2020-01-27 - Clarifications

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Hey uh is this Itzhak?

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : hey you even spelled it right

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Hi! I might have googled it

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : so, nu?

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : It's Alison 👩‍🦰

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : hey no shame in googling. did you find Itzhak Perlman?

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Old guy with a violin? I think he popped up first yeah

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : Alison, hey. You're the waitress right? Park's friend?

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Right! She gave me your number

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : have some respect, that man is the greatest living violinist

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : My bad!

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : so, what, you need work done? you're shit out of luck if you do, my garage is ferkakt

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : I don't know anything about violin..ing?

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : I was wanting to ask you about a few things, is on here fine or is in person better? One of the things is.. stuff, you know? What you told me about at the diner a while ago

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Your garage is crazy? Google isn't helping me much with that one

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : probably face to face is better for that stuff.

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : heh, fucked up is the real translation

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Ohhhh shit that sucks

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Coffee shop, maybe? Or my place if that's too public and you don't mind slumming it a little haha

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : yeah I don't think you want some mechanic you don't know coming over to your place

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Wouldn't be the first time I've had a strange older man over at my place tbh

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : But yeah let's meet at the coffee shop, 15min ok?

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : hey, who you calling older

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : I don't think the dirt under your fingernails hides it as well as you think it does 😉

(TXT to Alison) Itzhak : you're insulting me but I have no idea about what. 15 minutes.

(TXT to Itzhak) Alison : Aw I don't mean it like that. see you soon.

Alison's standing outside of Espresso Yourself, a lit joint between her lips, occasionally blowing out a lungful or two of smoke into the cold air. She's got on a very puffy jacket, jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt beneath that. Her hair's tied up into a ponytail with a hairband in place, and she's got on some simple makeup. She's mostly fiddling around on her phone, but occasionally she'll look up, then down either direction of the street in search of something or someone in particular.

A big, brilliant orange pickup rumbles into a nearby parking space. The man who swings out of it is tall and has a mop of curly black hair and a nose that an eagle would be proud of. Unforgettable, this guy! He seems tired, though, distracted, the lines on his face in evidence. Glancing around, he spots Alison, swans on over. "Hey. You, I recognize." Then he hitches up his impressive nose at the smell of the joint. "Look, far be it from me to tell you not to get ya buzz on, but if you wanna talk, you oughta be kinda straight."

Alison nods towards Itzhak as he clambers out of the truck, taking a few steps over towards him. She shrugs a little at the statement. "I'm pretty queer most days. Takes someone special to get me straight." She pulls a foil packet out of her pocket, stubs the joint out against it before tucking it inside, then shoving it into her pocket. "I only had a couple of hits. I put enough of that stuff away lately that it won't make a dent. You wanna head in out of this cold? I'll buy you a coffee for meeting up with me."

Unless otherwise stopped, she'll head into the coffee shop.

Itzhak snorts, amused, flicking Ali a sideways glance. "Yeah, well, I'll keep it in mind." Which? All of the above, maybe. He hauls the door open for her, like a gentleman, and follows her in. "Sure, if you're buyin'."

"Thanks." She swoops in past the man, then heads over to the counter to order a couple drinks - whatever Itzhak'll have, and a hot cocoa for herself. A tap of the phone, another round of thanks, and she brings the drinks over to a pair of seats, handing the coffee one over to Itz before plopping down in a seat. "So. What's wrong with the diner, anyways?"

Itzhak slings himself into the chair opposite Ali, long legs everydamnwhere. Lanky guy. "Uh, nothing's wrong with it. Just you work there, you know? Neutral ground's better." He picks up the coffee, then puts it back down and turns it around in place, fidgeting with it. Long fingers, too, calloused, with that prison ink on his knuckles. 'STAY DOWN.' "So, nu, what's it you want to ask me?"

Alison pauses for a moment before retorting. "..fair enough." Her eyes glance the man up and down as he climbs into the chair, lingering a little longer on the knuckles. "Couple of things. You remember that cop you warned me about.. I had a little run in with him at the diner, something with one of the other waitresses there.." She waves her hand into the air dismissively, as if brushing away the much longer story that need not be spoken aloud.

"And then I saw you and him hanging out back at the trailer park at the pig roast. He's always got this.. LOOK about him, you know? Something in his eyes? Scares me a bit, but he hasn't hauled me away yet, so.." She stops, then sighs. "Sorry. I'm rambling. Nervous. Thought the joint would calm me down a bit. I guess what I'm asking is, is he an alright guy?" The redhead shifts in her seat a little bit, hiding her face slightly with her cup of hot chocolate.

Itzhak's eyebrows pop up. "Yeah, that's de la Vega." A lopsided half smile keeps trying to tug at one corner of his mouth. "Listen, I was kinda being a dick to him by proxy. He's all right. Yeah," one of those big hands comes up, flipping over palm-side up, "he does got that look about him. I know whatcha mean. Believe me he's got bigger fish to fry than you, mameleh. I'm not just saying that because I'm dating him."

Alison doesn't say anything at first, but then nods. She can't help but return the facial expression, though in her case, it's more of a smirk. "Okay. The dent in the door wasn't that big, but he probably didn't have to pay for the fix.." A shrug. "I freaked out a little seeing Bennie get arrested, even if she was losing her cool on him in the first place. Gotta look out for the people you work with, you know?" She sips from her hot chocolate, then puts it back down on the table. "Enough weird shit goes down around here as it is without having to worry about the people in it."

Now that half smile becomes a full smile and Itzhak laughs. "That was you who dented his door? I popped that out. Why'd you kick in his door?" Oh...the eyebrows go tilted. "Okay, wait, start over. Bennie went after him?"

Alison closes her eyes, making a grimace. "Yeah. That was me. Of course it was you who fixed it." She sinks a little lower in her seat, her shoulders meeting the back of the chair. "I showed up for a shift at the diner and she was arguing with him about.. taking her happiness, some shit like that. She got all in his face, but, girl like that against someone like him? You can probably figure out how that went down. He just stood there and took it, even after she stomped on his foot. His partner warned her a few times but she just kept going, I tried to calm her down, but.." Ali shrugs, and then straightens back up in her seat. "She got out the next day, I think. But I lost my head once she got shoved into the back of the car."

Itzhak's eyebrows really go up, then they go wistful, giving his whole long angular face a yearning, melancholy look. "Oy gevalt," he mutters, and runs his fingers through his black curls. "Oy, Bennie." He sinks down a little too, mirroring Alison, but he doesn't straighten back up. "Yeah, well. You assault a cop, you get thrown in the tank. Look, you got nothin' to worry about with him. If he's pissed off at you, you will know it, I promise."

"..alright. You don't seem like a bullshitter. I mean, I don't think I've seen him actually mad, just kinda.." Another shrug. "Menacing, maybe? You two seem like you might be a good pair together. I wouldn't really think that shimmery tops, ties, and nails would really be his kinda thing?" Another sip from her cocoa. "They were all pretty good looks on you, though."

Itzhak still has the rainbow-sparkle golden glitter nail polish on, too. He huffs half a surprised laugh, tints a little red, and looks at his painted nails. "Maybe you wouldn't think it, but he's so into it." Turns a little more red, glances back at Ali. "Thanks. Not too extra, ya think?" He's kidding.

Alison smirks at the assertion. "Yeah? Interesting." At the question, she grins holds her hand out in the kinda 'maybe yes, maybe no' motion. "Just the right amount of extra. I like it when a guy does something to stand out from the crowd." She opens her mouth again as if she's going to tack something on to the end of that, but thinks better of it, closing it again so as to avoid sticking her foot in her own damn mouth again.

"That's what I like to hear. Just the right amount of extra." Itzhak smirks back. "I can't hardly not stand out, with this beak." He taps it with one shimmery-nailed finger. "May as well make the most of it, right?" Then there go the eyebrows again, lifting in amused surprise. "What? C'mon, say it."

The redhead breaks out in laughter as Itz mentions the nose. "That. That's what I was gonna say. The nose! I didn't want you to think that it was an insult." Her cheeks redden a little as Itz had just done, but not to the same degree.

Itzhak laughs, too, spreading his hands in the classic New Yorker 'that's what I'm saying!'. "See? Exactly. Insult, feh. Listen, this schnozz is my best feature. You got pretty red hair and freckles, I got this thing." He seems cheered up, some, anyway. "Nobody doesn't notice the nose."

Okay, now Alison's blushing a good deal more with the compliment, but it's paired with a wry smile. "Well, thanks. Some people aren't so into the red hair though. This dude in the trailer park moved in a few weeks ago, every time I run into him he's pointing and screaming about me being the devil or something?" She shrugs. "I can calm him down for a little while, at least, but it reminds me of when I was a little kid, boys making fun of me, calling me a ginger, pulling on it.." She reaches up behind her head and pulls out the hairtie she'd had in place, letting it fall along her shoulders as it usually does, giving her head a shake like in a shampoo commercial to speed the process along slightly. "It's different when it's something that you do to stand out though, you know? To me, anyways."

"Boys are disgusting. I oughta know." Itzhak watches Alison do her Pantene impression with interest. "Eh, that guy give ya trouble? I'll come around and tell him to lay off." He's...not joking about that. He's serious. And given that prison ink on him, sparkly nails or no, he'll do it. "It's different, but we all gotta get along with what God gave us. 'Specially us queers."

"I think I'm good. A little taste of the ol' shine to the head and he's simmering down long enough for me to get out and do what I need to do." The redhead's eyes bug out slightly when she realizes what she said, then looks from side to side. Nobody really nearby. Probably nobody listening. And if there was someone listening, it's pretty damn unlikely that they'd know what she meant given the way she phrased it. "To be honest, I'm thinking about moving out of there soon. I would have already, but.. there's this girl that I've been hanging out with lately that lives a few doors over, she's got this fucking abusive meth head of a stepfather. Makes me worry. There's not a whole lot that I can do, but if I can keep an eye out for the little kid in the situation and my friend.." Alison shrugs. "It's enough to make me stick around."

Itzhak hitches his eyebrows, tips his head, dubious. "Oughtn'ta have to use it to get outta your own house. But hey, you're a big girl." With that, he drops it, and listens to the rest of what she's got to say. "There's a lotta little kids in bad situations," he says, quieter. "If just one adult's around to watch out for 'em? Makes a world of difference. You're doin' the Lord's work."

"It's the little girl that I'm worried about, not myself." She drifts off for a bit, staying quiet, sipping her hot cocoa for a moment before speaking up again. "I just met the woman, but I get the feeling that it's coming to a head and is gonna need dealing with before much longer." Alison puts her cup down and rubs her face, grumbling, then pulls her hands away. "That wasn't something that I meant to ask you about, though. Don't need more people involved in that situation." Another ship from her cocoa, and then. "So, like.. the thing? I've run into other people who can do.. other things, but I've noticed that they all kinda.. shine, if you look at them just right? Does that make any sense to you?" From the wary look on her face, it doesn't make any damn sense to herself, and she hardly expects Itzhak to make any sense of it.

Itzhak rubs the paper cup with a thumb, studying it more than Ali. "Hey, you can talk about it. I don't mind. That shit's tough. I know." His hazel eyes tick up to check her face, then back down. "People talk about a shine. I hear a song." He taps an ear. "That's what it is to me. Music. What do you see in me?"

"I.. I dunno. I can tell that there's something there? I see it in de la Vega and he kinda.. I don't know how to say it. It's just certain people almost have this glow around them. With him, it's kind of like we have a similar shade of light?" Another pause, Alison sipping her cocoa once again, looking around for.. something, anything to focus on. It makes her feel nervous to be talking about this in public, or even in private, for that matter. "Yours is different than mine, but stronger? It kind of like looking into a lighthouse.. but it makes me want to talk to people like that, hang out with them? As if they're more interesting because of it? More attractive?" Another shrug. "I feel like I'm losing my shit sometimes thinking about this. It's like something you see on TV at 3am in the morning."

Itzhak listens, silent, rubbing the paper cup in time to some beat rolling through his head. He pulls out that lopsided half-smile when Ali says the shine makes people hotter, more interesting. "Yeah, it kinda does that." He shifts, leaning forward across the table, clear hazel eyes meeting Ali's for maybe the first time. Gray-green-brown, complicated as agate. "You're not losin' your shit, Ali," he murmurs. "You gotta trust yourself. Yeah? Like a Jedi. You feel disturbances in the Force? You take that shit seriously."

"It does, huh." She looks back at Itzhak, her plainer, yet piercing blue eyes gazing back into his. "..okay. If it's not just me, then it's probably actually a thing. Or maybe this place is just driving us all crazy together." With a grin, she adds. "Do you whip out the nerdy lines with all the cute girls, or do you save them for the redheads?" A blink. "Oh shit." She pulls her phone out of her crossbody bag, looking at the time. "God damn it, I forgot that I'm supposed to meet a friend like.. 15 minutes ago." Alison thumbs at the screen for a bit, firing off a quick text. "Gotta run. Thanks a lot for coming by, it helped clear up a few things that I've been worrying about." She smiles at Itzhak, more genuine than any that she might show off back at the diner, then gets up, toting her drink in one hand, then pausing to turn back towards him before she steps out the door. "Talk to you later, It-sock." And then with a surge of cold air rushing in, she's out into the night.

Itzhak hmfs, smile crooked. He leans back again, stretches his legs out and crosses them at the ankle. Ali gets a tip of his finger. "See ya around."