Pools, Pups and a Piece of cake (Open Post)

[brooklynishere]

Who: Spot & YOU
What: Spot's going about his day(s), he should be interrupted
When: 31st July-2nd August
Warnings: None currently, possible warnings for mentions of child abuse if Spot's past comes up
Where: Eglaf Government Housing, Happy Tails Animal Shelter, Soul Full Cup



Friday - Poolside, Eglaf Government Housing

When the weather was hot and the work was done, there was nothing better than a swim in the East River with his boys.
The weather here was always hot, and he didn't have that much work to do, and his boys weren't here...
But there was a pool, and maybe if he dived underwater for a bit and kept his eyes closed against the sting of the chlorine he could pretend, for a few seconds at a time, that he was swimming in the river at home.

Every time he surfaced was a rapid and unpleasant reminder that he was not, however, so eventually he dragged himself up onto the side and sat, legs dangling in the water, and tried to remind himself of the million and one reasons that, actually, being here wasn't so bad... only of course, the more he thought about that, the guiltier he felt for liking it here, when he should be doing everything he could to get back home - even though everything he could do was just about nothing.

All in all, it was a frustrating way to spend an afternoon, and he dropped back against the ground with a groan of irritation.

Saturday - Happy Tails Animal Shelter

It might as a surprise to anybody who'd actually met Spot, but he was actually starting to really enjoy his job. It wasn't something he ever would have considered doing back home (wasn't sure it was even an option back home), but he found animals easier to work with than people and there was a certain satisfaction to be had in seeing the behavioural improvements in the dogs he was working with.

It was about halfway through his shift at the shelter but all finished with a training session, so he was taking a break to play fetch with one of the dogs - a golden retriever he'd become kind of attached to. The pup was dumb as a box of rocks, but he was always so happy to see Spot and, well, he kind of liked that.

Sunday - Soul Full Cup

The one advantage to knowing absolutely nobody here was that he had no reputation to uphold, no image to maintain, no expectations to live up to, and that was kind of freeing.
Of course he was still Spot, so it didn't exactly come all that easily to him to just abandon all those parts of himself that made up the facade, and he was still going to be guarded and probably angry and worry about what people thought of him regardless of how much he told himself it didn't have to matter here, because he didn't know how long he was going to be here and there was a certain amount of protection that came with the image he'd cultivated over all those years.

Which is a very complicated way of saying he was still going to order a plain black coffee (and sneak a lot of sugar into it), but he was also going to order a slice of cake. People probably shouldn't put that much thought into a coffee order, yet here he was.

He took his purchase to a table in the corner and glanced around to make sure nobody was watching him before emptying four packets of sugar into his coffee.

Comments

friday;

[frigidaire]

While Isaac doesn't mind having a job, being a glorified pool boy isn't exactly his idea of fun. Maintaining it is easy enough, and hanging out on the occasional guard duty is fine, but it gets boring fast.

He happens to notice a guy climb out and sit by the poolside, aware of him in his periphery as he checks the chlorine levels of the pool, when he sees him flop back suddenly. "Uh, hey. You okay?" He pushes himself up and walks over to the guy, standing a few feet back. He does not have the first aid training if this guy's somehow let the water or sun get to him.

Re: friday;

[brooklynishere]

Spot was barely aware of anybody else being around, so when he hears the voice his head whips round in surprise and there's a momentary flash of embarrassment on his face for getting caught being kind of dramatic.

He sits up again, schooling his expression into something more neutral, and nods.

"Yea, I'm fine." he returns, lifting a hand to shade his eyes from the sun as he looks up at the guy. He doesn't offer any further explanation as to why he was flopping dramatically to the ground like some 19th century heroine (he is technically 19th century himself, though he's not sure that helps).

[frigidaire]

"Cool. Kinda my job to make sure people don't die at the pool."

That brain to mouth filter certainly isn't working today, is it? But it rarely does. He moves to sit down at the edge of the pool himself, letting his feet drop into the water. He's due for a break, anyway.

"I'm Isaac. New here, or whatever."

[brooklynishere]

Spot just snorts in amusement at the comment, dropping his hand when Isaac sits and leaning back on his hands. Making new friends wasn't exactly his strong suit but he was kind of lonely here (not that he'd admit it out loud) so he was willing to give it a try.

"Nice to meet you Isaac." He nods a greeting, leaning back on his hands. "I'm Spot. Not been here all that long myself."

It's kind of strange knowing that his name means nothing here, that his reputation, for once, does not precede him.

[frigidaire]

"Yeah? Guess you live here, huh?"

He gestures at the apartment building across the way. "Still trying to get used to it here. Feels a little like a weird dream or something. What about you?" He kicks his feet in the water, letting it swirl around his legs. It's nice, considering how hot it is outside.

[brooklynishere]

"Yea," Spot nods, gesturing vaguely up towards the apartment he's staying in. It doesn't really feel like his, yet.

The comment about it feeling like a dream earns another amused snort and a nod.

"I know what you mean," he agrees "It different to where you're from?" He's sort of avoiding the question, he knows, but he's never been one to really share his own feelings if he can help it - besides, he's kind of curious about the places other people came from.

[frigidaire]

"Nah. I mean we don't have portals like that or whatever, but we have werewolves and like, other stuff. It kind of reminds me of home."

The more Isaac thinks about all the supernatural activity in Beacon Hills, the more absurd it seems. Especially considering he's part of it. "So I guess it's just weird in a different way. What about you?"

[brooklynishere]

Spot couldn't help but be just a little bit jealous - not of the werewolves and all that stuff (even if it was... kind of cool), but of the fact that this place reminded Isaac of home, that he wouldn't feel like such a fish out of water if everything was a little more familiar - plus, if this was the Isaac that had been mentioned in all that anonymous stuff, he probably had other people from home here as well, and Spot's kind of jealous of that part too.

"It's... a lot different." Spot admits, and for a moment it seems like he might just leave it at that but then he continues "ain't none a' that weird stuff where I'm from, this is all new." he lifts a hand and lets a tiny flame spring up in his palm to demonstrate the powers the portal has left him with. He holds it there for a second before snuffing it out and dropping his hand back down.

"That and the hundred or so year time difference... takes some gettin' used to."

[frigidaire]

Isaac's eyes go wide. "A hundred years"

Okay, he's met some really ancient supernatural beings, but that doesn't really count in this case. This guy doesn't exactly look old, so wrapping his head around that almost makes it hurt. The whole fire thing doesn't make him flinch so much as the timeline. He really should check his priorities sometime.

"The fire thing's cool and all but like, when were you born then? Like a hundred years from now?"

[brooklynishere]

For some reason, Isaac being so startled kind of makes him feel better - most everybody he's interacted with enough to talk about where he's from had seen more than enough people come through the portals that nothing seemed to really surprise them, they'd all been very reassuring and calm about everything but it had left Spot feeling like he was kind of over-reacting, even though he was pretty sure he definitely was not. Isaac being so surprised makes him feel like it is as big as he thinks it is.

He snorts, though, at the question.

"Try the other direction. I was born in 1883." it was a little more than a hundred years, he knew, but it was quicker to say a hundred than to give the exact number.

[frigidaire]

"Dude, 1883?"

Isaac leans back a little, shocked. "I guess this place is way weirder for you." He isn't exactly great with history, but he's pretty sure they didn't have technology anything near what this place has. And while Isaac has definitely met some old supernatural creatures, nothing really holds a candle to that.

[brooklynishere]

"Yea," Spot nods, because really that's all there is to it - this place is a lot to deal with, mostly because of the extreme advances in technology, all those everyday things that would have been unimaginable luxury before he came here, all the fancy electronics, the internet.

"The powers and stuff is all weird enough, ain't never seen nothing like that outside of a book before, but honestly I coulda dealt with that a lot easier. The bein' in the future thing is... weird."

[frigidaire]

"I mean I dunno if I can answer a lot of questions but if you've got any, I can try."

He shrugs a shoulder, turning his face up toward the sun for a moment, enjoying the heat. "The powers thing, too. I mean I can't make fire, but where I'm from there's stuff like that everywhere."

[sanguinescry]

Lydia frequents Soul Full Cup because it's the only place in the city that she can order something different every day and it's always amazing. It's like these baristas are incapable of creating something mediocre and Lydia loves that about them. Most of them are young; her age, give or take a few years and she wonders if that's why.

The boy in front of her, probably not too far off her own age, either, orders a coffee black and Lydia winces behind him. Why do men do that to themselves? She's never seen a woman order that disgusting crap and she'll never understand it. A shot of espresso plain, okay. Americano, fine. But coffee? No. Just no.

When he moves aside, Lydia glances over at him as she waits for the barista to come back to the register to take her order. He looks familiar and it takes her a second before recognizing him as the kid who outed himself on the anon meme earlier. The barista comes back as he's trying to furtively snag packets of sugar and Lydia smiles a little to herself. Then, she orders herself a caramel macchiato and something called a Gimme S'more Latte, both smalls. And, once she actually receives her drinks, Lydia makes her way back to that table in the corner where he's sitting alone emptying the last of the sneaked packets of sugar into his coffee.

Lydia drops into the seat opposite him, uninvited, and slides the s'more latte across the table to him. "Try this," she offers. "It's supposed to taste like chocolate and marshmallow." Lydia takes a careful sip of her own drink and then smiles. "I'm Lydia, by the way. Also displaced."

[brooklynishere]

Spot looks up in surprise when a young woman sits down opposite him and slides a drink over, a confused frown crossing his face as he tries to figure out who she is and why she's talking to him - and offering him a drink, no less. The introduction makes a little more sense, he recognises the name from the anonymous thing, and if she's displaced as well maybe she just wants to meet others... though of course that brings up the questions of how exactly she knows he's also displaced, and the obvious option is also the anonymous thing, and he isn't sure he wants to be recognised from that.

"Spot." he introduces himself, eyeing up the latte for a moment to give himself time to fully assess the situation. He reaches out almost suspiciously and takes a sip.

It's delicious.

He takes a longer sip and tries not to look as though he's enjoying it as much as he is.

"So... what's this for?" he's really not used to people giving him something for nothing.

[sanguinescry]

Well, that's an unfortunate name, but all right, Lydia finds herself thinking. She's certainly not going to say that, but it would be a lie for her to pretend she isn't thinking it. Hopefully, he can't read minds.

"Nice to meet you," she replies and she smiles a little, shrugging. "You were standing in line in front of me ordering that disgusting thing, so I figured I'd teach you the joy that can be decent-tasting caffeination," Lydia says with a smirk. "Pretty good, right?"

[brooklynishere]

"...We don't really got anything like this where I come from." he admits, which is probably the closest he's going to get to admitting it's the best damn coffee he's ever tested and he wishes they did have anything like it back home.

"So that's it?" he asks, and yes okay he still seems a little suspicious "You just thought I should buy a different drink so you bought it for me? Ain't often people go around buying people stuff for no reason... you sure you ain't after anything else?"

Exactly what she might want from him, he can't even begin to guess, but he's too cynical to accept her kindness at face value.

[sanguinescry]

Lifting an eyebrow as she takes a drink from her own coffee again, Lydia shakes her head. That's fair enough, she thinks; he's right. It isn't often that people buy random strangers things for no reason, but it does happen. She's been on the receiving end once or twice or someone in a drive-thru in front of her buying her order for her.

"Yeah, that's it. Nobody should have to drink that garbage when there's better options, sweetie. Besides, I wouldn't have had an excuse to come sit here if I didn't bring something to give you," Lydia replies casually. Which, really, also is not true. Lydia's not the kind of person who needs an explicit reason for anything. She does what she wants when she wants and she's not going to start second-guessing that now.

Then again, he'd said he was from nearly a hundred years ago when she'd read that thread on the meme and she figures that means it's probably a little harder for him to swallow the idea of a woman with that sort of confidence and independence. The coffee is sort of a buffer. "What would I want from you, anyway? I don't even know you."

[brooklynishere]

What could she want from him? He's Spot Conlon plenty of people wanted plenty of things from him... back home. Here he's just a punk kid who's only really special because he doesn't belong and can set things on fire without using a match, and since she's also displaced even that isn't really all that special... so sure, he can't think of anything she might want. It doesn't totally soothe his suspicions, however.

"Why'd you need an excuse to sit here? You gotta have a reason for wanting to, right?" He points out. Sure, maybe she's just being friendly, but that's never going to be his first assumption - he's too used to being feared or antagonised. Denton was nice to them, sure, but he also believed in their cause, he had a reason.

[sanguinescry]

Lydia grins a little, giving him a knowing look. "Don't I need an excuse?" she asks. "I don't need a reason to want to. I do whatever I want all the time. I get the feeling, though, that if I just sat down with you and didn't have a reason, you'd have been upset. Am I wrong?" she asks. When she asks, she sounds genuinely curious. Maybe she is; she'll apologize if she is.

Again, Lydia takes a long sip from her macchiato and settles more comfortably into the chair, crossing her legs under the table at the knee. "We need to stick together, sweetie. Not everyone likes that we're here. Not all of them are excited to meet us. Some of them would just as soon take our piece off the board completely." Her expression goes serious for a moment and then she gives a facial shrug again.

"Besides, we both got totally screwed by the stupid anonymous thing. It's bullshit that that glitch outed you and I get dragged every month. Why not bond over shared online trauma?" she asks wryly.

[brooklynishere]

Spot tilts his head thoughtfully, regarding her with an impassive expression while he considers her logic. Eventually, he nods. It makes sense, and she isn't wrong, so he'll accept her words - and the coffee, which he's already nearly half finished.

Besides, maybe she's right, he well knows the benefits of sticking together when there's an enemy who would rather not see you around, between most adults and the bulls and even people like Pulitzer, there were plenty of folk who'd rather they didn't have to see or deal with the newsies (yet somehow they'd still like their papers delivered).

And then she mentions him being outed and he looks away, immediately uncomfortable. He shrugs.

"Yea. It sucks." he agrees "And the people talkin' shit about is just cowards, they's only doin' it 'cos they know you don't know who they are. Back home, I got my little birds, and they tell me all sortsa things people like to say behind my back that they wouldn't dare say to my face. They soon learn to keep their mouths shut. Pity we can't do the same with these anonymous assholes."

[sanguinescry]

"Oh, I know, sweetie," Lydia says dismissively, waving a hand. "There's nothing they can say to bother me after some of the things I've been through before this place, anyway. I'm just saying."

She smiles a little at his tenacity, though, and she finds that she doesn't doubt for a second that he's the scrappy type. He looks the part.

Finishing off her coffee, Lydia sets the cup down on the table and pushes it slightly aside. "Are you really from a hundred years ago? You must be floored with culture shock..."

[brooklynishere]

He nods approvingly at her blasé attitude, he kind of enjoys the confidence she seems to have in spades, and she certainly gets extra points for not pulling any of that 'violence isn't the answer' crap - Spot has a lot of opinions on fighting and when it's appropriate, but in his world it definitely is the answer to an awful lot of questions.

"Yea, one minute I'm in New York, 1899, the next I'm here..." he shrugs "it's pretty big, sure, there's... there's a whole lot here I never woulda even dreamed of." And a whole lot he did dream of that people here take for granted.

[sanguinescry]

"Jesus, 1899, that's more than a hundred years, even," Lydia breathes, her nonchalance finally breaking in favor of surprise. That's insane. She can't even imagine trying to adjust to a modern world with that much time between here and home. The surprise falls away to make room for sympathy.

Shaking her head, Lydia leans back in her chair a little. "I can't even imagine," she breathes. "How are you doing with the adjustment?"

[brooklynishere]

Spot shrugs "It ain't easy, sure. They tried to teach me as much as they could so it would be easier, but it's a lot to take in. I got a bunch of schoolwork stuff to do over the summer to 'catch up'," he pulls a face at that. The idea of going to school is a weird one - it wasn't something he'd ever have had the opportunity to do, before, and he knows he should be glad of yet another thing he might have here that he didn't at home, but the idea of sitting in a classroom all day was distinctly unpalatable.

"Most of it's like... it's kinda like bein' rich, you know? There's a lotta things that're just...normal here that I woulda never even seen back home. Suddenly I got a room to myself and a proper bathtub and food in the cupboard. Ain't what I'm used to."