(Private) Two Nickels

[Star]

Cabling? Not a hard job. Mostly. The most complicated thing to learn is the color code of a 25-pair, and then it's just figuring out how to do the least amount of damage possible to run the suckers. Because, you know, every hole you make, you patch. Nobody wants a bunch of patches. Best part? Easy to find work. If you know how, and have your own hand tools, it's shooting fish in a barrel. Top techs hate it, and companies hate paying top tech wage for grunt work. Enter the contract cabler.

Just don't ask about the time he'd seen if using Celestial Fire was easier than a sheet rock saw.

Two attics, three brick walls, four offices, and a doghouse --don't ask-- later, he could file taxes for the year and put a down payment on a used motorcycle.

Three showers --because insulation-- later, he felt human. So human he tried whistling 'For the Love of Money'. Nope. Still couldn't whistle.

Screw whistling.

A deck of cards rolled through cuts in his off hand as he went looking around the Circle for Avis .

[Avis]

"Hey Cut, what's up?" a voice called from a nook in one of the cathedral's arcades. Avis had tucked herself behind a pillar, sitting one of the walls with her back against the marble. It was one of her favorite spots in the building. It held the grandiose yet tranquil feel that suffused the building but it also gave the feeling of seclusion that she sought out when things became difficult. Even though she'd been sitting on solid stone in the nook, she'd felt comfortable. Still, it would be nice to stand for a bit. She closed the book she'd been reading, a paperback with a library bar code sitting the title (Frankenstein), and rose to her feet.

"You looking for something?"

[Star]

Cut's head cocked and he looked at the book. A smiled peeked out. Coincidence? Naaaaaah.

"Hey! So, uh, yeah, I see you're reading 'Fear and Loathing at the North Pole'? Liking it? I think one of the other cool bits is Shelley wrote that when she was like, eighteen or nineteen or something. That's pretty amazing. I mean, seriously. Most girls that age think getting four figures worth of Likes on their twerking video they uploaded to YouTube is an accomplishment, right? Of course, maybe that's because people back then died in their twenties, but, hey, still. It's something. But, yeah, anyway, if you like that, I read that sort of stuff and know some others you might like. Brian Lumley is pretty badass."

Jay-zus. He was doing that babbling thing again. Why? Whyyyyy? His head ducked in embarrassment, and he ran a hand through his still-wet hair.

"Ummmm. Anyway. So, actually, yeah... I was looking. We, uh, we had this deal in my family, growing up, where when you got a new job you had to take someone out to dinner. So, ta-da. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. How about it? You in?"

He smiled and shrugged. Nervous hands dipped into his pockets. He'd noticed. Things. Her questions. Clothes. The way they'd both ordered at Moxie.

[Avis]

Avis glanced down at the book in her hand and then crossed her arms, tucking the book partially out sight when Cut continued to talk. And talk. And then offered her dinner.

"Um." Her eyes flicked away while she considered and then flicked back to his face. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, that uh, that'd be great. Any excuse to eat actual food...Err, I mean, not that I'm just saying yes for the food. I just. Uh. I don't have a lot of practice being gracious, ya know. Here. Let me try again." She stopped talking, pressed a fist against her mouth, and then cleared her throat before dropping the hand.

"Yes. Thank you, sir Cut, that sounds quite delightful," she said, suddenly using in a passable imitation of a Downton Abbey accent. She smiled cautiously and dropped the imitation. "I'm guessing you had a chicken place in mind?"

  Fake accent

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-08 20:47:10		Avis rolls 4 to fake ze accents (pres+sub) (10 Again)		5, 6, 2, 9		1 success

[Star]

"Think yew, m'lady."

It was awful. The accent sounded Renaissance Festival Drunk bad. That bad. He laughed, and shrugged. Maybe the laugh was at more than the terrible accent. Maybe her awkward bit helped him with his.

"Wow, OK, I promise I won't do that again. But, seriously? 'Winner Winner Chicken Dinner'! It's A Thing!"

Honestly? He was All Good if it was just for food. It was something.

"But, yeah, no, chicken if you want, but only if you want, totally your call. C'mon?"

A head bob to the side indicated she should follow.

  Failed Accent! Yay!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-08 21:05:20		Cut rolls 4 to accents squeeeee (PRE + Sub) (10 Again)		1, 1, 2, 1		failure

[Avis]

"Ok, but what does 'it's a thing' even mean?" Avis demanded, following after the other mage. Her arms stayed crossed and her eyes focused on where their feet would land rather than looking out ahead of them. After a second she forced her expression to soften, trying to focus on his bad attempt at an accent rather than him calling her out on not knowing the expression. He was just doing his 'Cut thing', randomly splurging information and trying to make light, he wasn't insinuating anything. And he was offering to buy her food, which was just a nice thing to do. Damn it, now she felt like an ass.

[Star]

"Ummm... a thing. A thing. Like the Macarena. Or yelling 'But Did You Die?!'..."

A Thing. Didn't she know what A Thing was?

He wasn't sure if she was being serious. An eye scrunched shut and he scratched at his brow, trying to Figure It Out.

"You know. One of those popular culture things that everyone knows and uses to drape themselves in conformity to propagate an illusion of solidarity."

whoops

"I, uh... think. Anyway. Taaa-daaa!"

He did the Vanna White to present the crappy CBR250 he'd bought. The fairing on side was heavily scratched; the other, torn off. Still, it ran.

"You'll, uh, have to, hmmm, here..." he stumbled through the words, eventually pointing to her book and a saddle bag.

"In here. OK. So... go a request? Or just pull over at the first place we see?"

[Avis]

"So it's like 'don't let go of the potato?'" she asked after Cut's explanation. Avis grinned a bit, trying to play along and let go of the urge to cover.

The grin disappeared and she stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the motorcycle. "Whoa. Um. You sure you don't want to take the bus? Save gas money?" she offered, clearly hesitant about the idea of riding on the back of a motorcycle. "And if you're grabbing the bill, the privilege of choice is yours. Anyplace is fine, trust me."

She stubbornly held onto the book. She'd surrender it only if the motorcycle was the only option.

[Star]

Don't. Potato. What?!

He stopped when she stopped. Stared a little.

"I... don't even know what that means. At all," he admitted, and laughed. "The, uh, potato thing. Uh, so I guess we're even?"

Sure, he could have gone along, like he knew. But.

"Ummmm. OK. We can do the bus. If you want. But, this is kind of fun. I swear. It's like flying. You just... hang on? I'll go slow. Super slow. But if it's a dealbreaker? Then the bus it is. No bigs."

Walp. He'd been riding the bus since he got to Sac-town. One more trip wouldn't kill him.

[Avis]

"It means 'don't give up'. Ya know, 'be tenacious'. My dad used to say it all the time," Avis explained, looking away from the motorcycle.

Damn it. Why did she have to pick that expression? Well, that was the only obscure one that she knew, but still. Now she couldn't back down. She had to accept the motorcycle ride. Both to honor her father and to honor her Order, now that she was thinking about it. So the motorcycle scared her, so she would be in distress? So what? That was life. That was conflict, and no Arrow ran from conflict. If she could survive getting staked, she could sure as hell survive a goddamn ride to a free dinner.

"Naw, that's ok. I just--nevermind," she said finally, handing the book over. "I just hug you from behind, right?"