2019-12-17 - Back Problems

Waffles... there is not much besides the Grizzly to get Thew out of the house. Waffles are love. Soft fluffy ones, crispy belgian... Waffles. Thew has the fluffy soft ones today, with a jar of peanut butter on the table... and some jelly packets.... and bananas on them. He actually looks fairly calm, for a change... but he's in a corner booth, no way of someone getting behind him... or next to him, unseen.

Waffles are love. They are life. Especially when you're as nicely stoned as James is right now. After a Close Encounter of the Gina kind not too long ago, our bearded wonder needed to let off a little steam. Or smoke, if you will. And so the man that walks through the door with an oh so mellow expression above his eternal hoodie and jeans, munchies on full blast, ambles his way over to a seat at a booth across from Thewlis' booth. 'Cause he may be stoned but he's also gonna keep any potential weirdos in sight too. 'Cause mild paranoia is a common side effect, now, innit? A waitress soon approaches him, takes one look at him, and opens up the menu for him to the most decadent part of it. He's not her first stoned customer, and he won't be the last.

The man sitting down, and then looking at him, causes Thew to stop as he jellies the living hell out of his peanut buttered waffles... though he is also pouring a little coffee on them, just a touch, from the pot at his table... maybe he expects stairs. He looks like Joey... but that's... it's... Thewlis goes out on a limb. "Hi?"

Abby parks outside and saunters in. Not stoned. Suspiciously cheerful, perhaps, but not otherwise displaying any signs of being high on anything other than life. She's in a warm plaid flannel jacket, red and black, over a green t-shirt that lends her a holiday-themed look, plus jeans and comfy hiking boots on her feet, like she's been out for a walk. She smiles at the patrons, she offers the waitress a lively "Hi!" and actually waves a hand in James's direction, smiling warmly as she wanders by. Maybe she's following him. It's very suspicious, probably. Look, even Thewlis gets a smile of acknowledgment there. She's humming. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

James is, in fact, very suspicious all of a sudden. He had just placed his order ('all the waffles, but like with chocolate and chocolate chips and just like, go nuts, don't hold back, ok? I'll know if you're holding back', which the waitress dutifully wrote down as '3 waffles, fudge, extra chocolate chips' on her order pad), when the guy commiting war crimes on his own waffle over there says hi to him. And then Abby's also waving that cheery hi. It's like they're trying to tell him something. His eyes follow Abby, then snap back towards Thewlis, and he slowly raises one eyebrow, as if to let him know he's onto him. "... hey there." He even gives a little upnod, like the cool dude he is.

Looking to Abby, and then back to James, Thew's head tilts at the upnod and the speech patterns... Different. Abby's cheery nature makes him duck slightly, but now that he's coffeed, jellied, and peanut buttered his waffles.. (ware crimes my ass) he starts to dig in. "I... you're not... But. Not Joey?" he looks again to Abby... courtesy says he should offer a seat, the ball crushing terror he feels says GTFO.

Whatever weird dynamic is going on between James and Thewlis, Abby glances back and forth between the two with that same pleasant smile on her face, and only a vague crease on her brow to suggest she's intrigued. Her gaze, at least, doesn't linger suspiciously on the two. Of course, if she were watching them for some nefarious purpose, she would pretend not to, wouldn't she? Nefariously, she glances around, scanning the place for a free booth, hesitating as her eyes turn back towards the empty seats at the counter. All the while, she hums lightly under her breath. It's continuing to begin to look a lot like Christmas.

Speaking of suspiciously cheerful people, here comes another! Diana's even humming like Abby is, though an entirely different song. In her case, it's 3 AM by Matchbox 20, of all people. She has yet to notice James or really anything other than her song, and it doesn't help that she's got earbuds in her ears. She has NO idea her song is clashing with Abby's, or maybe she'd have some sympathy for her poor listeners. She's not even entirely on-key! At any rate, she gives a friendly smile to Abby once she spots her, and makes her way to one of those empty seats at the counter. Mercifully, her humming stops as she pops out her earbuds, smiling over at the waitress before she starts looking at the menu.

James tilts his head back at Thewlis. "Nah, man. Not Joey- I mean. Like. Pretty sure I'm not Joey, but, I gotta tell you, in this town?", he says, and then gives a quick glance to the terribly nefarious Abby, just standing there, looking for a place to sit, being all cheerful, before looking back at Thewlis, "... I can't one hundred percent guarantee I'm not not Joey." That stated, he nods, and leans back in his seat- just as the sweet strains of Rob Thomas' late 90's alternative rock masterpiece reach his ears. OK, so maybe it's a little mangled, sure, but he knows that mangling. He leans over out of his booth and looks over to the counter- at which point the music in his head shifts from late 90's to something a little more late 70's, with some classic Gary Wright.

~ Oooh Dreamweaver... I believe you can get me through the niiiiight... ~

"Diana!" And James is waving at her.

The comment from James draws a wide, deer in headlights look from Thew who then looks to Abby and now singing Diana. So much music all of the sudden. "So you're not... are. He had. Twin. You're... Are you. His. Twin. Brother. Twin..." eyes flicking between the others while his brain apparently bluescreens for the time being.

Abby tilts her head as Jame states he's not sure he's not... someone else, lifting an eyebrow sharply in curiosity. And, okay, mild amusement. She does not have earbuds in. An earworm, maybe, some kind of parasite she picked up while shopping, but the sound of another clashing tune finally puts an end to it, and she goes silent for a moment, heading towards the counter for a seat and an order of waffles, flashing Diana a friendly smile. Abby isn't in any hurry, however, and takes her sweet time, concentrating, as she studies the menu.

Diana smiles right back at Abby, still oblivious as to having interrupted the other woman's humming. She leans over vaguely in Abby's direction, asking as an aside, "...have you eaten here before? I can't--" But who knows what she would've said, because she brightens at hearing her name called-- and by whom! She blinks, turning her head in his direction, and grins over at him, tossing him a wave. "Be over there in a minute!" she promises, and includes Thewlis in the wave, because why not. "Okay, I've made up my mind," she says to Abby, "Thanks!" Like Abby's non-reply to her non-question helped somehow.

James downright beams as he sees Diana. Everything's gonna be ok now, he knows that, and so he relaxes even further, leaning back in his seat to wait for her to come over. Glancing back at Thewlis, he blinks, once, then grins. "Oh, nah, I'm definitely not his twin, that I'm certain about. The name's James- which isn't that far from Joey, so it makes sense." No it doesn't, James. He didn't know your name, and the only thing your names have in common is that they both start with J anyway.

Half ducking again, Thewlis offers a nod to Diana, addressing the others in a rare act of extroversion that most townies know is like a rare white moose from the gravedigger, despite the confusion of James's comment. "Y'y'ou... should... The strawberryception... those. Good. They... It's got. Str.. str...straaaa..." he frowns and looks down at the table, "Pink milk... pink... in th... batter... and straaaaa... it... sauce in it... Then... straw-aw-hawww-berry syrup and buh-buh-buh-berries... whu-whi-whii-hiiii... whip-cream t-t-t-too..." he goes silent again, embarrassed, eyes screwing shut.

One chocolatey waffle. One fluffy waffle with classy butter and maple syrup. Coffee. With cream and sugar and so on in it. Abby has decided on her order, and starts to communicate with the waitress, but gets distracted by Diana's question, turning aside with a smile and a pensive expression. Then Diana leaves, but Abby's not about to let a question go unanswered. "I recommend the waffles! In general," she adds with a sweeping up and down gesture to encompass the menu in her other hand. "They're all good." She goes quiet, listening to Thewlis, then perks up and gestures to the waitress, pointing back at Thewlis. "Oh, I'll have the strawberry one instead of the chocolate. I haven't had that one yet."

Well, Diana had made up her mind. Her eyes widen at Thewlis' description of the strawberryception, blinking twice. Oh yes. She is HAVING that. One finger points at Thewlis, and she notes, "You know how to sell a dish. And thank you, too!" That last to Abby, of course. She pauses, then orders: "I'd like a strawberryception, please. And also... a plain buttermilk pancake, but with chocolate chips and whipped cream and a cherry on top, only can the chocolate chips pretty please make a smiley face and eyes? The cherry goes on the whipped cream for a nose." She's particular, apparently.

That's around the time that James' mountain o' waffles, drowned in chocolate sauce and with chocolate chips sprinkled liberally atop it, arrives. He takes it gratefully, eyeing the pile hungrily- but distractedly as he overhears Diana's order. He pauses, considering, then nods in appreciation. Hell yeah to the smiley face on the pancake. He then glances over at Thewlis, and gives him thumbs up once those eyes open again. "That's two orders, man. Tell the restaurant to give you a cut, eh?"

There is actually a small smile as Thewlis lowers his head at the thank given his way. "Whu-whe-welcome..." taking a bite of his peanut butter, jelly, and coffee pancakes himself... Because it's crack. Not that he's had crack. But he hears it's pretty addictive. "Ca-ha-haaaan... can. Here. Sit. If you... If. Want..." blinking rapidly and looking down. He was given advice, and taking it is terrifying. "Nah... it's... just... Good deed. Spread... word." looking to James in turn.

"It did sound really good," Abby concurs with a quick nod, legs swinging to the sides of her stool as she leans forward for a moment, digging out her phone for a quick check of whatever social media interests her, thumb scrolling. She's not really reading anything, just skimming and humming to herself, alert enough to tilt her head and quickly consider Thewlis. There's just a moment hesitation before she breaks into a quiet, beaming smile. "Don't mind if I do! That looks a lot more comfortable than sitting at the counter. Well, normally it would be fine, but my back's been a little cranky lately..." she grimaces lightly, more a playful thing than an expression of any serious pain, then communicates to the waitress, all the way at the other end of the bar, gesturing extensively to show where she's headed before bouncing to her feet.

Diana grins in James' direction at hearing him suggest Thewlis take a cut, and she smiles over at Abby, nodding to the other woman she heads to Thewlis' table. "This is going to be the BEST waffle meal since whenever I last had waffles," she declares, and like Abby did, she waves to the waitress to show her she's heading to the James Table. Which she then does! She leans over into his space once she sits, smiling. "Hey, stranger!" she greets him.

"Hey, incredibly attractive stranger.", James quips back, and slips an arm around her as she leans in, doing a bit of leaning of his own so he can deliver a smooch or three. "I should warn you a little, I'm pretty stoned right now. In my defense, I ran across Gina earlier. But!", he says, and reaches into one of the pockets of his hoodie, until he digs out a flyer/brochure for Hera's art gallery. They do painting and pottery classes. Coffee's free." He pauses a moment. "Y'think that guy over there was inviting us too? 'Cause if he did I'm being rude as hell right now."

Nodding to Abby as she sits, Thewlis keeps his eyes on his plate "I can... if you... I know a... places... will fix that, if you want..." Thew nods towards James "You can... if... want, if you're with... want time with... not rude. I understand..." bobbing his head and then looking back to Abby "I know... wierd... random. Offering. Help. Back... Out of the blue." he frowns, eyes closing and looking like he is silently yelling at himself before he adds. "Happy... help."

Abby sits down across from Thewlis with a smile, watching him in spite of the man's eyes staying on his plate. She's still waiting for hers, but she does look around so she isn't staring for too long. "Oh, thank you! It's just work, and maybe I need a new mattress. But it'll be fine tomorrow, really." She waves it off. An eyebrow rises slightly while she listens, and there's a subtle change in her voice, soft to go with a warm reassuring smile, "No, that's not weird at all. It's just being nice, right? Maybe more people should do that, and things might look up."

Brow knitting, Thew's brow knitting as he considers something, and concentraits while taking a bite of his food. "Well these... booth seats... comfortable... good. They support. Good back... support..." she's nice and he wants to help, and as he speaks - as if by magic, sitting in the booth seats seems to be working wonders on Abby's sore back muscles and cranky spinal joints, trying to focus on going unseen in his acts.

Diana blushes at James, naturally, and he gets some smooches back, also naturally. She laughs a little at hearing how stoned he is, shaking her head. "No wonder you're out getting waffles." She pauses, then admits, "I got into a better war over the Grizzly Den's VIP thing. But it was eventually far too rich for my blood. Sorry!" She smiles sheepishly and kisses his cheek, then notes excitedly, "That said, I did win two things. One of them was for you." Not that she tells him what she won for him. Nope, she just starts to get up after hearing Thewlis' invitation, taking James' hand. "Let's go join!" she suggests, though she makes slower movements than her usual, perhaps wanting to make sure Thewlis doesn't get startled. If she has any idea he's helping Abby, she certainly doesn't show it.

James gladly lets himself be pulled, grabbing his waffles with his free hand. And then he blinks as he gets a tingle of weirdness from the other table- and specifically from Thewlis. He pauses, hesitating a little, and glances at Diana. No reaction from her, and the dude doesn't seem to be doing anything overt, but... now James is a little more on alert. His smile is a little strained, but he follows along. "Wait, what'd you get me, then?", he asks Diana curiously.

Abby nods as she wiggles in place in the booth, touching a hand to the backrest behind her and flattening her back against it. "It's not bad, the problem's when the food arrives and I have to lean forward to keep it from going all over myself..." she waves down the front of her jacket, but draws a deep breath, rolls back her shoulders, and seems to relax, melting into the seat as some amount of tension fades into nothing. "Oh, that's -" She stops suddenly. Her nose wiggles. Then she blinks her eyes wide open, peeking across the table at Thewlis with a tiny crease on her brow, looking puzzled above that same friendly smile. "That feels... a lot better..." she says. And then she goes quiet, because here are her waffles to save the day. Waffles. She wiggles some more, pulling the plate to herself.

"They use the... padding. It's good. The padding, it. It pushes in, gets. In line. Back in line." Thewlis hides a little smile in his next fork load of pancakes. Head back down, he adds a gulp of coffee. "Glad... helping" There's not much more to him at the moment, tucking into himself as he is.

Diana smiles oh so obliviously to James, though she does tilt her head curiously at the strained quality to his smile. Maybe that's why she doesn't tease him further when he asks what he got her. She answers immediately, "Some trilogy, signed. I have no idea what it's called, but it's books. You like books!" She pauses, then notes almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and it comes with a ten page manuscript review by the like, famous author of the books. Dante... something. Thomas? Taylor? Can't remember." She takes a seat not far from Abby, smiling over at Thewlis. "Thanks for inviting us over," she says politely.

James perks up again. "I do like books.", he admits, and takes a seat along with the others, plopping his waffles in front of himself. "Hey again.", he tells Abby, much more relaxed now that Diana's here, before looking to Thewlis. "Yeah, thanks for the invite. Sorry for not being Joey.", he tells him, then pauses, and looks back at Diana. "Wait, manuscript review?"

"Mmhmm," Abby hums. Not very musically this time around, just fixing a knowing and pensive look on Thewlis on the other side of the table as she picks her fork to begin dissecting her waffles. After her first bite of the strawberry waffle, she hums yet again. "Hmm, this is pretty good!" She offers with a warm smile, and then, tone changing to something slightly more heartfelt. "Thank you. And my back's feeling very well, too. I think I have to thank you for that. Because of the booth! It's really comfy. Oh, and I'm Abby!" She beams, then looks up to see James and Diana moving over. She waves at them with her fork. "Hello!"

"The... Thew..." he grunt and looks ashamed he can't even say his own name. "Thewlis..." he is about to say more when there is a ringing, the old Police Squad theme and he answers, mumbling a few yeses, and OKs... before hanging up. "I'm... soh-hohhh-hohh... Sorry. Someone... cut the. Cut... lock at... I need to go. Police want... On hand. Cemetery..." sliding out of the booth and laying a few twenties on the table. "Nice... muh-muh...muhh-huuuu-meeting you Abby... and you two... Miss... Muh-muh... Muh-mmmmMister Kuh-Kelly." at least he knows the last name and he starts for the door, pulling on his jacket and a good sized frown.

Diana smiles SUCH a self-satisfied smile at James' 'wait' and what follows. "Yeah, 10 pages. Manuscript review." She takes a drink of the water that was surely on James' table, leaning back in her seat comfortably. Though she does take the time to ask curiously, "Joey who?" She smiles at Abby, waving back to her, and looks about to introduce herself when Thewlis gets that call. She quiets immediately, letting him take care of that with minimal background interference, and as he starts to head out the door, she calls after him, "Diana! And have a good night!" She looks to Abby and repeats needlessly, "I'm Diana. Nice to meet you!" Though, after a bit, she tilts her head, looking over at James. "You're a Kelly? I thought your last name was Hecker?"

James tilts his head as he's called Mr. Kelly. "... no, apparently he thought I was one of the Kelly twins. Because we look so much alike." They, uh, do not look alike. At all. "Not sure. But, sorry to disappoint, I'm just a Hecker, you won't have to jello wrestle anyone for my honor.", he assures her, then takes a big bite of his waffle. "Say, I know you- Charity thing, right? Food? Thanksgiving? You were at the meats with Byron and me?", he asks Abby, suddenly remembering where he's seen her before. He thinks.

Abby looks up, setting the fork down so she can wave after Thewlis. "Nice to meet you! And thank you, again!" She calls out, but falls into quiet thought for a moment, arching her back and twisting from side to side, as if testing the state of her spine. She relaxes again, looking between Diana and James. "Nice to meet you! And yes, we were at the meat station together. I was mostly on brisket duty," she adds with a bright smile, brow furrowing as she gives James a long once over. "You don't look like Joey at all," she declares, then stuffs more waffle into her mouth.

Diana huhs at the explanation, shaking her head. "No, you're a lot cuter," she insists, though she does look mildly disappointed for a moment about the Hecker thing, because: "I had my wrestling outfit all picked out and EVERYthing," she teases, bumping his shoulder with hers. She looks between James and Abby at the mention of 'the meats,' though it prompts her to smile. "Well, now everybody knows everybody. Awesome!" She digs into the strawberry waffle at last, groaning in approval. "Mmf."

-eeeeeeeee, is the sound going through James' head, fading away slowly as his hearing and senses come back. He lost them somewhere around the part that Diana mentioned an outfit she'd picked out. Oh hey, that's odd, he's blushing like a fire engine suddenly. What were we talking about? He looks around the table, and notices everyone is eating- and he decides to join in, because he's pretty sure if he goes back and checks on those thoughts again, he might end up resetting again. "Mmhmm. Good to see you again. And, uh, yeah, I look nothing like Joey. Ah well. Maybe the dude was even higher than I am?", he says, and shrugs. "Nice guy, tho." And he takes big bite of his own waffle.

Abby shrugs while her fork works over the strawberry waffle, looking thoughtful again. "It could be a traumatic brain injury, but - well - I only know the kind where you stop being able to recognize faces, but you'd still look pretty different besides the face," she muses, studying James again, then smiles and shrugs once more. "I've no idea. Oh, he does seem to be nice, doesn't he? Just... keeps to himself, I guess." She glances from James to Diana, and her smile takes on a little playful quality.

Diana entirely fails to see the reaction her jello wrestling outfit talk has caused for poor James, and instead is focusing entirely on her strawberryception, to the sad exclusion of her melting smile waffle. Those chocolate chips are running and making a mockery of her happy face! "He seems like he's not really used to 'people,' but usually that's exactly the sort of people who need people," she muses. She looks over at James then, shaking her head with her lips pulling into a broad grin. "Just how high ARE you, anyway?" she laughs.

"Gonna be honest with you, babe.", James replies back to Diana. "I'm at that point where I'm either way too high, or not nearly high enough, and I'm legit not sure which one it is." Another bite of waffles, the previous topic forgotten. Or tucked away for later.

Abby nods to Diana. "I guess it's not a very social line of work," she remarks quietly, another forkful in her mouth as she glances out the door. Then it's time to move on, too, taking a big sip of coffee before letting out a sigh. She eats with a lot of enthusiasm, the strawberry waffle nearly gone entirely, waiting until her mouth is empty before flashing a smile across the table. Truth be told, it's mostly directed at the not-so-stoned Diana. "Are you both from around here?"

Diana covers her mouth to stifle a laugh at James' words, and she pauses before replying, deadpan, "Did you know your hand can tough anything but itself?" Hey, it works in the memes and movies, right? She looks back to Abby then, returning that smile. "I'm not from around here, but he is. How about you? Or... I guess like me you're an out of towner, or you would've known I'm new." She playfully thunks her forehead. "So: how new to here are you?"

James blinks and looks at his hand. "Wait. What? That doesn't... that can't be..", he murmurs, and gets real distracted with trying to figure how to get his hand to touch itself. He is in a fairly loopy mode, chill and happy but definitely not all there, and he just kind of hangs out in the background, focusing on alleviating the munchies, and maybe a nap after because naps are fine and wonderful.

Abby glances down at her own hand. She sets down the fork, then clenches her fist and rubs her fingers into her palm. Then she picks up her fork again, continuing the conversation with Diana. "Well, I'm from Elma! It's about 20 minutes away along the Olympic Highway, on the way to Olympia. It's very small and boring, though. You could drive by and not even notice it's there. Anyway, I used to come into town a bit, but I just moved here - hmm, it's been almost a year now, I guess?"

"It's true," Diana continues to deadpan poor unsuspecting James. "Isn't it neat? I mean, try it. Your hand can touch anything... LITERALLY anything... but itself." She then looks to Abby, grinning, and says, "Oh, so you're not from that far away, then! I'm from Indiana, so this place is great! And that's all that anyone can really say about Indiana, if you ask me." Her grin turns wry.

Naturally, James takes his time testing this. He even touches his waffle, getting his fingers a little sticky. And he's frowning VERY seriously.

"Not far at all. It saved me a lot of money on the move, at least. Well, compared to some people." Abby grins. By now, she's moved onto the more classic syrup and butter waffle, rather thoroughly soaked and getting a little gooey as she cuts into it and takes a bite. While she munches, she gives Diana a thoughtful look, eyes moving off to the side, then up at the ceiling. "Oh, there's - there's races, too? There's races. That's a thing! I'm terrible at geography."

Tilting her head, Diana asks curiously, "So what brought you here, then?" She gives a glance to James, who's currently touching the wall thoughtfully. She says as an aside to him, "But are you REALLY touching it, or do you only THINK you're touching it?" She's clearly evil. Still, she does kiss his cheek, so maybe there's kindness in that black heart after all. She turns back to Abby, and laughs at the mention of races. "You forgot the NFL and NBA teams. How could you?" she teases.

"Work! There was a job opening at Addington Memorial. I'm a nurse. It was either here or Seattle or somewhere even farther away, probably, so..." Abby raises her hands in a small shrug, smiling. "I guess it's familiar enough, you know?" Another hearty bite of waffle follows, and she interrupts her chewing to touch a hand to her chest and give Diana her best, apologetic look. "The Pacers and the... other ones?" She concludes after a moment's thought, lowering her voice to comment. "I don't really follow football or basketball, I'm sorry! So what brought you here, where we don't have races or NFL and NBA teams?"

Diana smiles, nodding to the talk of things being familiar enough. "Sure! That's as good a reason as any, for sure!" She laughs at 'The Pacers and the other ones,' and at the question, she deadpans, "I came here because of the lack of races, NFL, and NBA teams." Then she grins, saying more seriously, "Nah, it was work in my case, too. I do researching and book-writing and things, though I tend to like to say 'paranormal investigator' because it has that special ring to it. Plus, it's the truth. I mean, on the one hand, all I'm doing is researching this stuff and writing about it, for the most part. Ooh, but I won a ghost hunt in the recent jello auction thingie, all equipment included. So I'm excited about that, for sure."

"Oh. That's interesting. I guess you'll have plenty to keep you busy here, then!" Abby says, then digs into her waffle. She's still smiling, but she really doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic about chasing paranormal things. "I'd rather it stayed away from me, myself! Different strokes for different folks, right?" She winks, and drinks a lot of coffee. There's a lot of waffle to go through, but she goes through it quickly.