2020-11-01 - A Sweet Halloween Retreat

Kailey is helping with the trick or treaters tonight at Sweet Retreats. Oh she is still dressed up, but she wears an ancient roman dress in pale pink that may have been repurposed from something else. The sleeves show faint hints of the paint having stained the fabric. But she is all feline smiles as peoples come in. As the children comes up and ask the all important question, she offers them a selection of some of the shops in-house chocolates and candy. It includes those long sucker sticks in various flavors. Like cherry, green apple, butterscotch, and of course everyone'se favorite; root beer! On the table is a baby bouncer in which lays another little feline. Only this one is a 3 months old and wears all black and has smeared her mother's attempts at a kitty face. Her eyes, which are just turning green like her parents, follow her brightly colored mother with wide-eyed fascination.

Ravn Abildgaard is possessed of all the delicate understanding of the minds of smol humans you'd expect from someone who's thirty years old and a bachelor incarnate: A big, slightly nervous nada. Maybe that's why the copper blond skirts the horde of hopeful faces at hip height. Or maybe he's just worried that he'll end up with little sticky paw prints all over his jeans and turtleneck -- black, of course, because when does he wear anything that isn't. The Dane does sport a slightly troubled expression as he waits in line, though he relaxes visibly upon recognising Kailey under her costume.

When he does eventually make it to the counter the green apple suckers are what he goes for; something tart and fresh, with a hint of sugar, but not sticky sweet. Waiting for a bit of a break in the onslaught of saccharine-craving children Ravn eventually manages to put in, "Do you have a moment? I had a... rather bizarre dream, and you were in it."

Kailey's eye spy the Dane amid the crowd. How couldn't she? He stands out as badly as the owner. She gives him a sunny smile as he comes over and both painted brows scoot up at his comment. There's a soft laugh from the young woman and this time she smiles and shows teeth. "Oh yeah. I remember," She says and waves him over to the booth where Morganna is cooing happily. It's the back booth and generally considered the staff table. It's slightly out of sight, but not if someone is keeping an eye out. She picks up the baby who squeels with glee, trying to grab at her mother's hair. Instead she is handed a toy which immediately goes into the mouth.

"You want some coffee?" Kailey offers, moving to get up and grab herself a cup. Baby riding on her hip and keep a death grip as she attempts to bite the toy in two with her non-existant (yet) teeth. "Or something to eat?" She comes back with two mugs and sets them down. The waitress station is right there for a reason. Then she grabs the coffee pot and is filling both mugs. Replacing that she comes back with a small silver creamer and sets it on the table as she slides back into her seat. "So...yeah...I'm sorry you had to see me that way."

"Coffee would be a life saver." Ravn flops down on the nearest available surface and sticks his gloved hands in his pockets. "I'm glad I didn't just come up with all of that. I never actually went to high school in the US, you realise. When I woke up I wondered if I'd made the whole thing up -- and if I'd been anywhere else than Gray Harbor, I think I would just have taken for granted that I did."

With a chuckle he adds, "Also sorry for being a sullen little prick at seventeen."

Kailey seems surprised at the apology and it actually makes her smirk. "Really? I took the sullen for a language barried more than anything else. If anyone should be apologizing it's me. I wasn't exactly in the best mental state at that age," She wrinkles her nose with obvious distaste. And it actually manages to make the pink leopard bit look scary. Just a little. "Anyway, you don't owe me an apology. But I do appreciate it. I never went here either, so you are not alone in that. When I was 17 I was going to Aloha High and trying to be invisible in between my rage fits." She stirs a lot of sugar into her coffee and a bit of cream. "But to be honest? Being a teen isn't the oddest thing I've been through here. Just the other week I was a calico runt of a kitten. So, you know, this place will keep you on your toes." Another smirk and she sips her coffee. Morganna lets out a loud squeel of delight. She has reached down and grabbed her mother's faux tail and shover it into her mouth.

"Heavens, does it ever. I mean, I've been a tuna." Ravn unpockets one hand to curl it around the coffee cup with a grateful expression. "The language barrier was -- pretty bad. I was definitely not a fluent speaker at seventeen. Reading is one thing -- hearing people talk is another entirely. Real living people don't speak like they're following a script. There's a lot of slang and cultural references and random noise. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time there... Take that substitute teacher, for example. I didn't manage to find out what her problem with me actually was, except that I clearly pissed her off just by being there."

Kailey reaches up to gently remove the tail from the infant and replace it with her toys. There is a little grimace at the drool as she drops the tail back behind her and reaches for a napkin. "A tuna? Yeah, I've done some underwater stuff. Only able to communicate in musical sounds was an interesting one," She says before taking a sip. The mention of the substitue has her rolling her eyes. "I thiiiiink that woman may have been working with the Principal? There was something darker behind Sykes that she was working for. I dunno all of it, but it seemed like even I was missing some context. So don't feel totally lost." Morganna has turned to stare at Ravn as they talk, chewing on her fabric and plastic toy. "By the way...does bank mean something else in Danish? I remember that just stuck with me. Bank? How does giving Sykes a financial business help?" She is smiling again as she asks her question.

Ravn blinks. And then laughs softly. "Yes. Yes, it does. It can mean a bank -- but it also can mean beating someone up. I think I was trying to ask whose arse we were supposed to be kicking. Or suggest that we get down to kicking that arse, I'm not entirely sure. It was like watching TV in a language you don't actually speak, without subtitles or a dub -- you have some kind of idea what's going on and who's who, but then the screen cuts and you realise that you don't even know what show you're watching. It was pretty obvious that something was horribly wrong but I couldn't tell what, or how I pissed that woman off, or what we were doing with that car. I thought for some time that you were all just trying to steal it and take a day off from school, to be honest."

"The thought had crossed my young mind, I do not deny," Kailey says of stealing the car. "But we were looking for traces of our favorite teacher. Though I never had a Rollins, I did have a favorite teacher. Art though." She pauses to remove the salt shake from grabby baby hands. "Bank means a beating, huh. Cool. Well, you got to see me have a rage fit and me at my worst. Few people have and I hope few ever will. I do not like that me." She sounds dead serious about that and her smile is tight. "BUT! We got out of there and even if I didn't zorch the Principal's face off, Leon managed too. One bad nasty thing down. Hopefully there'll be a break before I get dragged into lala land again." Maybe if she stops using her powers to fetch diapers and coffee they will. But no one needs to know about that right? Tired moms gotta conserve energy.

Ravn takes a solid swig of his coffee and somehow manages to not burn his tongue off. "And you got to see me being a privileged little snot whose first action in the US was to raid every Hot Topic I could find for clothes my mum would never have let me wear back home."

He cants his head. "You know, that dream might not have been real but that part? I'd totally have done that. Probably have dyed my hair blue in a week and got seven nose studs, too. And then gone off to steal somebody's car and disappear in a random direction. I wasn't a rebellious teenager -- just a selfish, self-pitying little... Brat."

Kailey barks out a laugh about Hot Topic. "You don't think that is where I got a lot of clothes when I had money? Trust me, I so understand. I was the little goth girl who coulf. I felt I had emo down to a science," Cue an eyeroll as she leans back in her seat, pulling Morganna away from grabbing the salt shaker again. "I think we can say that most teenagers are brats of one variety or another. I'm only 24 and a few years out and -know- I was one. Probably still am from time to time." If Everett was there he would probably make some sly comment in the affirmative. But he had to make a run for something. Was it fresh fries from the Smart & Final? She couldn't recall and it didn't matter. "How are you settling in to Gray Harbor? Aside from the crazy dreams and shenanigans and malarky."

"I'm thirty. Seventeen isn't that far back that I don't remember. Besides, I didn't really get out of my everyone is an idiot and I am the only person on the planet whose opinion matters phase until my mid-twenties." Ravn grins slightly and then shakes his head. "Hell, I could probably find people who'd argue I never got out of it."

He leans back a little. "I like it here. I never thought I'd settle anywhere for more than a few weeks to be honest, and now I'm spending the winter. There's something about this place... It's a hell hole but it's also a place where people actually care about each other. And where it's all right to be a little -- odd."

Kailey reaches up and taps her nose and points at the man across from her with a sly smile. "You got it. I mean...I did actually try and run away. But I came back. I couldn't stay away and couldn't run anymore. If you asked people who knew me would say I was always running from something. Trying not too now. It's...hard," She pauses and then nods firmly, as if that word is good enough to describe it. "I grew up knowing about the Darkness and abilities. Of course at eight years old I just assumed I was a Jedi and my mom kinda played along." She has the decency to look embarassed. He doesn't need to know she still thinks of her abilities a lot in those regards. "Do you think George Lucas is like us?" She asks out of the blue.

"I still think of picking up stuff that way as jedi-ing things so... it would make some kind of sense, I suppose. And the electricity thing that some people do? Definitely Palpatining." Ravn chuckles. "I didn't. Grow up knowing, I mean. I thought the things I can do was a friendly poltergeist or ghost moving things for me. If I wanted something badly enough, the ghost would pick it up and move it for me. I never met anyone else with experiences like these until I came here -- so you can imagine how my mind was blown in that dream when suddenly, people were flying and talking to animals, and whatnot."

"Yeah, I can see how that would have been a bit of a mind blower. Especially with whoever it was lifting me up and then me going all Emperor Palpatine, or trying too anyway. Leon makes a much better Palpatine," Kailey says before a suddenly sly look crosses her face. She may just have to greet him as Darth Sidios next time, just for the giggles. Shaking her head slightly she takes another sip of her coffee. "I can do more now than I could then. I didn't even know there were some folks who could heal others until I got here. I've tried seeing if I can pull it off, but no go. My talents lie in playing a washed out replica of Jean Grey. I can't even read minds. So not fair," She's obviously joking from the big smile she flashes him. "Hey, if you want we should trade numbers. Knowing people is very helpful and we're bound to bump into each other Over There again sooner or later." And she reaches into a pocket to pull out her phone. Carefully thumbing through menus while trying to keep the phone away from a very interested baby. "What's your number? I'll text you."

"Sure thing." Ravn in turn pulls out his phone -- an older Samsung nestled in a hideously bright, pink casing with a Hello Kitty stencil. He reads out his number -- which, unsurprisingly, comes with the international +45 code for Denmark, revealing that he can't be worrying about roaming charges a lot since he never got around to picking up a plan with a US provider.

"I'm not very good at any of all of this," Ravn murmurs in the context of being powerful or otherwise. "I swipe small things, that's pretty much it. But it's enough, apparently, for Gray Harbor to take an interest in me. I'm starting to suspect on some level that what they want from me isn't so much the few scraps of power I have but what's in my head. They like making you hurt. It's a bit like a cruel toddler -- they see a wound, they reach for the salt."

Kailey types it in with a curious glance up as the number keeps on going. But her phone accepts it and soon enough Ravn has a text. Or rather a picture of a calico kitten with a messy face and biiiiiig bright mismatched eyes. 'Tada!' Read the text with it. "Yeah...for the most part that seems to be the case. There's a few weird instances I've had that don't seem hostile. They're just...weird. Like the one where everything was...very ephemeral. The only noises we could make were instruments and we didn't need our abilities to make things appear out of thing air. But on the whole? They've been pretty shitty. Still, it allows me to take a shower while still keeping this goober entertained," And she leans in to plant a big kiss on the babies face. Morganna squeels happily and flails her arms. "You gotta take the good with the bad I guess. PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER! Crappy murdery living place," She says, raising her voice to mimic Genie from Alladin. Somewhat.

Ravn watches the baby snuggling with the unaware mild overbearingness of someone who isn't a parent and has no experience with children. He doesn't dislike them -- it's more like watching an alien life form do whatever alien life forms do, which is fine as long as they don't do it on him. Then the text arrives and he grins lightly because he is a cat person. Very much so, at that. "Hate what the them do to us. Don't hate how the constant threat makes everyone actually care what happens to everyone else. In most of the world outside, Kailey, no one does. Everyone's got enough in their own little problems. You look out for yourself, your family, your friends, and the rest? Not your headache. Gray Harbor is -- a community."

Kailey gives the baby a bit of a hug and then releases her back to playing with her toy. Which she promptly drops and is fetched. "Yeah. The world is a cruel place, don't have to tell me twice. My mom took us on the run. From the time I can remember till I was ten it was just her and I...occasionally she'd pick up a guy and we'd hang in a place for a couple months. But we'd eventually be taking off again. Then she died and I went into foster care. You don't get much more 'look out for yourself' than there. I'm trying to be better. Different. I did find out my mom was from here. Which was weird. But I'm not PI and haven't really -wanted- to dig into it. If she ran away she probably had a good reason, right?" Oh look, coffee is empty. She hops up to grab the pot and refill them both.

The Dane certainly does not object to a refill; that man likes his coffee, and more so when it's actually coffee -- not diabetes in a paper cup which is what most places in this crazy country seems to serve up when you ask for coffee. "Trying to be better is a good start, to be honest. I don't know what I'd do if I was in your situation -- if I had a child, I mean. My mother was a raging narcissist and my father was largely absent. The only thing I know is that I wouldn't want to follow their example in parenting. I was a self-pitying wreck of a teenager, constantly acting out for attention or trying to turn myself invisible, and I wouldn't want to inflict any of that on a kid."

Kailey makes a sympathetic grimace around her sip of coffee. "Ouch. Yeah, no idea who my dad is at all really. Even my mom kept changing his name when I'd ask," There is an eyeroll there. Very reminiscent of the teenage goth Kailey. Again she adds a bit more sugar than is probably good for her and a bit of cream to her coffee. Mixing it with a spoon before sipping it. "But I'd say we are each doing better. You don't strike me as the narcissist type. Needing a wardrobe rework maybe, but not a narcisisum," She plays with the words, blending narcissist and nastertium poorly. Who knows what she was trying to say. "Anyway," Maybe she doesn't even know, "Have you ever had jalapeno poppers?" And here is where Kailey doesn't bother signaling a conversation change.

Ravn peers down at himself myopically. "What's wrong with my wardrobe? That's the one thing all of Gray Harbor seems to agree on, I dress wrong."

Then he chuckles and shakes his head. "Naw, the children of narcissists don't become narcissists. We turn ourselves invisible and stay out of trouble instead, that's what we're programmed for. Used to be my solution to everything -- don't get involved, don't get attached, just keep moving. But that's not how Gray Harbor works, and I am finding I like that it isn't. But I do think I'd make a terrible parent, for that reason -- probably do what my father did and just not get involved."

The sudden change of subject does prompt a blink. "Oh -- no, I don't think I have? I'm a mild mannered Scandinavian, I get heartburn at the word jalapeno."

Kailey gives a little laugh at that and gets up. "I have two things I am going to go fetch. Don't disappear on me before I get back with them?" She says with a teasing grin. There's almost a moment where it seems like she might pass the baby off to the poor Dane. But she doesn't and instead heads into the back. Her voice can sort of be heard above the chatter of the place talking to Ian. Then there is the sound of someone heading up steps and walking around upstairs. Not nearly the super-thuds of the owner, but there's some thuds as of someone looking for something. It is about two or three minutes later that she comes back down with a big smile and a purple, blue, and burgundy tie-dye something over one arm. When she gets to the table she holds it out and says, "Here. It turned out to be too small for Everett and...he gave me a look when I asked him to try it on. So no more tie-dye for -him- buuuuuut...I think you'd look good in those colors." They are dark and muted while still being colorful. And it turns out to be a long-sleeved hoody with a starburst pattern in red and blue on the chest that of course have some purple blending.

Ravn waits obediently (hey, there's coffee) -- and then finds himself looking at an object that makes him question the wisdom of not bolting out the door when he had the chance. He cants his head to look at the hoodie and then looks at Kailey. "The colours are beautiful. But, do you think it'd fit me?" He is a tall man, at that. 6'3 and while slender, not scrawny in the slightest.

Kailey chuckles as she sinks back into her seat, putting the baby back in her lap. "It's a 2XLT. Apparently Everett, who is taller and more built than you, needs a 3XLT. If it doesn't fit you feel free to pass it on to someone else though?" She says with a shrug and a grin. "I just enjoy doing tie dye and find myself snagging plain white cotton shirts on sale when I see them." Yes, she has weird artistic hobbies. And tie dye is apparently included. Perhaps even becoming more prevalent now that she is stationary. "And as to what you wear it...is always the same thing. No real color or change. Turtle neck and jeans. But it -is- good for making you disappear I suppose."

Ravn folds the shirt up. "Well, if you're sure -- I mean, I'll pay for it if you like? This is a work of art, after all." He chuckles softly and explains, "Thing is, when you live in a backpack like I have for a long time -- it's really useful that everything matches. You don't know when you get to do laundry again, and running out of shirts or jeans would bite. It's so much easier to just keep it all black. Dip a hand into your bag, fish out whatever's clean, you're set."

"Huh...I lived out of my camper van. But I always liked having bright and colorful things. Keeps me from dropping into that depressive rage I'm prone too I guess," Kailey says as she mulls that over a moment. When he offers to pay she smiles and shakes her head, "It's a gift. But if you want to buy some art work, you can come by the house sometime. I'm supposed to be putting a few things up at the Gallery too." She sips her coffee and glances towards the kitchen as Ian comes out with a basket of jalapeno poppers. Batter fried and stuffed with a cream cheese something that takes a lot of the heat out. This stuff? Served with a melted cheese for dipping on top of it. "These are good, especially when it is a little nippy outside." And she takes a pipping hot one and then drops it. "OH! Hot. Not yet though." She laughs and sit back in her seat. "So any job plans or just seeing where life takes you?"

"The latter, pretty much." Ravn grimaces slightly. "You know those people who know what they want, and how to go about getting it? I'm not one of them. I just... I got my PhD and then I started out wandering, and I'm -- still wandering. I tell myself that I'll know it when I see it. But maybe that's just an excuse to keep roaming and meeting new people? When did you know what you wanted out of life, if that's not too personal a question?"

Kailey purses her lips and leans back in her seat. "Well...Mmm....It was a little funny for me. I've always love art and been good at it. But it was when I was getting treatment that I met someone who taught me and introduced me to some whole new ways of painting. Mainly with spray paints. And I knew I just wanted to do that. Buuuuut...it isn't easy to be an artist. But I also wasn't the type to settle down anyplace. As soon as I was 18 I wanted gone. I had a little bit of money saved up and more from the government. Bought my van and took off. Turned myself into a travelling artist, following the warm weather and tourists. Now? I dunno...still doing my art. I..." She looks down at her daughter with a fond smile and plays with her black curls. "I never planned to be a mom," She admits. "But I wouldn't give it up for anything."

"So you didn't know, but it just happened along the way and you're quite happy with how things worked out." Ravn smiles at that. "I suppose that's pretty much what I am hoping for? That some day I'll look around and think to myself -- oh, so this is what I was meant to be doing. Right then! On with doing it, I guess! I don't have an artistic bone in my body but -- wandering I get. And some day you stop wandering. Ending up here, working as a barback, definitely not what Ma Abildgaard would have had in mind for her son, but it works for me."

"What is your Ph.D in, Doctor?" Kailey asks with a flash of toothy smile. Now she picks up a popper and dips it int he cheese sauce, taking a careful bite of the still hot appetizer. "Mmmph," Steam billows out but she wiggles her head back and forth happily. "Mmm, hot but good. Anyway, yeah. I kinda fell into it. And hey, I got mad respect for bartenders. I know the shenanigans I've gotten up too a drunk evening or two."

The Dane laughs and shakes his head. "Not a doctor, not the way you use the term. Our PhD is one step short of that, slightly different system. Sort of, there but not quite there. Anyhow, history -- I specialise in early industrial era folklore. Which is absolutely one of those Humanities fields where your diploma comes with a manual on how to remember to ask if people want fries with that."

Kailey snorts in amusement as she takes the second bite of the popper. They really are only two bites, maybe three. She gestures to the basket encouragingly, though pushes it just out of Morganna's way as the baby reaches for it. "No no, sweety," She coos as she gently bounces her knee. The baby gives a little whine and makes a face. Then there is this bubbling, squirting, fart of a sound. Kailey's eyes go a little wide and she stares at the infant and tries to keep from making a face. "I...am afraid I have to go change this," She says with a chuckle. "Um, I may be a bit. Feel free to stay for more coffee and a few bites. If not I'll see you around, yeah? Maybe over for pizza?" There's a seconds pause, then a last little buggle of a fart from the infant. Luckily there isn't much of a smell.

Ravn's eyes widen slightly as another horror of parenting life dawns on him. He laughs and gestures at the stairs with one gloved hand. "You better get her out of here before any health inspector shows up and gives you a hard time! I'll be around, I promise -- for one thing, you serve coffee that's actually coffee. That's a very good first step to having me follow you home, let me assure you."

He gets up as Kailey does and lets himself be ushered off -- never a man to underestimate the imminent danger of a woman with a baby with a full diaper. That's chemical warfare, that is.