2019-12-12 - Blissfully Unaware

Afternoon at Two if By Sea, and it's quiet save for the few people who seem to think bar food and booze are an appropriate work lunch. The drizzle has chased a few people in as well, and one of those shoulders her way into the bar, slightly soggy from the drizzle outside. You'd think, having lived here all her life, Finch would know to bring a damned umbrella with her but, nope.

She's shucked her coveralls and left them in the truck she's driving for Out on a Limb, because they were already soaked through from the morning's calls for tree trimming. She's in a slightly damp long-sleeved black sweater and well-worn, faded jeans with work boots on her feet, and her hair, still growing out of it's former choppy bob, gone wavy with the damp. A messenger bag is slung cross-body as she peers in the relative dimness of the establishment, and decides a seat at the bar will do for just her. A stool is claimed and she hops up onto it, feet dangling because she's short, and waits for the attention of a server.

Easton's tending bar during the days mostly now. It's slower and it saves the big tips for his employees. Okay FINE, it's because he's usually too drunk to finish a shift at night right now. But anyway, here he is, dressed in his usual black dress shirt and dark jeans. He has the requisite bar mop towel slung over his shoulder as he chats up some of the lunch regulars. He has dark circles under his eyes but he manages to at least appear energetic as he converses. His voice is as ever booming through the place. Catching sight of a new comer, he slips out of the conversation and heads down to Finch.

"Finch!" Again, far too loud, he leans over the bar towards her, perhaps wanting to take some of the weight off his leg. "What can I get for you? A triple shot of crown?" The light mocking of her non-drinking ways is fairly par for the course for Easton.

Finch snorts at Easton as she hauls her messenger bag off over her head and sets it on the stool next to her. "It's cold and drizzling like a motherfucker out there. How about some hot coffee and loaded tater tots?" she counters, narrowed eyes taking in the dark circles under his eyes.

"Trivia has been going pretty well. Thanks for letting Ignacio do that here. It keeps him out of trouble," she quips with a small smile. "How are you doing?" Because come on, he doesn't look like he's doing so great. She uses both hands to shove her damp hair back behind her ears where it can stop irritating her.

"Yea, this weather. I take it a white Christmas isn't a thing up here? Makes me miss back out east." He pops in her order and goes to grab the coffee. He apparently decided that this sounded like a good idea because he comes back with his own mug of coffee. "Food'll be out in a bit."

"Trivia, I must begrudgingly admit is going well. Gets people in here, keeps 'em ordering shit." He laughs about keeping Ignacio out of trouble. "Yea well, he's good at it, occasionally makes me laugh." He then narrows his eyes and tells her very seriously, "If you tell 'im I said that, I'm throwing you both out next time."

How are you doing?

Easton calculates for a second the appropriate response and says, "Eh. The holidays are a big rugged, but we're almost through 'em." It's a fairly safe complaint and possibly one that won't draw more questions.

"Not so much, no. We get a little bit once in a while here but it's mostly rain, rain, and more rain. I had my fill of snow at Cornell though." She accepts the cup of coffee gratefully and dumps sugar and cream in it until it can barely be referred to as coffee. The threat regarding Iggy gets a chuckle out of her. "Your secret is safe with me, Marshall," she swears. "I'd die without my regular ingestion of tots. Those things are like crack." Slurp. Coffee good. Warm good.

"Yeah, the holidays are not usually my favorite time of the year." Locals know why. Her family is just her and her grandmother being as her great aunt slaughtered a pile of relatives and her mother tried to kill her when she was 13. The rest of the family scattered to the four winds so it's just the two ladies rattling around in that giant old decrepit mansion in Bayside. "Bit better this year though, aside from getting my ass kicked by a couple of trees."

"Cornell?" Easton's eyebrows shoot up. "No fuckin' way. Go Big Red." Oof, lacrosse-frat-bro slips out there for a second before he clamps down on that. But he still leans in more as if suddenly finding her more interesting. Of course he's a good deal older than her so he is pretty sure they didn't overlap. "I was there before the Corps."

He takes a big sip of his own coffee, enjoying both the warmth and some more caffeine, which is necessary. "These tots are half the reason people show up."

He doesn't know about Finch, or her family's curse. But he still just nods sympathetically and says, "Yea. I hear that." Granted he used to love the holidays, but that hasn't been the case for a while now, even before this years particularly terrible one. "Oh yea?" He looks at her for a second wondering if she means literally getting beat up by trees or more along the lines of just rough work. His eyes narrow and then asks, "Like actually attacked? Or more like fighting with inanimate objects and losing kind of way?"

"I was there for undergrad and most of grad school. Then the tuition money ran out. I'm two semesters short of my Masters in Ornithology," Finch says with a frown. "Hoping to be able to finish it at some point, but they already gave my spot away in the lab, and who knows when another will open."

She studies him for a minute, as if trying to get a measure of the man. She doesn't know much about him other than he owns the bar and lets Iggy do trivia there. "How long were you in the Marines for? My father was a Marine." As she has recently learned.

As for the trees, "Actually attacked. I'd stay out of the Firefly til the holidays are over. Some group seems to be taking umbrage to the whole chopping down trees for Christmas thing." Explaining about dryads and sylvans is just too much for casual conversation.

"Yea, did a bachelors in pre-law and drinking." Easton grins and ammends, "Mostly the drinking part." He huhs at her story about being short of her masters. "That's too bad."

The question about the Marines gets him to think and he hems a bit, "Maybe six years total?" His eyebrows raise and he asks, "Oh yea? You know what unit or anything?" He doesn't provide his, as it's likely meaningless to her.

The news that she was actually attacked gets him to roll his eyes. "Oh man. Of course. Why wouldn't that be a thing here." He grumbles and syas, "But I will take that into consideration. Not that I've ever been there on purpose. Woke up out of a Dream there once." He's not exactly what you would call 'outdoorsy'

"Not a clue. I don't know my father all that well, just know he was in for like a decade" Finch says with a shrug and a sip of her coffee. She narrows her eyes about him waking up out there. "Yeah there are some things from Over There that are sort of nature protectors? They're not so bad? It's the humans that kind of worship them that are overzealous assholes who can make a tree whallop you a couple dozen yards through the air. Roen and I got wrecked just before Thanksgiving."

She ponders a moment or three. "So, you're not from here, what brought you to good old batshit crazy Gray Harbor?"

Easton shrugs and nods at the part about not knowing her dad all that well. That seems like a topic to not casually ask about though. He takes in her story about the protectors and their followers and just shakes his head, "Interesting. Rosencratz just took me on my first trip over there. Like on purpose as opposed to the Dreams that just suck you into it. I'm still learning all about what lives over there."

Her food gets delivered somewhere in the midst of this conversation.

"Me? My family used to vacation out here when I was little. After the Marines I needed a place to go and .." a ripple of a laugh shakes him as he admits, "I thought it'd be nice?" He laughs at his naivety. "I think something about the veil drew me here. Convinced me it'd be a good idea. Which means the veil is a bag of dicks."

"I'm not entirely sure it's the same thing. I think, granted I'm no expert, but I think that Dreams are constructs woven out of the fabric of over there? But not the real over there? I'm not sure. I mean, unless Over There is a crazy patchwork quilt of weird places. I mean I was in a yard in one of those Dreams and I was tiny, like shorter than the grass. Almost got eaten by a giant grasshopper and a shrike. I don't know how that would fit with the stuff that's like, sort of a dark mirror of town." Finch purses her lips, thinking on it a while, and shakes her head. "I'm sure They're just like 'fuck you, it's magic' or something."

She delves immediately into the tots with a happy sound of appreciation for the delicious calorie and carb-laden food. She swallows down a mouthful, after nearly choking on it, when he posits that moving here would be nice. "Yeah, I think it draws us, people like us. Kind of like Murray House did." When she set that evil thing on fire and Rosencrantz slammed it into the basement.

"Yea, no. I think they are very, very separate things." Easton isn't sure of course, but he speaks with pure confidence as if he knew. "The place over there I think has more rules, it's still strange and magic but not like Dreams. Those are different." He smiles at the thought of her being as tall as the grass. "And yea, I believe that's the actual slogan of the town, someone just painted over the sign. Gray Harbor, fuck you it's magic! I mean really it couldn't hurt the tourism industry any more than the murder rate."

Mention of Murray House jogs his memory and his eyes widen a bit. "Shit, that's right." He didn't just meet August and Itzhak there that night. He shakes his head and looks her over with an appraising look. "I tried to mention it the other night but I like the new look. It's .. it's a good look for you." He leans casually on the bar, his mug of coffee held in both hands.

Maybe it's the change of her hair. Maybe it's the fact that she went to Cornell. But something is suddenly a little more interesting to Easton about her and he's not in a hurry to head off and help other customers just yet.

Finch makes a quiet sound and she runs her fingers through her still damp hair. "Still getting used to it myself. Just felt like it was time to grow the fuck up and rejoin society. The crazy hair colors weren't really working at chasing people away anymore. Plus, the Poser Paste was getting too expensive to keep it up any more."

More tots vanish into her maw and she glances around the quiet bar. "So how did you manage to pull off owning a bar in the nice part of town?" she asks curiously.

Grow the fuck up and rejoin society

Why does Easton feel slightly attacked by that sentiment. Maybe it's the fact that his coffee is doctored and he hasn't spent a day sober since Bennie left. Either way, he brushes that sentiment off.

And as to how he could afford to own the bar, he gives a half shrug and admits with a slight air of embarrassment, "Because I was one of those kids at Cornell. And turns out owning part of a bar in nightmare run down town on the coast is pretty darn reasonable."

Finch snorts again. That seems to be her version of actual laughter. She shakes her head, sipping her coffee. "Those kids hm? I was supposed to be one of those kids but, family money dries up quick when you have two high maintenance relatives requiring rent at a place they aren't allowed to leave from." She smirks, more tots. Omnom.

"What years were you at Cornell? I was there from Fall 2013 to this past spring," she offers. "Course I always came back home on breaks and over the summer because, well, you know how Gray Harbor is. It doesn't let you leave forever unless it's on it's terms."

Easton again gives the small shrug at lumping himself in with those kids, though his eyes flash her an interested look when she mentions that she was 'supposed' to be one as well. Her mention of two high maintenance relatives gets a quirked eyebrow? His immediate thought is long term palliative care. "I'm sorry to hear that." He doesn't realize how much stranger the truth actually is.

"Funny, sounds like we just missed. I graduated in 2011." He gives her a sly smile and makes a *tsk*ing noise, "Too bad. That could have been fun."

Finch wrinkles her nose at him and huffs. "Fun? I was out in the woods sitting in trees, photographing and cataloging bird nest contents. I wasn't exactly fun to hang around with," she points out with a smirk. She was also angry at the entire universe back then, her hair was neon, her makeup was heavy, and her clothes were caught somewhere between army surplus store reject, and video game character. She was to be avoided.

"Yeah I was class of 2013 here at good old Teddy S. Addington. So you can pretty much guess why I went so fucking far for school."

Easton reconsiders his statement in light of this new information. He shakes his head and admits, "Okay, no that actually doesn't sound like any fun. You sound like a nightmare that I would have avoided at all cost." He grins and happily calls her past self a nightmare. He was not the douche in college that he was in high school but he was still a heavy partier and drinker student athlete.

"I can't imagine high school here. High school is garbage enough, without all the extra nonsense of this town on top of it."

He finishes off his coffee.

"I really don't understand how this town hasn't driven you to drink."

He means for it to come out as a witty comment, but there's a little too much reality involved in it and it comes out as a genuine inquiry.

"Ehn," Finch says with a shrug. "It has, but I've had to stop myself from doing it. When you can light people on fire with your mind, it's best to not be stupid drunk. You know?" She checks that no one is looking and cups her hand, making a little ball of feathery flame form in it for a split second, before dousing it again.

Easton raises his eyebrows at that information that she is consciously holding herself back from drinking. He chuckles and says, "I guess that all depends on your temper right? But that's probably a good policy." He looks around the bar as well as she lights up a fireball. Not that he's particularly worried, anyone not in the know would probably just see a lighter or something.

"Yea, I can't burn anything down. Or do the zappy shocks thing. So I guess that means I get to keep pounding 'em back."

"You're like Itzhak then?" Finch asks curiously. She sips her coffee some more, looking at him over the rim curiously. "With all the telekinetic stuff? All I can do is the plants and fire and healing thing. And well, the bad versions of them. But I may be inclined towards the zappy shocks one too, if family is any indicator. Great Aunt and father both have that."

You're like Izhak then?

Easton considers that for a moment before she connects the dots and he ohs, "Yea. Movers or whatever you want to call it." He looks at her with a look of confusion and asks, "Plants?" That one is entirely new to him. He knows about the rest. "What do you do with plants?" The zappy shocks gets another interested look. "Interesting, I don't think I've met anyone strong enough to do fire and electricity. At least not that I've seen."

Finch grins then. "Well, I can make them grow super fast, or wither and die, or, well I animated one and had it grab a kid before she got in trouble, and another to disarm a jackass with a javelin in the woods. When I animate them I tend to walk them back home with me a little at a time, and let them live on the grounds of my house, so I can make sure they have great lives. I have three at the moment. There's a Snowbrush I call Gertrude, a Smoke Bush I call Puff, and the latest is an Elderberry Bush I named Albus."

"Wow." Easton looks suitably impressed as she mentions all that she can do with plants. He shakes his head and says, "Aw, you keep them as pets after? That's .. really fucking weird." He grins though because it is also kind of hilarious in a messed up way. He adds, "How do you know that they are having great lives? Do they talk to you? Are you literally a plant whisperer?"

Although he can't see it, Finch has little tendrils of wispy spirit which slide into his skin to assess his health. "Same way I can tell you have a prosthetic on your left leg, and that you have a hangover. I read life stuff, the things that make us alive. When something is out of whack in a living thing, I can tell."

Easton gives her a suspicious narrowing of his eyes. He doesn't get any sense of what she's doing, though he knows it's certainly possible. He shakes his head and says, "Finch. Everyone in this damn bar knows I have a fake leg and a hangover." Those are basically two universal constants for Easton. He nods and says, "Yea I know a few other healers, that's ho-.." He stops short and then finishes quickly, "Actually how Bennie and I met."

"Not sure I know Bennie. I think she was at trivia once. Girlfriend?" Finch asks with an arch of her brow. "But yeah, I can feel those things. I can probably ease up the hangover if you want, just a matter of thinning the blood and getting your body to absorb more water to re-hydrate you and relieve the symptoms." Then she sighs. "However, trivial use of Glimmer is bad because They notice and blah blah badthings blah." She waves a hand in the air, having clearly gotten this lecture repeatedly from many people.

"Ex" Easton admits with a grimace. He shakes his head at the offer, "No, no use in healing self inflicted wounds. I've managed with much worse than this." He then laughs as she gets to the other reason not to use glimmer. He nods and says, "Yea, I don't know if Roen shared his object lesson in not healing too much."

"I work for Roen, what do YOU think?" Finch snarks. Because she gets the Roen warnings all the damned time. And the occasional Alexander Clayton one she ignores and heals his ass anyway. "I'm destined to go batshit insane and slaughter a bunch of family members someday so I'm using this gift to do all the good I can before that, try to balance the ledger preemptively." She grimaces at the guy. "Sorry about the ex thing. She why you have a hangover?"

A sly smile pulls up one side of Easton's mouth at her question. "I meant more specifically when we just got nearly burnt to a crisp for using our abilities too much." He is sure that she has gotten a good amount of general ones, but this one was quite a bit more than that. He looks at her confused at her comments about destiny and shakes his head, "Destined? Really. Well, fuck destiny too."

"Not your fault. And no, not really."

Finch mehs quietly. "You're not a local. If you were you'd know. Family is cursed. Every other generation one of the women goes nuts and slaughters all the men of her generation. Great Aunt was the last one, and I'm the only female born this generation so...math. Working on undoing it though. Some idiot in the family way back when we lived in goddamned Greece made a deal with something Over There."

She frowns pushing the empty tots basket aside and finishing her coffee. "I think it's time the Celaeno family renegotiate with their Harpy overlord."

Easton shakes his head, not terribly sad. "Nope. Not a local." He listens to the rest of the tale and looks at her with widened eyes. He shakes his head and says, "Idiots. Stupid fucking idiots." He doesn't really seem to think much about insulting her ancestors. He frowns and says, "I'd be careful with any renegotiating that doesn't involve just fucking ending it. I don't trust anything from over there." He gets a bit chagrined as he admits, "I mean. That's probably not something you need me to tell you." Considering the whole family curse apparently.

"Yeah, I barely trust anything over HERE, let alone over THERE," Finch emphasizes with a smirk. She digs into her messenger bag for a wallet. "How much do I owe you, Easton? I need to get back to the shop to pick up Cy for the afternoon jobs." This is where she usually realizes she told people too much truthiness about her family and the curse and just gives them the easy out of her leaving the immediate vicinity. She still sucks at this social skills shit.

Easton slides her the bill and laughs about her line about not trusting anything. He grins and says, "That's probably a good policy." He doesn't seem all that phased by the news of her family curse. After all, with the things he's been through in this town, there's little that would shock him.

Cash gets set on the bill with a nice tip for him. Finch gives him a smile. "Don't give yourself too many hangovers, Easton. We need people like you who understand the shit underneath this town's surface."

Easton smiles at her advice and looks at her and says right back with a smile, "Yea well, don't give in to any familial curses and murder your relatives. That's just fucked up."

"Do my best," Finch promises, patting the bartop a couple times before she hops down off her stool and slings her bag back on. "Catch ya later, Easy." She heads for the door.