2020-02-11 - Do They Ever Stop Talking?

It's three in the morning in a wet, frigid, icy and gently flurrying winter night in a small coastal town... and yes, of course the Grizzly is still open, and there's even two or three people inside, still! A pair of foul-mouthed EMTs are hunched over in a booth, playing cards while they insult one another and drink coffee, while a little old lady huddles near a window seat, muttering to herself as she focuses on trying to get her shaky hands to bring food to her lips with minimal mess. The music seems to be some sort of...chinese heavy metal? Lots of drums and guitars and wind instruments with a soulful voice woven throughout. Gina sits at the counter, dressed in shredded blue jeans showing black leggings beneath, heavy worn boots, and an oversized, baggy black turtleneck sweater (dress?), nails painted a plum color to match her lips, an impeccable smoky eye, and her purple hair just left pinned away from her face, shuffling a deck of playing cards.

Tara enters out of that gross mess of combined weathers wearing just enough clothing not to ''die'' from expossure, but the fact that she's soaked to the bone likely indicates she was walking the sidewalk or, more accurately, riding the bicycle she's just chained up outside. She's shivering as she makes her way towards the counter, rubbing her hands together in a vain attempt to warm them up. She's got her blonde hair twisted into a bun held in place by a backwards baseball hat, a drab green jacket over a white sweater with a rainbow across the chest, and acrylic paint smeared green cargo pants with sneakers.

In short, she should not be smiling.

Yet... there she is smiling.

"Hey." Waving, the greeing coming out more like 'he-e-e-e-e-eeeey' from chattering teeth. Up onto a bench, hunkering over herself to flex and unflex fingers. "I don't know if you know this, but it's reeaally cold out there."

There's a bell over the diner door. It jingles when Tara enters, and-- well, nothing. Nobody looks up, nobody looks up and smiles at her or asks in a friendly way if she'd like something. Nope, the most that happens is the old woman peers towards Tara, then goes back to trying finish her mashed potatoes. Gina doesn't even look up as Tara settles down at her side-- and for a few seconds after Tara talks, it looks as if Gina might just continue to ignore her, shuffling the cards with a crisp flutter of stiff paper. Only then do her eyes slant towards Tara, taking in the woman from head to toe, then glancing right back at her deck, pulling out a card and looking at it. Something about what she pulls makes her smirk, and tuck the card back into the deck. "One reason I don't try to walk out in that unless I have to. Seems pretty fucking stupid." The cards are reshuffled, "Need something?"

Tara is wholly unphased by the lack of attention, at least it doesn't affect her general jovial demeanor. Even sopping wet and freezing she's trying to smile and if that doesn't bleed optomism, there's just none left in the world. She does continue to blow upon her palms and rub them together, though. She might even one day get feeling back in them, "In hindsight, I'd probably agree with you, but I was already out when it started and I don't know how to teleport." Brrrrrr.. "Yet." Optimism.

"Some coffee would be excellent." She takes in Gina, shuffling her cards, and slides out of her wet coat that does absolutely nothing to improve her overall wetness. One less layer to contend with, though. "Is Alison working, by chance?" Glancing around, over, up and under tables.. including her stool. Never know where an Alison might be hiding.

Gina represses an eye roll - it's /palpable/ - and moves to get up and head behind the counter once again to make said coffee, leaving the deck of cards in a tidy stack on the counter. "No. Think she switched off with someone." Gina remarks as she pours a cup of coffee into one of the mugs - then adds some caramel sauce to the mug, takes a sip, adds slightly more, and seems far more satisfied with the results. With much less care she pours a second cup and sets it down in front of Tara. "Sugar and shit is over there," She points to one of the nearby caddies, "If you need them." As for herself, she's just going to enjoy her caramel coffee, leaning on her elbows onto the counter, just before her deck of cards.

"Oh." Tara bobs her head and stops looking in lue of this new bit of information regarding general lack of Alison's in the establishment. When the coffee, just coffee, are set down infront of her, she lights up in a grin like a christmas tree, "Thanks.." Leaning in the direction of the caddies to snag a pair of sugars between two fingers and then back up to pour them in the mug, "She said that I might be able to get a job." Glancing around, no spoons... her mouth quirks to the side and she pulls out a paint brush from one pocket, flips it around in her fingers, and uses it to stir. "Here I mean, I'm sure I could get a job somewhere else too, though." Thoughtful. She shrugs indifferently and grins, "I'm Tara." Hand across the counter to Gina.

Gina sips her caramel coffee, looking at the offered hand for perhaps a heartbeat or two too long before she entirely ignores it. "Gina Castro." The one and only. "There's always positions open. What can you do?" Siiiip. Gina has another long sip of her coffee, before she sets it aside, and picks up the deck again, elbows still holding most of her weight. The deck is tapped on its side, and shuffled again.

"Do?" Tara blinks and looks down at her coffee, "Well, I can't cook, but I can sweep floors or wash dishes... I can probably serve food too, but I've never tired. How hard can serving food be though? I guess pretty hard.." Glancing around, it is pretty late though, so it probably gets more busy. "Uhhh I can empty the grease traps.. Really anything.. except cook, as I said, that's probably not a good idea." Big grin, long sip of very hot coffee that very likely scolds her tongue, but warms her so that's okay. "I have an MBA in business administration and economic law from The Unversity of Stanford..." Wrinkling her nose, "I don't really do that anymore though. I'd rather clean the toilets."

Gina continues to shuffle, and as Tara asks how hard serving food can be, she idly places down a Queen of Spades. As Tara sips her coffee, a King of Hearts is casually flipped over next to the Queen. And when she speaks of the toilets, the Five of Hearts appears. Gina looks the three over, before her eyes flick towards Tara, one corner of her lips tugging upward in something that resembles a smile-- sort of. A little mocking, a little teasing, a little sarcastic. Her mug is collected once more, and she adds, "You in classes for shit or doing something that fucks with when you can come in?" Gina asks, eyes back on Tara. "And will you come in when you say you will?

Tara looks at the cards being laid out, sipping her coffee, but if there's a meaning there she certainly doesn't seem to follow it. That doesn't stop her appreciating the whole asthetics of the display though. Even Gina's mocking grin is given a genuine observation with a tilt to her head, "No, I'm not in school.. I guess I could be one day, maybe.." She looks down at the counter, shrugs, and glances back up with a grin. "Right now I'm not though. Mostly I just draw on sidewalks in chalk or paint.. or talk to dead people.. not a lot here, yet, but I'm sure I will eventually." Pause, curious, tapping a finger on the counter beside the five of hearts, "What's that one mean?" It means something right? "I'll be here when I say I will. Unless something stops me, which it could, I hate making open ended promises without knowing all the variables... Tentatively... I'll be here when I say I will." brisk, clipped nod.

As for Gina? She seems to only be giving the conversation half of her attention, treating the whole interview so casually, it's practically dismissive. Except... except for that little half-smile, knowing and waiting and not quite a smile. "We've got an application you can fill out, with all the normal shit about your address and whatever. ID and all that I don't really care about. You get trained for a week, and you show up when I say you do that week. No selling drugs during your shift, and if you show up unable to work I throw you the fuck out and decide later if you're still employed. The application has an option if you want to be paid in cash." She rattles off the base wage, which is actually (gasp) a dollar or two above minimum, "And you keep tips if that's your thing. Everything else you learn in training." Gina pushes herself away from the table, heading over to one of the higher cabinets to rifle through, her muffled voice adding, "Fluctuations. A loss. Emotional upheaval because of it. Something gone, or at risk of going. An imbalance." She returns with a single sheet of paper - the application - and hands it to Tara. "Or just the five of hearts."

Tara blinks at the part about selling drugs, "Oh... okay well I'll.. keep that in mind.. I guess.." Not really sure how to take it, she opts for it being a joke.. or at the very least just strange Gina behavior that should be taken with a grain of Gina salt. The mug is up for another drink, held in both hands, listening to all the rest. "Sounds good to me.. when do I show up?" Because that's what she said. Eyeing the application, then Gina when she explains the meaning behind the card. "Oh, cool. Yeah that makes sense." Bobbing her head, "Hah! Yeah, I guess it /could/ be the five of hearts too. Your bear is really hungry." Pointing over at it, turning on her stool to extend a finger off her mug in the bears direction. "Just thought you should know." Then she puts the mug down and leans over to fill out the application, but she can do that while talking.

There are bears everywhere. Always bears. Part of that Grizzly charm, all of those statuettes, from detailed and realistic to crudely carved, everywhere someone can see. Gina doesn't even bat an eyelash at Tara's comment on them. "Some of them always are. Just ask Alison. They'll eat when they're ready."

The application looks like a normal one-- except for a few things such as the question about if you're a US Citizen being optional, a choice as to whether you'd like to be paid by check or cash, and the spot on the page to freestyle draw anything you'd like.

"The quiet things like to come here through the bears. It's just something that happens. You either get used to it or you don't."

Tara glances over at some of the bears and nods at whatever she sees in them or hears Gina describing of them, "I can see why they would." She says and looks back down at the application, "I saw a lot of them on the way here. Mostly on the interstate." Absently, filling out the important parts so she can get to the freestyle drawing which is clearly the most important part of the application, to her anyways.

"Quiet ones, I mean. Only one bear... I think it was a bear.." Furrowed brow, glancing up at Gina for a second, then back down at the paper. "I guess it could have been a fat man in a Chewbacca costume, which honest to god wouldn't surprise me /at all/ for South Dakota.."

Once she's finished all the boring shit on the application, "Do you have crayons? I'm going to have a lot of trouble drawing anything without color."

"Not weird, in Gray Harbor. Not sure why you'd choose to come here, but it's your call." Gina finishes the last of her coffee, and reaches to slide all three cards and tap them even, before they join the rest of the deck. "Been in Grey Harbor long?" She does ask, though she doesn't look particularly interested in the answer, instead shuffling her cards one more time before she tucks them into her back pocket once more. Looking at her empty mug, she frowns, but makes no effort to get more. Instead, she adds, "You get what you write the application with and what you've got on you. You want crayons, try the Waffle House."

"Gray Harbor's not that weird." Tara says without looking up, "Maybe a little more out in the open in Gray Harbor, but this shit is happening everywhere.." Motioning around with her pen, maybe at the EMTs, maybe the old woman still struggling with them mashed potatos, maybe even at the bears. Maybe everything? Who knows. "I was passing through looking for someone and ran out of gas." She starts drawing then when no crayons present themselves, at least the outline of something anyways. "Couple days, long enough to know I kind of like it here.." Grinning as she glances up, "Wait.." Patting her jacket, then her cargo pants, eyes going as wide as her grin.

Her hands slip into the big pocket on her left leg and come out with a pack of markers, "Score." They are laid open beside her application paper so she can appropriately get to work. "I like the people anyways. I haven't seen everything to see here yet, so I'm sorely under equipped to make a definitive decision on my opinion of the town.. buuuuut..." Distractedly drawing out the last word, "I've been to just about every town on I-90 from here to Chicago and I haven't found a town I didn't like yet.. so.." She shrugs and gets to coloring in the outline she'd traced out in the blank part of the application. Absently reaching for, and drinking, more coffee. "You?"

Something Tara says has the little half-smile on Gina's face turning juuuust a little bit sharper, but her lashes lower and her eyes drop to check out her plum nail polish. She doesn't seem like she's going to comment on Gray Harbor vs the rest of the world. "I've been a few places. Gray Harbor is where I'll die." Gina doesn't sound morbid when she says this. Just a sort of off-hand acceptance. "Left for school. Came back. I'm not anybody interesting. Officially retired from the quiet. You bring shit in, you clean it up."

"I... don't bring stuff to work with me." Tara isn't distracted, so much as she's turning a small section of an application into way more art project than application, which might be why she needs a job in the first place. "I don't screw with the balance unless it's imbalanced... which means I fixed it.. which means it doesn't follow me." After a second glance, she slides the application over to Gina. "Everyone is someone interesting." sitting up on her elbows, one hand resting around her cooling mug. "Not even the dead ones.. actually some of them are /more/ interesting. I think because they have all that shit they didn't do or wish they'd done? It's hard to get into a philosophical debate with most of them though.. I tried." She finishes her coffee and nods, grinning into the bottom of the mug before setting it down.

The picture is quite colorful, all soft archs, with irregular lines or loose angles in varying shifting rainbow like shifts of color. In the center is that shadowy image she started with staring through a break over which she's clearly trying to color, but never quite finished.

"I think this is where a lot of people will die."

"Sooner rather than later."

"No. Everyone's annoying as fuck, and some are more annoying than others." Gina says, not even sounding vehement about it. Just-- honest. She glances over the application, then folds it and simply tucks it into her other back pocket. "We're losing two waitstaff this week anyway-- always do, around Valentine's day, so you can pick up and train then. You've got," She rattles off a time Tara' said she's available, "To start with. Might change." She shrugs, collecting her mug to refill it with coffee. "One rule to know. Don't really give a shit who walks in or who's already here, but ghosts irritate the shit out of me when they don't just give up and die already. You wanna argue philosophy with leftovers, go to the pond, don't invite them in here to do it. I don't like people, much less leftover trash because they couldn't die clean." Gina's just her very own pile of rainbows, isn't she? So friendly. But she hasn't said Tara /can't/ work here yet!

"I don't know if they're annoying as ''fuck''..." Tara says with as big a grin as always, drumming her fingers without much sound as Gina rails against the undead and living alike with equal measures of contempt. The blonde nary flinches, "I can respect that. I try not to invite them /anywhere/. Not that they do much going places anyways. Usually just hanging out wherever they died." Conversational, another day in the life. That's refreshing. She bobs her head all the same, "I always remind them they have to stay outside." Beaming at Gina with big wide eyes that carry over her smile like an infectious plague. More coffee, however, requires more sugar and she leans in the direction to grab another packets between two fingers to spice up the mug. "Oh, cool. I'll be here." Totally agreeable, happy despite the angsty. Happy because of the angsty. Happy, for certain, in the face of the angsty. "I think I'm going to like working here." Said while stirring her coffee with her paint brush. "Do the bears ever stop talking?"

Gina fails to look convinced of the merits of people, but she just tugs her sleeves up (that sweater must have been meant for a dude in Big & Tall, baggy as it is even on the sleeves). "You do you, Lamprey. Don't really give a shit unless you break the rules. You'll get taught those. Just let me know when you decide to quit." It's mildly said, not so much bleak as-- routine. Well, it is a small town diner. Turnover is probably high.

At the question about the bears, Gina simply sips her own coffee, caramel-infused once more. "Yes. Usually I start running when that happens." Simple, no further explanation volunteered. "They're pretty quiet normally, though. I barely even notice."

"I like that." Tara says with a half glance up at Gina, "Lamprey... like the eel?" Grinning, the paint brush slips between her lips to clean the coffee off and lays beside the mug which she takes up in both hands for a drink. "Don't have to worry about me breaking the rules... unless they're dumb rules. You don't seem like a 'dumb rules' kind of person... at least not to me, but I don't really know you and I'm a shit judge of character anyways."

She does nod agreement to inform the boss before she quits.

"Huh.." Once mroe eyeing the Bears, "They haven't shut up the entire time I've been here.. not that I /mind/ I was just curious, mostly. Good information to have about hauling ass if they do, though." She did ride her bike in this god awful weather though. She's probably one of those stupid girls that ends up getting knifed by the serial killer in the first act.

"Anything I should ''absolutely'' know that might get left out of training?"

Gina shrugs. "There's a nurse out there with a pin. You'll see a picture of the pin in the break room. He's the only person you have to pretend to give a fuck about. Everybody else, you just get the food in front of them timely." It's very good food, even! She pulls away from the counter, apparently ready to just head to the back as a bundled-up, gangly redhead with a mohawk who looks like he just stepped out of an 80's London punk concert steps inside, shaking free of his jacket. "Oh, right. Kick anybody out of a booth after a half horu if they don't order shit. Two hours if they do, unless they order more shit. I'm not a shelter. Otherwise, just let people do whatever if they're not causing property damage." A shrug, Gina apparently finding this sufficient, before she drains her cup and simply hands it to the gangly guy trying to slide past her to get to some aprons.

And then she just walks towards teh back room and leaves.

Not even a goodbye.

Tara bobs her head at this relatively simple list of commandments, "I can do all that..." Leaning up on the counter to watch Gina head to the back with her mouth twisting around a couple times until it finally decides on a grin, which is her mouths natural state of being apparently. "Thanks!" Shouted back at the purple haired owner with a wave she probably doesn't see.

Then she settles on her stool and looks down in her coffee, which she drinks... One last look is paid the Bears. "I know right? I don't want to go out ther either..." Out there, being out side, looking through the window with a little heady frown. Alas, she must, else she'll break the loitering rule! Or require an apron.. "Is it too early to start working?" It probably is.

So she drains her coffee, grabs her markers and paint brushes and slides off the stool. "Hey, I'm Tara." To the red head, "I work here now... well tomorrow.. but I work here now in the senses that I think I'm employed but she's really hard to read so I'm just going to show up and do work until someone tells me to stop."

step back, and step back, she turns and heads over to the older woman, "Do you need help with those mashed potatos? I can't help seeing most of them are on your shirt and I ''really'' don't want to go outside so.. if you need help, I'll help."

Which is Tara in a nutshell!

She works here now, God bless her.