ArchivedLogs:Press-ganging

Press-ganging
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Jax, Rasa	2014-06-10 '
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Courtyard - Lower East Side
This courtyard is the lush central hub of the surrounding Harbor Commons, bound in on three sides by rows of duplexes and triplexes, cutting upward at the sky with the sharp thrift of a minimalist's style, neat lines and bountiful windows, boldened with accents in wood towards the upper stories, stone towards the base, the whole of the compound sealed in by a low stoneworked wall that opens entrance gates to the streets beyond at its two far corners, smaller gates at building back doors. The fourth side of the courtyard is open to the East River, the ground forming a slight decline, controlled on one side by micro-retaining walls to form wide steps where picnic tables sit beneath the nominative shelter of a trio of dogwood trees, accessible by ramp. The other side is allowed to slope at its natural angle, a wide open yard space, until its cut off at the river's edge, where a massive pair of oak trees stand, a staircase leading away up one of their thick trunks. The yard itself is carpeted in an organic flow of emerald grass swirled through with wending channels of smooth-paved cement walkways, flowing naturally away from the building's front entrances, where some are arced by trellis, some flanked by hosta plants, fern and lilies, a few laid in gentle switch-backing ramps for wheelchair access, before forking off at matching angles to sites of small garden installments. Bird feeders and baths suspended from the necks of small lamp posts, a rock-lined koi pond, a sleek gazebo tucked to one side in simplistic varnished wood, its southern side overgrown with a mass of thriving grapevine and a caged-in barbecue pit under its sheltering roof. A play area and proper garden are within sight off another branch, until finally all paths spiral in like wheel spokes to a shared common house at the center of all traffic flow. The courtyard of the Commons is still bustling, today; though the /bulk/ of the construction is finished there's still work going on in the workshop and some other project up in the pair of oak trees by the river. There's also quite a bit of back-and-forth at the moment around the common house, things being trucked in from -- a lot of places, really. Right now Jax is taking a short break from working on his /own/ house to cart a large and evidently heavy box towards the sunroom. Dressed in paint-splattered jeans, purple Doc Martens, a yellow ribbed tank that displays quite a bit of fresh ink, his teeth are gritted against where the box presses into (freshly-inked!) chest and his arms strain against the edges of the box. Dusk is dressed much as he often is -- which is to say, not /very/. Camo cargo shorts and no shirt though he has on a pair of sturdy tan-suede Timberland boots and his wings folded in snug against his back. His short scruff of beard contrasts quite heavily at the moment with the excessive pallor of his skin, as does the pair of dark glasses on his eyes. He's just /leaving/ the kitchen by way of the sunroom as Jax approaches, and stops to hold the door open for the other man with a foot, reaching for the box with a questioning lift of brows -- need a hand? Rasa comes through one of the gates, peeking around the path, clothed as ze ever is when in the city alone, in full burqa. The material is a little bit lighter weight than normal, an attempt to allow some breeze under the single layer of cloak, in a shade of sky blue, eyelet lace decorating all of the hems. Ze steps quickly, sandaled feet peeking out under the skirt and leggings as ze moves, spying Jax and moving to catch up with him. Ze sees Dusk as well as the two men meet up, then slows hir pace to a walk as gloved hands reach up to start peeling off the material from hir head. Ze waves the headdress. "Hey Jax, Dusk." "Nah m'only going to the kitchen there's like a billion --" Jax's head tips over towards where a large industrial-sized dolly has been wheeled close by from the pair of trucks parked out front. It's currently empty of its last box. "You could grab another load there's -- a million kitchen things, all the dining furniture. I think there's another load of furniture coming in in an hour or so. -- Hey!" His smile to Rasa is still a little teeth-gritted before he continues on inside, returning shortly once he's deposited the box on a kitchen island. "B and Dai and Shane are all at work but." "But we're press-ganging people into manual labor," Dusk finishes for him, with a small thin flicker of smile that fades soon. His wings press in tighter as he heads back out into the grey day, resting a hand on the handle of the truck. "I like that colour. Looks summery." "Thanks," Rasa replies as ze continues taking off the large blustery outfit. Now that ze is somewhere safe, the layers are less important and the light color of the material is counter productive to manual labor. "I'm excited about the summer. The winter was so dang long and hard this year." Ze inhales deeply and starts folding the burqa as ze removes it. Underneath, ze is wearing dark gloves that end at hir wrists. Hir torso is covered in a lemon and lime swirled tee shirt that hangs down to about mid-thigh, with vivid cobalt leggings underneath. Hir skin is a creamy raspberry sherbet color, a few scarce thoughts evaporating from hir face as ze focuses on the other. "It's okay, the press-ganging. I wouldn't really have as much fun if I knew other people were working, you know? I'd probably pitch in at Evolve, too, if I went over there." Ze leaves the outer garments on a bench and tightens the straps on hir athletic sandals before jogging over to where Jax indicated for the next load. "Yeah, and we --" Jax rubs his fingers absently against his temple; for a /moment/ there there's a neat circular scar in the middle of his forehead before it vanishes away into smooth unblemished skin. "-- had kind of a rough fall before that, too. You doing anything exciting fo the summer? -- I think Shane can always use extra hands around Evolve he's. A little short-staffed I don't think he knew exactly what to /expect/ by way of demand at first. Hiring, though." He's wandering back out of the sunroom, rolling one shoulder in a faintly wincing stretch before he follows after the others. "Rough fall and winter felt a fuckton colder from in prison." The tip of one of Dusk's wings brushes down in a reflexive scratch beneath the strap of the boxy monitor attached to his ankle just above the boot. He starts wheeling the dolly back towards the trucks outside the yard at the curb, setting it down so he can clamber up into the back of a truck and start passing boxes down to Rasa to set /back/ on the cart. "We can pay you in pizza and be --" For a moment he frowns between Rasa and Jax. "... am I allowed to give people beer? Shit." "I'll ask him, but I'll probably be a short term or sporadic employee. I've only got a couple of weeks before classes start up again and making it back out to Westchester every night before curfew may cut into usable hours. Hmm. I wonder if ... If I had a license and a car it wouldn't be a problem." Rasa pauses as ze considers this a little more. Ze turns hir attention back on Dusk as he hands hir the first box. Ze grows a little to meet him, hir arms and shoulders unconsciously flexing and strengthening to make the task simpler. "Only way to get a car is to earn money to buy one, eh? If you're concerned, I can not drink alcohol anywhere around you. Really don't want to give you any new problems." "Would be a problem," Jax says with a grimace, "New York City has stupid-obnoxious restrictions on under-18 drivers. I forget all the rules, you can ask Dai? He just got his license recently. Under normal circumstances junior drivers aren't allowed to drive in the city at /all/. They actually recommend not even bothering with getting your license till eighteen if you're living in the city. But um if you take some special course and -- I don't remember. Then they'll let you have an adult license at seventeen." His grimace remains once he moves over to the truck to help take a box, too. "But if you do get a permit I'll gladly help with the, uh, learning part. Out in Westchester." His lips quirk up into a crooked smile at Dusk's question. "Legally? Heck no. But if you're asking me as a teacher --" He shrugs a shoulder. "It's break. We're not at school and not on /my/ watch so." "... I still don't have a license," Dusk admits with a sheepish duck of his head. He hefts one of the boxes testingly, considering the two outside the truck before handing the first one to Rasa. A second, somewhat lighter box is handed down to Jax after. "Yeah, I didn't want to get you in trouble or anything. How do the pups deal with jobs and curfew?" Rasa stacks the box on the dolly before returning for more. "Huh. Hmm. Maybe I could take public transit out of the city and grab a car from there. Or just suck it up and take public transportation the entire time. Prices might... make that counter productive." Ze considers quietly and thoughtfully. Then a smile tugging at one corner of hir mouth as they speak on underage drinking. "Licenses are less important when you live in the city. It's us awkward suburbanites that have the difficulties without. I will check out the driver's course and ask Dai see how difficult it is." "Pups take the trains. You can actually get a discount as a high school student? Because so many students in the city /have/ to take transit just to get to school. Anyway um I think it's actually pretty cheap if you just get monthly passes as a student but -- then there's the train schedule to worry about and um." Jax blushes, turning to set his box in front of Rasa's. "It's not actually that bad at least I managed okay with city-jobs and teaching and no car but. /Definitely/ made life a million times easier when Micah started driving me. Now that we're here though I'm going to be back with the train. Been thinking forever about getting /me/ a car but, uh. You know. Prices." His flush deepens. "'course, there's probably places /in/ Salem that are hiring too if you wanted to save up. Carwise. But that's -- maybe not quite as fun." "Could do what I do and work from your computer where nobody can tell," Dusk's face is paling just a touch further, his arms flexing in briefly noticeable strain against the next (quite heavy) box that he hands down to Rasa, "that you're a huge-ass fucking freak. Then it's the best of both worlds because you can work from anywhere. Come downtown, steal Evolve's wifi, /and/ not have to worry about schedules for when you have curfew." "Well, I'd have to probably be better at computer science than I am right now. I might be able to limp along with information, but I'm no B." Rasa does consider though, hir body compensating once more for the larger, heavier box, hir shirt growing a little tight. "But... I don't know. Cars are nice, but I could also just focus on my studies. I tend to take a full course load - and what with Ivan being back in the states," ze exhales a little, hir skin shifting a little pinker. Ze refocuses on Dusk when ze comes back to the truck. "But it's good to know I have options now." Ze glances over at Jax. "I'd offer to commute with you, but it'd probably only be in the afternoons." "I'm kind of in awe of how y'all manage it," Jax admits with a small shake of his head, "I couldn't /never/ do a full courseload more'n one term in a row I'd jus' go crazy an' burn out." His brow furrows for a moment, head shaking again at Rasa's offer. "I don't got a full teachin' load. I'm done with all my classes by lunch all the time an' that's usually when I head out. Though admittedly that was when /I/ was in a rush t'get to college an' I ain't no more -- but I'll still probably have work in the afternoons at the studio. Where's --" His own cheeks pinken, slowly. "What's Ivan gonna be doin' here?" "Not many people are B that kid is fucking nuts I think there's something wrong in his brain. There's non-techie work to do online though." Dusk passes a box down to Jax again before wiping at his forehead with one wing and heading deeper into the truck to claim another fo Rasa. "Are you on crack, dude? You had three jobs with a full /college/ load and you're telling me you couldn't hack /high/ school? Not that I've, uh, had much of any experience with either, both of you are /crazy/-academics compared to this high-school dropout." Rasa nods in agreement with Dusk. "I don't know about crazy academic... but, you might be used to college level classes, Jax. I... agree it's not a walk in the park, but I also have a lot of practice sitting and reading. And I don't leave campus all that often. It's manageable." Ze gives a weak smile to the pair when ze admits hir nerdiness. Ze takes the next box and shuffles it over to the dolly, setting it down with a sigh. "Um, Ivan's family left Russia because it got too rough there. Not exactly sure what he's doing here yet. His brothers are maybe driving cabs." "Naw. College I managed easier. No math to do." Jax's brow furrows as he takes the new box to load up the dolly, something briefly puzzled crossing his expression that he doesn't give voice to. Dusk grabs one last box and hops down off the back of the truck, putting the box atop the stack. /His/ puzzled expression actually comes with words: "-- How the fuck did he wrangle visas for his entire huge-ass family? Hive's got a Master's in engineering from an Ivy League school and /he/ hasn't been able to get his yet. Cab drivers aren't exactly in high demand." His muscles strain again as he tips the dolly up onto its back wheels, cheeks puffing out as he starts back towards the courtyard. "Well, you know, I am not fully sure that it is legal, for one, and two, his dad is in the tourist businesss and something about a distant relative. I didn't really ask as they seem somewhat upset about the whole thing." Rasa frowns and follows after the dolly. "No offense to Hive." Ze looks to the heavens and the impending rain and jogs over to hir burqa. "This might be a good time for a break - we're about to get drenched." Rasa then bolts inside.