Crowley sucked in his lips and rocked backward slightly.
"Ever thought about bar work?"
Why not? His business was still establishing itself. If he could source an extra pair of hands, it could only help, right?
Crowley sucked in his lips and rocked backward slightly.
"Ever thought about bar work?"
Why not? His business was still establishing itself. If he could source an extra pair of hands, it could only help, right?
"I have given absalutly zero thought about working in a bar." is Mhairi immediate reaction. Then she flushes, because that seemed a tad too forceful, but it's the truth. She saw a help wanted sign in the motel office window and applied. She hadn't really given thought to anything else.
"But...I-err-guess it would be-erm better then what I'm-ah doing now..." anything would be better then what she's doing now. Then she wondered if the Forge or the Blue Note would hire her on. Neither was Autumn territory, but they were bars, and the 'Hold wasn't as fractured, splitting in to Seasonal factions, and petty rivalries like others she'd heard about. "But-ah why bar work?" she asks, "I-I mean why's that your-ah solution to my-ah maiding?"
"Well. You see..."
Crowley began and then stopped, stretching out "ee" in "see" and butchering the word. His mind seized up, his vision filled quite suddenly with the scene at the Museum. Star's righteous words pounded into him again. The Guardian had been right; Crowley hadn't seen things that were obviously there. He didn't know this woman. Hadn't he offloaded the hiring? He found himself second guessing himself. Suddenly he felt a chill in the air. His stomach melted away leaving a hole in his middle.
He beamed a brittle smile.
"See... Well. You have a face for it. Its quirky. Welcoming. Yes! Welcoming. You need to be a people person! You're not a people person, are you? Ah. Yeah. Well... Don't do waitressing. Dead end job. Thought about office admin? Yeah uh I know. Boring as. You don't want to tie yourself to The Man like a wageslave.... um... right?"
He looked away, out over the lake.
He forced himself to look back at the young woman.
"Don't you, you know, like, have any friends? Tap them. Always a good start."
Well that was lame.
The 'ee' lasts a while, but Mhairi doesn't mind. Sometimes words were like that in your mouth, your thoughts get jumbled, and your mouth responds before you can unscramble them. The brittle edges of the musician's smile were lost on the elemental. She saw a smile and accepted it as a simple beaming smile.
"Yep. T-totes not a-ah people person." Mhairi nods. "But I-ah wanna be." she'd be a pretty poor Twilit Page without people person skills. "No." she near growls. Never tying herself to anyone that could be The Man. The she blinks, and tries to distract away from the uncharacteristic growl from the one word. "Nope." she chirps, or tries to. "Nopeity, nope. No-uh The Man tying from this chick."
Friends? Huh. She had friends again didn't she...
"Yeah-uh, yeah friends. Here in town even. But it seems whenever we get to-uh-together it's uh all pizza and beer. No-uh talking-or well yes talking but no-ah serious talking happening." Then she blinks. "Wait. I'm sure you-ah didn't come out to this pretty-uh park to give a random girl you just-uh met career advice...so 'sup with you?" she asks with a crooked smile.
"Me?"
A note of panic perhaps crept into Crowley's voice.
"I wanted a break for a bit. You know... Working too hard. Partying too hard. Life too intense. Stuff like that."
"Ah..." Mhairi breathes, then she nods. "I-ah get that. Totally. Work is icky so I-ah wanted a break, and here's pretty." Mhairi pauses, wondering if she'd rhymed. Then she shook her head "Haven't uh-been partying in...well a while. And-uh yeah life." it wasn't much, but she nods, "I get that."
She might not even realize that anything was bothering the man, but it was clear that he wasn't wanting to talk much. That was fine. Hank was like that. Instead of filling the silence with a babbling brook of words, she arches her back from where she sits on the grass, reaching her arms over her head and flops down. Her legs still crossed but now her back resting on the ground. She could wash her top if it got dirty. Her eye sought the lazy clouds drifting in and out of focus of the baby blue backdrop.
"You-ah don't have-ta talk to me. If you don't wanna. I'm pretty sure getin' near-ah-near deafened by-ah fan wasn't in your break from reality plans today."
Mhairi continues to lazily watch the clouds before she calls out, her not-drippy (and isn't that weird?) finger pointing upward. "Isn't that-isn't that a-a pirate ship?"
Crowley looked up.
"Nah. Its... Its a... Its a pirate ship?" He squinted against the bright sky, lifted a shielding hand. His response was dubious at best.
"Thats a dragon... Cat?" he added lamely after a pause.
"Dragon..." he mused. Humming to himself he picked up his notepad and retreated back into the shade, wrapped in his sudden inspiration.
Mhairi wasn't sure if Saul would join in an impromptu cloud watching session, but when he tried to disagree with her sighting of a pirate ship and fail, she knew she was the cloud watching queen.
"Wouldn't a dragon cat be-ah a griffon? Or am I-ah thinking of the wrong thing....wouldn't an owl cat make a better griffon? 'Cause feathers and not scales...." Mhairi muses aloud, wondering if there were 'lings made created to imitate the animals mentioned, and if there were hedge creatures that could be considered griffons. Or hippogriffs. Or whatever-iffs. Probably.
Saul's voice comes softly, repeating 'dragon' once more, and Mhairi smiles when she hears the telltale sound of rustling paper, before Saul's larger then life presence retreats back to the shadier-shade of the trees. There. Now it wasn't awkward meeting between rocker that wanted a break from the world, and the fan who wanted the same, only to nearly deafened him. Just two folks, lazily resting in the shade. Or almost in Mhairi's case as she spots a weird giraffe.
Moving her hands to cushion her head, she settles for trying to find the dragon-cat thing that Saul spotted, before he'd grabbed up his notebook once more.
Crowley is drawn more and more into his inspiration. He's humming now, foot tapping to an imaginary beat.
Unless stopped, Crowley will completely slip into song writing mode. Did you wish to wrap this scene up Mhairi Ankaa @Saber_Sloth ?