ArchivedLogs:Things to Focus On

Things to Focus On
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Hanna	2013-12-27 '
Location <NYC> Village Lofts - Laundry Room - East Village
This laundry room looks as many laundry rooms do. Fluorescent lights a little too-bright, linoleum floor is chipping, lint-dusty and occasionally stained sticky with spilled detergent. A broom and dustpan in one corner encourage its users to contribute to its cleanliness, which they do with intermittent conscientiousness. A bank of quarter-fed washing machines along the wall have clear windows on their doors to watch the laundry spin and turn within. On the wall opposite, a matching row of dryers near-perpetually has at least one out of commission. A rickety folding table and chairs at one side provide a place to sit and wait. There's a dispenser on the wall that will provide single-use sized packets of detergent or fabric softener, but it is hit or miss whether it is ever in stock. It may be freezing outside but in here it is good and warm, the soft rumble of a pair of dryers providing comfortingly fresh-scented heat to the laundry room. Dusk is down here, sitting in a chair turned backwards to the table, empty laundry hamper beside him and his laptop open on the table in front of him. There is a terminal running and beside that a text file brightly colour-coded with lines of SQL. He's not, though, currently writing anything; despite it being well into lunchtime he looks half asleep. Eyes drooping nearly closed, wings draped limply downwards to spread against the floor, head pillowed against a palm and elbow propped on the table. He's only half dressed, as is nearly always the case at home; faded blue jeans but no shoes and no shirt. The weather outside is frightful, but Hanna isn't willing to let that cramp her style when she is inside. The baker woman bounces into the laundry room with a deep red cotton day dress that buttons up the front with tiny pearlized buttons in a cream color. Her shining black hair is pulled back into a series of interwoven braids that join into a single braid at the nape of her neck; for the first time in a while, her eyes are actually the golden coffee color that they once defaulted to. A full basket of laundry bounces on her hip as she sways in time to some music only she can hear, thanks in part to the bright white earbuds tucked into each ear, the cable vanishing into the pocket of her dress. The almost inaudible humming that she had been doing stops when she realizes Dusk is in the laundry room, apparently half asleep. Setting her basket of clothes down in front of an empty washer, Hanna pulls the earbuds out of her ears and frowns faintly at Dusk. "Y'allright there, Dusk? Or is what you're working on just that interesting, eh?" she questions with a gentle, but concerned smile. Dusk twitches upright with a start at the sound of another person entering. The crooked fangy smile he gives Hanna after this is a little sheepish, a dusting of pink tinting his too-pale cheeks and lending some colour to his otherwise kind of corpselike pallor. He blinks a little owlishly, squinting against the harsh fluorescent lighting over towards Hanna. "Hey, Hanna. I'm just -- not really a morning person." So OK maybe it's nearly 1 in the afternoon, but who's counting. He runs his fingers through his messy dark hair, blinking again and then rubbing a palm against his eye. "You look good. I mean, happy. I mean -- good. Good week?" Hanna smirks, one dark brow ticking upwards, "Morning person?" She chuckles, shaking her head, "No worries - late night? Or just general 'it's freaking cold, screw being awake' sentiment that comes around this time of year?" Hanna pulls the door to the washer, popping quarters in with a faint jingle, crinkling her nose, "I can get behind the latter - I still can't quite get used to the winter weather around here." In go the clothes and the laundry detergent, and she pats her pocket to make sure the iPod hasn't decided to go for an unexpected swim with the clothes. "Good week at the bakery, better than I expected with all that has gone on lately. Spoke to a lawyer about fighting Jayna's eviction," the bubbly woman frowns deeply for a moment, slamming the door shut on the washer a bit harder than necessary, "At least the legal way." Darkened eyes watch the water start to fill the washer, before she takes a deep breath and offers a cheery smile, her eyes back to coffee color, "Finally starting to feel a bit more like myself again, I think. Have something to focus on." Dusk's wings shift briefly behind his back. "I'm a bat." His smile is thin and quick with this answer. "Nearly always up all night. Get my best coding done then." He half-turns in his chair, shaking his wings out after they've dragged on the floor with this turn. "Oh, shit, you guys too?" His lips press together in a grimace. "To focus -- Wait, so, you're happy because of /eviction/?" His tone lightens, here, amused. "Fair enough. I don't like to make assumptions, but you have a point there," Hanna agrees with a smile at his response, shrugging and leaning back against the bank of washers. "Yeah, us too. Most specifically Jayna, since she rather stands out any other time during the year," Hanna grimaces at this, "Right now she just looks sad and pitiful. Bald, thin, and lethargic - a willow tree in winter time in New York." Hanna shakes her head quickly at his last question, eyes darkening and focusing on a worn spot on the table, "No. Royally pissed off about the eviction. Which from your response, I guess you're caught up in that, too? I'm glad to have something tangible I can fight and focus my general frustration at the way people are treating people I care about lately." She frowns, crossing her arms over her ample chest as she continues, "'Happy' is a poor choice of words - grimly, if a bit foolheartedly, intent on making hell for them one way or another, I suppose. But that just sounds threatening." Her tone and the snarl on her cherry red lips don't exactly make it sound anything other than threatening, though. "Yeah. Us too. I tend to stand out any time." Dusk's sharp-toothed smile is a little wry. "Apparently neighbors, not too fond of vampires. Or telepaths. Or -- shit," he says with a sharp huff of breath, "I don't know how anyone can have a fucking problem with /Flicker/ he's not made out of anything but polite and helpful." His fingers run through his hair again, wings shifting quicker and more restless. "Haven't actually found a lawyer. Not sure it's worth the bother. Kind of halfheartedly looked but we're not really a case anyone /wants/ to take on. -- You sound threatening. I think I ran out of fucks to give, though. Wouldn't really /want/ to live somewhere I'm not wanted." Hanna frowns again, "I don't think it is an issue with individuals, per se. If they knew anyone individually as anything other than a glance and a name on a check, they may think different. But obviously, new management doesn't exactly give a shit." A sigh, and a hand to her head, "Flicker, too? Kid is an absolute darling, how can anyone..." her voice trails off in a strangled sigh. "It seems like half the building got the notices, from what I'm hearing," she says, smacking her head against the washer with a 'thunk'. "Got the name from the lawyer who helped me get my business license set up," Hanna shrugs, "I can give you her contact info, if you're interested, but I can completely understand not wanting to fight to stay after this shit." A hand runs along her hair in frustration, and Hanna shakes her head, "Mm, I've finally got some fucks to give again. So we'll fight, and when we inevitably get tossed out, we've got a place to go, but we aren't going until they try and make us." "All of us. And pretty much Jax's whole apartment, and half of Ryan's -- well." Dusk frowns down at the floor. "Horus's been gone anyway. Mngh. Joshua and that -- really sweet girl on floor six with the --" His hand waves towards his arm. "Scales. I don't know, yeah, it's like half the building I think. There's not many places that will /take/ us so I think the ones that do tend to get swarmed." His cheeks puff out, and he blows out a sharp sigh. His mouth hooks up in a wryly amused smile. "I dunno, maybe if they knew Jayna and Jax and Flicker individually. If they knew Hive and Clarice individually I think we'd have gotten booted a long-ass time ago." There's a tone of jest to his words, if a kind of dark one. "You all have somewhere to go after this? Where's that?" His eyebrows raise, curious. "Some of us have actually been discussing, mmm. Getting together and /buying/ up some property. Can't get evicted from a place we own." Hanna shakes her head, "Not all, pardon. Half the basement at the bakery isn't used except for occasional storage - used to be two row houses, but only the one basement got turned into a proper part of the business. Had been planning to turn it into an proper apartment for a bit, and haven't had the chance. Zoning on the place allows for a small residental suite for the owner. Jayna and I would likely crash there until we found a better solution." She waves her hand, smirking at the jabs at the other residents, "Eh, if they were trying to toss people based on personality, I imagine a good portion of the non-mutant residents would be out, too. We have some true louses up on seven." A curious head tilt at the property purchasing, her tone inquisitive, "Oh? Can't say it is a bad plan, on paper. Any luck finding a place, or still just a pipe dream?" "Jesus, there's this asshole down my hall who complains about /every/ damn -- you know," Dusk's amusement grows here, "it's not the freaks and it's not like we're having loud parties or anything she just sits and waits and /peers out/ every time she hears footsteps and then she comes and complains when I bring people home like. The gorramn /morality/ police. Doesn't care about the wings or the teeth just. Oh, god, /sex/ might be happening. Wouldn't have minded if /she/ got evicted." He shrugs, a wing rather than a shoulder hitching quickly upwards. "Still looking. Have a few properties we're checking out, though. We've had all of a week to look, buying property isn't exactly -- something you want to just jump into. But given everything that's happened lately prices are probably as good as they're ever going to get and there's sadly a looot of places gone abandoned and getting foreclosed on and --" He shrugs again. "Mostly looking at kind of shitty places, to be honest. But between Hive's skills and his contacts, we can fix them up into whatever we like for pretty damn cheap, all things considered. Looking at a few blocks of houses that might be good -- we're probably going to start some kind of. Co-op. Cohousing. Our own little mutant-friendly /neighborhood/. Or, okay, more like a block but you take what you can get, yeah?" "Oh, good god, /that/ woman? She tried to get Jayna and I in trouble once for walking through the lobby holding hands. Screeching like a banshee at two grown-ass women holding hands. You'd think we were," Hanna laughs, shaking her head and grinning ruefully, "Anyway. I can't say there are aspects of this place I'll particularly miss. But all-in-all, the sense of community has been rather awesome. /That/ we will miss." She sighs and glances around, a look of regret on her features. "That sounds like an interesting prospect. Curious to see what might come of it," Hanna says thoughtfully, nodding. "Yeah. Her. Jesus. She got all flustered at Horus one time because he was preening Hive up on the roof and she wasn't sure whether or not that /might/ be like a sex thing. Like oh god to thump the Bible or not to thump it." Dusk's grin is wide and laced with laughter, knuckles rubbing at his eyes when his dryers buzz. "Oh, sweet, that's me." He gets up to start dumping his dry clothes back into their hamper. "Yeah. Community is kind of -- I guess the real point behind this thing we're trying. I mean a roof over people's heads is good and all but with all the shit going on all the time I think everyone -- needs people who have their backs, you know? Um -- it might take a bit to get off the ground, there's /finding/ places and figuring out finances and figuring out renovations and -- but if you and Jayna might be interested," he says with a quick warm smile, "I can put you on the -- well it's just a mailing list right now. Probably start having more organized meetings about it soon, though." Hanna jumps slightly at the buzzer, glancing around with a chuckle as though remembering that this was in fact the laundry room. "I imagine just about everyone has a story about the old busy-body. I hope she nags the everloving hell out of the new administration, even after we're all gone," Hanna says with a warm, mischevious laugh. Her phone buzzes, and she pulls it from her pocket, headphones still attached, but she glances up at Dusk, a bit surprised. "I, huh, actually, that would be nice. I lived in something not too dissimilar when I was a kid - just sort of a huge, extended family neighborhood where only a handful were related. I hadn't realized just how much I missed that," she admits, her tone bemused. "Toss us on the mailing list, I'd appreciate that - lemme know if you need help with anything. I'll still fight the eviction, just on principle, but what you're suggesting seems a lot more worth fighting for." She glances down at her phone, "Alright, I've got to run and check on Jayna real fast," she glances at her laundry, still spinning away, and then at Dusk, "Was good talking to you. And good luck with the project." "Man I am sure her nagging will continue long after we are all gone." Dusk crams the last of his laundry into the basket, and tips his chin up in a nod to Hanna. "Will do. Cuz I mean there's -- definitely a lot about this place I /will/ miss." An upper tip of his wing curls in, like a wave. He sets his full basket down so that he can put his laptop to sleep. "Thanks. See you 'round."