2020-08-18 - Leveling Shit Out

It's not early. In fact, it's late. Very late. Late enough that maybe it HAS rolled back into early-- but the point is, Kelly's Gym? It's actually closed now. Dark, shuttered up, closed!

Or it should be, anyway. And yet perched on the rope between the corner pad and the ring post of one corner of the boxing ring, a blue light glows gently onto a watching face. In the ambient light from the street and the phone, it's easy to make out some details: black hiking boots, midcalf black socks, torn stockings, a black sundress worn beneath a thin black long-sleeved hoodie, hair that lightens from dark to...paler. Is it red? No...purple, maybe, it's hard to tell in the dark light. There's no sound from the phone, but her feet sway back and forth, gently tapping her heels against one of the posts.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud.

Joey lurks a lot of weird places, mostly his own. Like any other stray creature he likes to stick to what he knows. The weird part is he seems to be pretty aware of where things are in those few places he has. With other crime lords trying to push in on the city lately? well checking his things is normal. What's not normal is the world being flipped upside down and on occasion he makes himself a habit of crashing at his own gym or even coming in and taking his agressions out super late in the privacy of-

But it's not private, and not...unfamiliar.

Substantially broken in sneakers carry the 'newly appointed gym coach' up the three stairs from teh back. It's is NOT a quiet egress, but at the very least if Gina didn't trust it'd be a problem she wouldn't show up which... tells him something.

Now he's been in a bad fucking mood since- he doesn't want to talk about it, but Gina borderlines on being Old Guard and that buys a lot of leeway even now. So the first words come late but form, "Everything ok?"

True to form for Gina, she doesn't seem to react to the footsteps. Almost as if she didn't hear. Or, more likely-- doesn't care WHO is walking up. No attempt to hide, no concern over her trespassing. Did she know it was Joey? Or does she simply... not care, be it Joey, the cops, or one of Joey's "friends" in town? Is she that confident they won't be a problem? Or was she waiting for someone in particular?

Everyone who knows her has their own guess about which it might be.

Still... Joey is one of those people Gina might call a childhood friend, if she deigned to use the word 'friend' without distaste. And, well. It is his gym. So, despite not looking up from her phone, after a long moment she does answer him, her voice casual and unhurried, "You know different parts of a ring feel differently? In the center, it's pretty fast. Determined. Sharp. Lotta blood. Further out, you get slow breaths. Exhaustion. Lotta bleeding, instead of blood. Pretty different feel." Only now do her eyes glance up towards Joey, "Just needed to clear my head. This place was good enough. You're here late." As if it wasn't HIS gym, geeze.

Joey stops about a foot from the ring that stands hip-high. He doesn't interrupt and those sharp greed, angry eyes take in the details of it. Quietly he murmurs in his gravely tone, "You forgot saliva,adrenaline, desperation, feral instinct, and the feeling of being trapped and alone." Not things he usually talks about but if they're going to talk about the moods of the various zones of being in a ring from which you cannot escape until there's a bell of reprieve? Yeah there's a lot of feelings that go into it.

He stands quiet looking at it adding quietly, "It's pretty messy in there." Now whether he's talking about the ring or the city behind the metaphor is another story. His bag gets unshouldered and he answers, "Apparently... I'm coaching high school football but if their real coach ain't showing... can't leave them fucking hanging. Ain't fair to them." He was on the team 13 years ago, so it's not like he's unfamiliar with the damn game. Looking up he asks, "You want coffee? Company? For me to fuck off?" yes it's his place but right now it's her ring. He's giving her that much.

Gina gives a small shrug, "I don't relate to desperation much anymore. The other stuff's background noise." Gina comments offhand, finally tucking her phone back into her hoodie pocket. Her heels still kick the posts, steady as a heartbeat, and her lips curve slightly at one corner, to something that might resemble a smile, could almost be taken for a smirk. "Diner's name got changed. Don't really hate it, so might just keep it as is. Some of my staff's got shit on them. But there was so much shit about me out there already I don't need to do anything." One more thud-thud, before the feet still, pair up, and she hops off the ropes. "And the high school teams all suck anyway. Too many disappearances and trauma drama, Kelsey," She knows damn well it's Kelly, "Pretty sure half the football team is feral anyway. You kicking me out after coffee?" Her tone is her usual, the one where it's impossible to distinguish if she's teasing or sarcastic, sly or sincere.

Joey listens without interruption. Neither one of them are historically huge on talking so when it happens? Well, words matter. There's a nod and snort that's almost a smile, "Stay as long as you want. Shit there's a small shitty apartment in the back if you need to park it a while." As she's there and he's not inclined to punt her from the premises he nods, "I'll get it going." He heads over and turns on the light in the office that is starting to get shaped up again no thanks to Joey using it.

The coffee's started and is going to take a minute or few. He comes out to he water fountain outside to wait and wait and wait to let the thing fill before going back to add the water in. There's a whole process. "Some days," he adds, "I think coffee takes a while to do for a reason. Like a religious ceremony, ya know, where I promise God or whoever I won't kill anyone before it fucking finishes." If only he meant that ironically. It is ironic right?

He wanders back over while it brews, "You like it angry or you add sugar and shit?" There's a pause and he doesn't ask about the people but he squints and offers commiseration, "That's happenin here too. We can't... fix everything and it sucks." There's a pause and he asks, as a serious offer, "Someone need some manners or is this like usual people stuff?"

Gina's managed to retain some of the habits which led to her... somewhat disconcerting reputation among educators and students. Such as when Joey walks over to the office, she's standing, both feet on the ground, staying in place - even as he pours and pours and pours water. She's not shifting or moving in place, just standing there. Only when he turns his back and focuses on pouring the water and grounds into the coffee maker does she move. He can hear the quiet steps she takes on the mat, fast and even, so when he turns to wander back, she's now significantly closer. And in the exact same position, both hands in her pockets, same expression on her face. Standing still.

It'd be uncanny, if he hadn't heard her. But he did, of course. And it's not like this isn't just-- how Gina is, sometimes.

"I feel that way about photography. Sometimes if I cook. And you got any caramel syrup? If not, sugar's good." oddly, this time around, she wanders back with him, keeping pace, "Usual people stuff. Most people remember me in high school, so they don't like to try shit." A smirk, because Gina was a nonviolent, creepy, spooky bitch of a delinquent back in high school. "You dealing with new murderous rages, or just normal people shit?"

Joey turns with the coffee in hand and heads to where he heard her move. He's making every effort to ignore it. People who do things quietly do so for a reason but the look is, well, impressed no less even if he was trying not to acknowledge it. She is handed the coffee and the container of sugar in one of those standard tall cardboard affairs.

The question is an honest one and to a fault that he can think of unless asked how he's doing? Well, he really never lies. "Sorta... new. Someone I trusted with a lot turned out to be... well what I was afraid I'd expect them to be aaaaaand... I was wrong." He sits back against his desk idly while she fusses with her coffee. he elaborates to say, "Not Nicole. We're fine. I think" Sipping his coffee he also adds with a faint amusement in his tone, "She's not playing a wrestler on TV but I ain't correcting people who think she is. Mostly just...disappointed ya know? I really wanted things to be different and nope. I was right so... yeah. ya know?"

Accepting the cup and the sugar, Gina sips her coffee first, then idly begins pouring, watching the coffee instead of Joey. An unhealthy amount is poured in, before she reaches for whatever can be used to stir and gets to stirrin'. "I'm right a lot." The words are flat, and accompanied by a one-shoulder shrug, before she sips at her over-sweetened coffee. "I get it. Sucks to be you." Not quite sympathy, but... more acknowledgement than a lot of people get with Gina. Childhood friends! "Least Nicole's good, I guess? It'd suck to find a new hairstylist." Sipping her coffee again, she pushes herself up to fully sit atop the other half of Joey's desk, feet crossed at the ankles and idly kicking. "At one point you just start expecting to be right. Then you're just surprised every time you're not."

Another moment of quiet sipping, before she asks in an idly curious way, "Anybody you want me to ban from the diner? I kind of like having a reason to ban shitheads." Not that NOT having a reason has ever stopped her.

Joey nods slowly. Yup. Sucks to be him. That's... a great summary. "Thanks." Not bitter. Everything taken and returned at face value. The question of banning anyone wins what is a grateful glance even if there's really no emotion rolling off of him like a boulder with expressive eyebrows, or a shift in attention. "Well if your'e up for keeping the Chief of Police out? Sure."

He doesn't get into it but there's a mood there for certain. He considers and tilts his head, "It would suck if we had to find a new hairstylist." which for Joey is losing his nicer half by a lot. "I sued to be like that. I stopped. I was wrong." He considers and shakes his head, "Was nice though ya know, thinking things could be different for a while and that this tow ain't a shithole."

Pausing he considers how well things are upturned for Gina and he at least in general representation. "What's fucked up? I like how work's changed and I know it's going to go back ya know? It found a way to shit on things going well for a while."

"I could." Gina says easily. And it's that simple in her opinion . "Could also just encourage him to go elsewhere. I like the idea him getting crappy food for a while." And in fact, one corner of Gina's lips rises slightly, in an actual amused smirk. "I don't like him in general. He arrested my waitress once. I got her a gift basket and some brass knuckles after." The smile slips away, back into a more neutral look, as she sips her coffee, "Don't want him looking into me, though."

There'd be a lot to look into.

She does roll her eyes to give Joey a Look. A look that says, very eloquently, 'Dude, seriously?' "Gray Harbor's where our bones will splinter and our blood's gonna dry to dust. You can run, but you'll just die crazy, miserable, and lost out there." Her coffee is sipped, slowly, enjoying the warmth, her nails - painted, today, in alternating fingers of white-splattered-blue and blue-splattered-white - tapping against the cup in a discordant rhythm. "It won't get better. It'll change until the way it sucks works for you. Then it'll keep changing." Another pause. "It's not the first time. No one really remembers a week of July of '03. Or they do, but wrong. Everything changed. Even my diary entries. That change was forever. Clarisa Meyers was the only one who remembered. And only because she burned the truth into her skin. So. Sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you make it stick."

Clarisa Meyers moved away sophomore year of high school.

Joey snorts a faint grin as she talks about giving the Chief a hard time. This sits... favorably. Vengeance by a thousand papercuts pieces of burnt toast. Still, it's morose but they are in agreement and not an agrument rises. Rough fingers turn his cup around.

There's a roll of his eyes back. "Doooon't gimme that. Being a coach is like the one thing I ain't fucked up. And yeah I... remember her. I think my brother used to hit on her. That... is messed up." He considers looking into the half cup of coffee and wonders, "You know everyone keeps saying the town's fucked up. Maybe it's just the people that are. I dunno there's really a fix for people being dumb."

He looks up to Gina and finally gets around to, "That what's bringing you here?" yup. Asking.

"Chicken or egg, Joey." FIRST NAME?! Gina's serious, dangling the cup from her fingertips as she brings her legs up to sit tailor-style on her side of the desk, arms resting lightly over knees. "This place fucks us up, we make it even more fucked up. There's no fix. You just have to take Gray Harbor for the place it is. And just stop thinking people are worth a single shit." Her tone is light, the smirk she flashes Joey emphasized by the dark amusement in her eyes... but Gina is serious...probably? After all, isn't that how Gina lives her life, more or less?

Her eyes soon slide off Joey again, lifting her coffee cup and glancing at it instead. She doesn't answer for a long time, instead draining the rest of her coffee and then holding the empty cup out towards Joey with a little shake in the direction of the coffee pot. Serve her coffee, Joey! She's seated! But whether or not he takes the cup, after long enough that she ALMOST seems about not to answer, she glances to the wall of his office.

"I'm local." Or local enough. "I've been dragged in and out of the pit of shitty stupid fucked uppedness longer than most of you." She started extremely young, after all, "Sometimes shit wants to claw out of my skin and my head and I need to quiet it." She shrugs, and gives an upnod towards the gym. "Controlled pain. Not mine. Easier to handle. Shuts shit up for a while. Quicker than meditation or yoga or therapy, anyway. Get me to calm down before I commit felonies."

"lifts his coffee cup and nods, "Yeah. well, for what it's worth I'm sorry you're right. Here's to being somehow surprised." He listens and stays the fuck silent. He doesn't wait for her to finish talking so much as he listens and offering a slow nod. "Well," Words sounding abrasive as the man speaking him, but mean well all the same, "if you do get the urge to commit a felony lemme know and we'll try to make sure you don't get arrested for it. For two?"

He stands and motions for her to follow him back out of the office. "You pick up other people's feelings and shit?" He blinks and looks back to her, "That is a shit super power. People are awful and usually can't handle anything much less the world fucking screaming at them. You want some whiskey in that you let me know." Now he's concerned. This is one of those things where he's generally glad it's not him.

Gina rolls her eyes as he motions for her to actually MOVE, but she complies. After all, if she really wants to come back, she will. Joey's offer to help her get away with it does cause her to smirk, "Been fine so far. I've got a great lawyer." How great could her lawyer be, on a diner owner's salary? And not even the only diner in town! "But if I need a fall guy I'll think of you, Kells." She promises, still smirking, her tone that teasing, not-teasing, which is it?! tone she excels in.

When the talk comes to one of her powers, she shrugs. "Yeah. Sometimes. It's not like it's my primary. Pretty useful sometimes, pretty fucking boring most of the time. It's like chocolate cake every day. Can be all different kinds of chocolate, but eventually it's all just sweet shit you have to swallow. Visit enough cemeteries, hold enough weapons, pop into enough museums, you get a handle on it pretty quick, and tap that shit down."

Gina could be talking about the weather, or her finances, or the latest event at the local library, for how casual it sounds. No resignation, no nervousness, no reassurances for Joey in her voice. And why would there be? She's always been a little bitchy and snarky, pretty closed off to most people. That's just her normal, after all. "I can tune it so low it's basically off. Some people aren't that lucky." And despite saying that, she grins -- a little maliciously, a bit nostalgically, as if remembering some particular event. Or person. "You never got that particular power? Think it comes with the talking in people's heads shit. Which is a really, really crappy power."

Joey murmurs something about everyone else seems to be. "It'll be an improvement from the guy that tried to shoot me two weeks ago at least." He joking about that? Hard to say from the man that delivers all news deadpan. He listens to the low points in that. Does he get being an empath? Not even. Does he understand coping? Acutely.

"Gotta balance shit out. I don't... I dunno I know anything about that. I mean I kinda can get seeing thing in threat and not a threat but too much of anything and your guard goes down too long and you eat a glove. Or you play defense so long you lose sight of what's there. Gets tiring holding your arms up all the time staying ready to block. "Uhhhmmm" He pauses

"Power?" His brow furrows trying to wrap his brain around what she's talking about. Some people only have so much bandwidth. "I mean ....not everyone can draw good. Not everyone can juggle and not everyone can be a rock superstar and live large. Some people are just like really good with knowing how people are feeling. My mom was like that."

His mom who was murdered at 36. What a weird legacy. "She, um, she'd go take walks sometimes. Clear her head. She liked being outdoors. Sometimes would have to after dealing with me and Jaime kinda being all over the place." His eyebrow arches slightly murmuring distantly, "That's a hell of a thing, Gina." He nods slowly and murmurs, "That's... a hell of a thing."

So is needing a place to go to sort one's shit out. He does leave the open invitation there though, "Take all the coffee you need, Gee."