crazy ways of killing each other in NYC. Creative. Inventive, even. But here, it's just damn /weird/," A pointed distinction made between those two words, and weird sounds so far, far worse than crazy does in Yule's mind. "But, yeah. I came back to visit family about a year ago. And I just knew it was time. Something just pulled at me. Sobering is a good word for it, when you look around here, see what people have to survive against, and how they manage to make it work. Pretty damn amazing, really. A different sort of tough than the big cities. Resilient, even. But," Up one brow arches, casting a direct look towards the other man in consideration, "raises the question of just what did you do when you lived in NYC? And why did you need to have something reach out and smack you around a bit, so to speak, to figure things out?"

Ignacio tilts his head and says "I can't tell if you're a hitman, a cop, or an MC." in regards to his line of work. The wry smile pauses. and his look turns thoughtful, not daunted. He sips his coffee and takes in the motes between words and considers the answer. how the hell does he answer this precisely? His jaw sets on edge and there is a pause as if reconciling saying the words out loud so they're manifest, but hey, he talks about it enough in book and paper. It doesn't mean saying it out loud is easy by a stretch, but he does and from the factual stand point.

"When I was 21 I went on spring break with some friends down the coast. For a long time I thought it was an accident and... after being here? Well it is and it ain't. Soemthing happened and we got really... really hurt. Someone died and..."He takes a deep breath. They goes the joy from his coffee. He looks at the plastic lid and the helpful cautionary words for to remind Contents Hot. "Someone didn't make it back and is still there." His lower lip pulls in to nibble on thoughtfully. Looking up, rallying he sums up, "Gray Harbor isn't weird; it's weirder. It's not singular, but it's a lot better at it."

"Maybe I change jobs frequently," Yule counters in that calm, casual tone, one dark brow arching upwards at the implication he might well be all three at different points in time. "But, as it happens? Work as a medical examiner, which means I've gotten to deal with the body of work of both cops and hitmen in my time." It's when Ignacio delves right into things that he leans forward, the paper fully folded up and tucked away on the corner of his table as he listens.

"Yeah? Obviously something that has stuck with you. So," Nope. Yule doesn't pull punches in his questioning, those brown eyes studying the man carefully for a long while, even as he asks those thoughts outloud, "You think you'll find answers to what happened here? A chance of some form of redemption, or to make sense out of it all, at least?" His own cup is lifted, a long drink taken from it as the M.E. brings it back down to the surface of the table, both hands wrapping around it as he speaks, "Still there? You mean the person who passed away? Or someone else?"

Ignacio looks up, dark brown eyes fixing on teh man guarded and curious, but all the manner of him able to roll with anything that doens't require him to get up and move. Taking a deep breath he considers, "Maybe. ANd... someone died. Someone was lost and not found. Really not a... great breakfast conversation overall, but... yeah in your line of work?" He nods taking a seat bac there is defeat in that, "Probably imagining the same things. But nah I came out to support my brother and get some perspective, buuuuuut I kidna met someone." Yes, he gets that bit of a fond, cavalier but dopey look all teh same. "And whateer bullshit it is it's helping us learn how to deal with it together and not try to do everything on our own and... and it's hard, man. And it's worth it. Even if I know I can't have what I want sometimes what we find is enough."

"I find the people who just want to talk about the weather all day over morning coffee aren't worth having conversation with." Comes his murmured reasoning back about this particular venue of talking points, Yule offering a faint flicker of a smile. "Yeah? It's great having someone in your life. And around here, having that support network is even more important." A beat of a pause at that, his head tipping to one side as he considers for a second, "So what is he or her like? How'd the two of you meet?" It's a brief glance around the coffee shop proper, as if he holds a sneaking suspciion the answer might be this room itself. "With my line of work, I've discovered that it doesn't pay to be subtle. Direct, to the point, ask the questions you want to know. Never know what might happen, otherwise, and you'll never get a second chance."

Ignacio warms a wry grin to Yule and says "What you don't like talking about tornadoes in January or rain of frogs? The weather is really interesting on the West Coast. C'mon. It ain't like Jolly ol' London where it's foggy with a chance of 'jolly' every day." He boggles with a head wobble like sure let's just accept that as the new normal. It's not. It's really, really not.

Still there's a dip of agreement, "Yeah I try to tell people that man. You ain't wrong. Also?" His figner lifts around his coffee taking another sip. "Thank you for asking and not assuming. Presently, yes, She, aaaand I met her when I accidentally applied for a summer job with a broken bird. That's the long story. Short story is sometimes working through some terrible shit and being, oh very haunted does wonders for team building exercizes." It shouldn't amuse him, but it does. He offers a hand across the table to him,

Ignacio greets amicable to the good company, "Ignacio. You got a name, neighbor? And how is that being a Medical Examiner? Like there's puzzles, sure, and helping people get closure, but that's some emotionally battering work there, mnan."

"It's just raining everyday. Sure, what it rains might change, but it's still rain here." Quips the M.E. back about the thought of weather and it's results here in this particular slice of the country. "Hey, world takes all sorts. Figure it's better to ask than assume, yeah?" It's that story that has one eyebrow arching upwards in amusement, a touch of mirth there before a low 'mmm' of understanding comes. "Yeah. Having to survive through certain things here? I can see how it'd prove to bring people close together."

"Yule Duchannes. Yeah. Mom? She loved Christmas, what can I say," He murmurs about his own name as he leans back into his chair, cup lifted to take another drink of his coffee. "Different people have different ways of dealing with it. For me? Look, I can't change the fact they are on my examining table. But I can help them find their own closure, to tell their stories. And to help their friends and family be able to move on with their life." Up a shoulder lifts into a faint shrug, head dipping one way and then another as he considers. "Some get to you more, yeah. Children, for example. So, you find ways to help out, yeah? The charity event that was just done with the whole jello wrestling thing. Back in NYC? I'd spend time and get presents to deliver into the children's wing, where kids with longer term issues stay at. All about finding ways to balance it out, not erase it and ignore the bad."

Ignacio cracks a grin, "Or she's eclectic and just likes winter." Hands lift in lieu of a shrug and pick at his muffin "Sometiems, man, sometiems it's all we can do." Slouching back a bit he kicks off a few lines. "Second..." He scrolls bad through and finishes his paragraph at the top of his page and clicks to send. "Sorry, Editor asking me if I was dead."

Ignacio swivels leaning into the arm of his chair arching an eyebrow, all expression on his guy, the the sentiment, though grim, is charmed. "I got a really nice letter from the lady involved putting it together. Jsut ran it to print funnyenough. But like... even though there was a serial killer this summer at the same time? People are struggling with trying to find identity, battle solitude, try to figure out how to break up with ghosts, or do spring cleaning in a haunted house without being culturally dismissive. I mean," His hand wanders in a ciercle with emotional emphasis. Take it up with his genetics, "There's always something we can do and that's kidna where I'm at now I guess. Can I be a ninja? No. Can I go running through the street throwing a fireball or fly or shoot laserbeams like Superman?" He pauses and considers that taking inventory. hesitates. "Nnnno. No I cannot. Can we listen and try to make things suck less without getting hung up on why? Yeah, and what's cool is like , you don't need to be special. You just need to give a shit and that makes someone special." He pauses and looks at his screen. "I should be selling that shit to Hallmark. I might be barking up the wrong editorial. In any case? That charity was inspiring. I'm hoping people remember that."

The last of Yule's coffee is drained, listening to those words, and a wry smile curls to the corners of his mouth, "Well, let's see. I have my sister Natalia - meaning christmas day - brother Winter, sister Snow, and then the twins, Noelle Ellie and Noel Ellis, whom we call Ellis for the reason you are probably thinking." That, it seems, sums up the Duchannes family in a nutshell. "Yeah? Sparrow? She's fantastic. Think she was taken aback, in a very good way, at all the outpouring the community came together with. And in the end? Even though she lost, she knows the charity was the real winner for the whole thing."

A warm bit of laughter comes from him, his eyes sparkling with a thought of mischief, "Yeah? Thought greeting cards were a dying breed. Not sure how much longevity you'd get there when we can all... friendzone, or e-gift, or what the hell ever is done these days instead of taking a few moments to go buy a physical card." A little 'mmm' comes from him, a hand lifting to wave away the thought of how quickly things have changed. "Yeah. Around here? It's tough. Money is hard to come by, even for survival for most folks. So to see the results? Think it's telling about the sort of community Gray Harbor has. Stands together."

Ignacio snickers and shakes his head, "Hey if Star-Lord cna bring the walkman back why not? But, hey, ya know some families have theme names. My girlfriend's whole family are named after birds. I figure eh ya learn about a thing that way." Oh the Celanos. That family where every other female in a generation murders the shit out of the men in her family. Good times. Ignacio may have brain damage, or who really knows. His thumb taps on the table curiously. "Yeha someitmes we hit a point in our lives we start over. My dad did that at an early age. Soemtimes I think trying again is a weird rite of passage. Soooo," His words trail off and he leans over the endge of the table using his forearms as leverage, "why of all things a medical examiner? That can't be your first choice given the odds. How you fall into that one?"

A warm bit of laughter comes from him on the thought about names, a head dipping into an agreeable nod, "In this case? I rather enjoy it. A bit of something of mom left after she passed, yeah?" But it is his phone that goes off, a buzz of noise that has Yule fishing it out to cast a glance down at the incoming message. "And, actually, it was my first choice. Decided on it halfway through med school. After that? It takes a four year specialized residency. I knew I wanted to move back here about a year ago... so just kept my eyes open for the right timing and opportunity, and here I am," Yule moves to stand from his chair, a flash of a smile offered to the fellow as he stuffs his phone back into that pocket. "ready to go to work, apparently. Job never sleeps. Good to see you, and if you hang out here often? Sure I'll see you again soon."