Log:Commitment Issues

Commitment Issues
"Is it.. it's not over right? Did we join? Like, what happened?" He says, glancing to Maddox, "And I do yoga, dude. You know that. You called it my hippy waste of time like... three weeks ago."
Participants Leo, Maddox, and Paige	6 June, 2017 Maddox goes looking for answers about the Harvestmen and finds Paige. Leo comes after, knowing Maddox won't ask gently.
Location Cyclone Back Room
The back room of Cyclone is...no where near as crowded as the bar is. Namely there's only a single person it, in fact. Paige is sitting in one of the chairs, her legs drawn up, with her thighs being used to rest a spiral notebook on. She seems to be occasionally writing, studying what's already on the page, then sporadically adding more writing. Or maybe she's doodling. Who really knows? She seems pretty into whatever it is, though. Now and again, however, she reaches for a beer set beside her, taking a sip before going back to what she was doing. She looks essentially the same as she did the night before in the Harvestmen meeting, and is actually dressed nearly identical in jeans and a tee-shirt, except tonight her hair/feathers are drawn up into a ponytail. All aside from one strand that keeps falling in her face, and is promptly blown back. Or that's the intention, anyway. Suddenly, the door slams open. Maddox doesn't bother with things like gentleness, or tact. He steps into the room, electricity crackling around him, Summer blaring forth full force, along with the smell of hot asphalt and exhaust. He scowls, glaring around the room, only there's no one really to glare at, except Paige, and she seems distracted. The fact that there's no one to glare at just makes him scowl further. At the same time, there's a hint of curiosity there. The way his electric gaze takes in his surrounds quickly, darting around. The way this shift to her and take her in as well. Then he's growling, "I /heard/ there were fucking Lost here." Straight and to the point. Maddox doesn't mess time with small talk. "And you're one of those fucking Harvestmen, too." He starts in her direction. He's dressed the same as at the meeting, with his jeans and hoodie, grease stained, now with a hint of dirt and fleck of blood. Nothing drastic. Hell, he might not have bothered to /change/ his clothes, since he hasn't filmed a new episode in a few days. He reaches her and then begins to simply pace back and forth in front of her. "So, what the fuck did I join, exactly? Leo fucking drug me there, and that head dude explains a little, but I have no fucking idea whether or not this is going to conflict with my duties as a goddamned Squire, and I want to know." Maddox, always the charmer. Paige jumps a little and looks up, blinking at Maddox. Her head tilts a little as she watches him, then of all things, her lips twitch in amused. "There are. This room is only for Lost. Or our ensorcelled. And yes, I'm one of the Harvestmen. One of the lieutenants, actually." She closes the notebook, pen inside it, and focuses more fully on him. "First, hi, I'm Paige. And since I'm gonna go out on a limb and take a wild guess that you're Summer, extra hi." But she doesn't go title dropping. Good harpy! "Second, from what I understand about the Squires, this will be pretty much like doing the same thing. Just with more backup. You want a beer or something while I get into it? You can relax back here, unless you like pacing." She grins. "Which I do on occasion, so no judgment there." Maddox doesn't seem to even notice her amusement. He probably wouldn't notice it if she were irritated, either. He focuses relentless on the business he's come to take care of. At least for now. The man is very... focused. Like a lightning bolt. Only below that crackling electricity and scorching heat of Summer, there's evidence that he's not all Elemental. Some patches of skin here and theren that have faded, leaving machine parts revealed, at his neck, at one wrist, likely other places as well. He's more changed than he is human at this point. He scowls as she introduces herself. Then again, it's starting to seem like that scowl is just his normal expression, what he greets everyone and everything with. He growls, "Maddox. Cooper. Like the asshole that blows shit up on TV." Only sometimes intentional, but he doesn't really know about the others. The audience does, as Leo is often running around in the background with a fire extinguisher, or on fire himself. Maddox has never seemed to notice and just continues on. He stares at her a moment, then grunts, "That's what Leo fucking said. What if I gotta fucking leave quick? Squires gotta, sometimes." At the offer of a drink, there's a quick narrowing of the eyes, as if he's not used to such offers, and not sure really how to respond. "Beer." "I'm sorry. I don't watch much TV," Paige says apologetically. "But I'll see if I can find your show and watch it sometime!" she promises, smiling at him. She gets up then, moving to the fridge and grabbing a beer. She offers it to him before she sinks back into her seat. "If you have to leave, it's not a problem. Let us know if you can, especially your lieutenant when you join a squad, but we all have lives outside of the Harvestmen. Our last captain disappeared pretty suddenly, actually. Byron's only recently promoted to boss." She takes a sip of her beer as she studies him, and takes a moment before she continues. "The Harvestmen are the freehold's soldiers. We eliminate threats. We're, well, the army, really. Largely fighters, but as you heard last night, or maybe not, I don't know if you left before it...there's also a squad that's more...spies and scouts and assassins. But the big thing is fighting. Which is why I said it's probably a lot like being a squire." Maddox gives Paige a look, as if he doesn't quite comprehend her apology. "Why the fuck what you apologize for that shit? Fuck, do whatever the hell you want. I don't know you. I'm not your goddamned conscience." He snorts, shaking his head. People these days. Then he's grunting against, accepting the beer. He cracks the cap off with his bare hand, even if it's not a twist off, and tucks hte cap into a pocket. That's metal, yo. He looks at her with those electric eyes, almost challenging, "I never leave something I fucking start. I just want to know what's going to conflict and shit. I got duties. I don't fucking shirk 'em." His growling voice has a hint of an accent. He's not from around here. It has a Southern twang to it. He considers this, still pacing, and takes a swig of the beer. There's a slight static crackle as liquid meets electricity, but he seems alright. "Squads. Fuck, I could lead one, if it didn't interfere with Squire shit. Fuck, I got others out of goddamned Arcadia. And I'm here with a Motley, and we're all fucking Squires. And all fucking Summer. And we might just be able to help you people out." "No, you're not, but it was the polite thing to say since I've never even heard of your show," Paige says, shrugging. She seems unconcerned by his scowling and growling. But then, she's Summer. Hopefully she's used to it. So she just takes another swig of beer before setting the bottle down. "You can't lead a squad. Not right now, anyway. People who have just joined are recruits. You'll be expected to train with privates or higher, and go on missions now and again. After a season, if two of us think you're ready to be promoted, you will be, to a full member, or private. Then the possibility of becoming a lieutenant happens. For now though, you've got three choices for squads. Rorschach's, which is the spy squad. Yorik's is a combat squad, and so is mine. I'm front line, though I'm happy to take people who have other skills, too." Maddox rolls his eyes at Paige, "That's why I'm saying you shouldn't fucking /apologize/. Polite? Fucking moronic. who the hell apologizes for something they didn't even do? Should I just apologize for fucking hipsters?" It's difficult to tell if he's being serious or making a joke. Does he even make jokes? He snorts, taking a swig of his beer, and shakes his head, stopping his pacing and turning to look at her with that electric gaze. He growls, "I can do whatever the fuck I /want/ to do." And there's power behind that. A solid wall of 'No'. This is a man, who when he plants his heels in, can't be moved. Thankfully, he's not doing that at the moment, he's casual. His form of casual. He snorts, starts pacing again, "I don't /want/ to fucking lead. I have enough on my goddamned plate. I'll help out, sure, but other things come fucking first. That said, combat. And building shit. And if it's a combat squad and shit, I want to be with people who use weapons." A strange request, maybe, but there it is. Paige cocks her head and for a minute she just studies him. "Sure, you can do whatever you want...other than lead a squad while you're still a recruit," she says easily. "Them's the rules. Plus we generally don't promote people we just met to that position right off the bat. You're certainly a presence, and definitely confident, but /we/ don't know your capabilities yet," she points out. "I don't think any squads don't use weapons. Even Rorschach does. I sure as hell do. Fists are effective, but sometimes they're just not effective /enough/. You're welcome to talk to the other lieutenants though, see who you think you'd fit best with. But for combat and building shit, I'd say Inkblot's squad is probably out." She grins suddenly. "And somehow I doubt that being subtle is your specialty." Maddox snorts at Paige and pauses his pacing again, looking over at her. He grunts, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not trying to usurp anyone or anything like that. I /just/ fucking said I don't got the time. What part of that doesn't make sense?" Diplomacy is obviously not his strong point. He resumes pacing again, taking another swig of his bottle as he thinks. "I can make weapons and shit more... effective. Fuck, anything, really. That could come in handy." As she mentions subtlety, he rolls his eyes, "You think I have fucking /time/ for that? No, I'm the front lines, to be sure. Get in, get it fucking done, get back to the /important/ shit." Like building deadly robots and seige machines. Maddox is pacing around. Paige is relaxed in a seat. The place is a known Changeling hangout, and Maddox might have texted Leo where he was going and why. To learn more about the Harvestmen. Which probably set off alarms, as Leo knows how Maddox interacts with people. Maddox is in his usual jeans and hoodie, grease-stained, might be the same from the other night. Paige is sitting in a chair, her legs drawn up, a beer and notebook beside her. She's dressed casually, in just a tee-shirt and jeans, looking more amused than anything else, despite Maddox's grumpiness. She actually glosses over his grumpy talk, shifting ahead to things said later. "I know of one hedgespinner, but having another, especially one who's actually a Harvestman, can be very handy. I know some of us are wanting better weapons. I could use a better offhand, actually. Not today, but sometime soon, I think," she muses. Then she smiles. "What do you consider important shit, though, if not being on the front line to defend the freehold? Well, the freehold and innocent humans who could be Taken if we don't fight?" Leo shows up in the back room with a sudden rush, the door edged open to allow first the peek of a worriedly wobbly constellation, then Leo. He steps in quickly after, once he notices the two of them back there alone. "Oh hey, guys. Hello. How's it going?" he calls out as he enters the room. His mantle swings in with him, amplifying Maddox' asphalt and gasoline with his own muggy summer night, making the room kinda smell like a parking lot in southern Mississippi or something. "Everything like, going well here? Is everything cool?" he asks, glancing between the two. Maddox snorts at Paige's words about Hedgespinning, "Yeah, I guess I can do that shit, too. But it's easier and just about anyone can fucking do it, so why waste my time? I fucking make Token. I create my own goddamned recipes. And, as to what's more important?" He pauses, looking towards her with that intense, electric gaze, "I'm building a goddamned seige engine just /for/ fucking Arcadia. So we can get /more/ out." His gaze remains on her, challenging, for just a moment, then he's crackling down and growling, "Other shit, it's important, too, and I do what I fucking can. But that, that is most goddamned important." And then there's a Leo rushing into the room. Maddox calmly takes a swig of his beer as he watches him. Amazingly, his anger dwindles somewhat, even when the Summer in the room increases. He snorts, "I told you what I came here to fucking do, what's the goddamned problem?" Maddox knows. Other meetings haven't gone as well. He looks back at Paige. "I think we figured shit out." then back to Leo. "You should get one of those fucking heart rate monitors or something. And take up fucking yoga." Paige looks over to the door, smiling, despite her own strong Summer mantle. "Hi. Seems cool to me. Come join us. I'm Paige, by the way." She looks back to Maddox, head tilting. "Well, I don't think just about anyone can do it. I wouldn't have the slightest idea even of how to /begin/ making a hedgespun anything," she admits. "My skill in making things consists of making things bloody. Or opening a beer. I leave the creation of things to the people who know what the hell they're doing," she says, grinning. Leo puffs out a breath and shoots Paige a bright grin, "Hey. Cool. Thanks." Then over to Maddox, he says, "Uh, no. It's all good. I just, you know, was also really interested. And whatever." He moves over to take a seat, stepping in and sinking down onto it near Maddox. "Is it.. it's not over right? Did we join? Like, what happened?" He says, glancing to Maddox, "And I do yoga, dude. You know that. You called it my hippy waste of time like... three weeks ago." he says. Then he looks over to Paige, "Hey, I'm Leo, we sorta kinda met." It's probably a good thing no other Lost are around, because the Summer in the room right now probably makes it uncomfortably sweltering, or heated, or arid, or some awkward combination of everything. Not to mention all that exhaust clogging up the place. Oh, Summers. Maddox snorts at Paige's words, "It's fucking easy. I could show you in a goddamned day. They don't even need a fucking recipe." Maddox makes it sound easy, because it comes easily to him. Still, he might be a good person to learn from, if one can deal with his... hisness. "Yeah, but why fucking stop there? I can do that shit, too. Because I don't waste my time with fucking /niceties/ and /decorum/ and whatever other fucking words that describe stupid wastes of time." He snorts, then casts a glance at Leo as he talks about yoga. He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, and it fucking is. Serious, put on a bunch of tight clothes and bend yourself while praying to fucking rocks and shit? Suuuuuure. That makes sense. When you /could/ be helping with the goddamned seige engine, or the fucking hobs that keep sneaking onto my goddamned boat, or the, you know, plants to eradicate those that would fucking enslave us and shit. But, no, you just go do /yoga/. Whatever." He snorts, takes another swig of his beer. Leo has heard this all before, many times. And Maddox does, surprisingly, make progress, which might be slightly worrisome. "Fucking hippies." "Well, more like we saw each other in the same room," Paige says with a quick grin to Leo. "But nice to meet you." She looks back to Maddox then and after a moment, smiles at him again. "Honestly? With everything else I have to do? Learning how to make a weapon isn't really high on my list of priorities. Especially since there /are/ people who can make them, and the Market if I can't find anyone willing and able," she says, shrugging lightly and picking the beer up again. "Besides, I've already got my main weapon and I love it. Some knives too, which come in handy. And if all else fails..." She holds up her hand, wiggling talon-tipped fingers. Leo nods a few times at Maddox, "Yeah, yeah. I did help out with the siege engine, I found that.. well you told me not to talk about it in public. And I helped you set up that ward, but then you wrecked the boat, remember? And it came off when you pulled away? And it was working pretty well, but now I need to fix it again." Leo says, answering almost as quickly as Maddox complains. "Gotta work on those plants though." he admits, with a soft 'hrm'. Leo's attention shifts straight over to Paige and he nods, "That's good. That shit makes no sense, I can't get the hang of it. I've tried to learn like, twelve times and it just never works out." he admits, with an easy grin aside at Paige. "And yeah, good to meet you too. Glad nothing exploded." A pause, and he looks back to Maddox, then back to Paige. "So. You own this place, right? Is what I heard?" Maddox snorts at Paige's words, "Then you fucking get it. You just /said/ it. 'Everything I have to fucking do'. So you get it. So stop acting like I have all the fucking time int he world and I'm going to start just taking over shit. I save that for the third fucking date." Deadpan. He could be cracking a joke. At the same time, he could actually mean the third time something occurs, which is actually more likely. It's hard to tell. Elementals. He snorts, "I make that shit. But sure, go ask the hobs. I don't got time, anyway." He glowers, finishes off his beer, and then moves to fling the bottle. Leo would be familiar with this habit, the flinging and smashing, and might be close enough to actually catch him, and prevent it. Maddox growls, "Yeah, whatever. I'm not talking about it in fucking /public/, am I? But people got to know what I can do if I'm some sort of fucking Squire Jr, minion to a bunch of people that act like Squires but aren't Squires and shit. Fucking authority and shit." He glares at Leo, "What did you fucking get me into?" Yet, despite his hostility, it's clear he /wants/ to help. He's just not happy about it. Or about anything, really. He snorts, "Whatever, most of the shit works just fine." "I do, yep," Paige tells Leo with a grin. "And this room is just for us and our ensorcelled, so it's safe to talk back here. You ever have a problem, here or out in the bar, lemme know. And like I was telling Maddox..with you guys being recruits, you'll wanna find someone to train with, and eventually a squad. I'm one of the lieutenants, so you're welcome to ask me anything you have questions on." She looks back to Maddox then, doing that birdlike head tilt once more. "Never said you did have all the time in the world. And I never said the Market was my first stop. I said /if/ I couldn't find anyone else." She grins. "Though you did make it sound like you were way too busy for that, yeah. Maybe make up your mind on if you want people to come to you or go to market?" she teases. And it's clearly teasing. "You keep mentioning stuff about authority, but...it's not like we give orders all the time. If we're going on a mission or into battle? Yeah, you'll hear orders, because it's our job to know who can do what and thus who is better suited for a particular task. It's our job to keep people alive while getting the job done." And now? She sounds one hundred percent serious. Leo nods, "Yeah, you're right, just saying dude is all." he says to Maddox, straightening out his legs and relaxing back into his seat for a second, to catch his breath. Then there's the bottle, and Leo is leaping up. He reaches up and gets it in his hand, despite it being hucked at a wall. It -almost- stays, but then falls to the ground, its momentum at least absorbed for the most part by Leo's hand. It's not impressive - the bottle falls suddenly and lands on his foot, causing him to wince and lift his foot up dramatically. That makes the bottle roll, so Leo scrambles to grab it, and walks over to toss it into a trashcan. "We're not at the yard, Maddox." he admonishes, gently. To Paige he nods a few times, "Well, I'd love to train with someone, if there was someone who wanted to train or whatever? Around shooting our show, I can be pretty available. We sometimes get into trouble out in the boat, but usually we can handle it well, and we can sometimes make it on time to stuff. But you know how it is." Three high Wyrd changelings hanging out together on a boat in the Hedge. It's probably a madhouse. "So I mean, how would we find someone to train with? We're all Squires, so we're uh.. fairly proficient I guess. Pretty decent? Whatever you wanna call it." Maddox rolls his eyes at Paige's words, "Yeah, yeah, lieutenants and privates and fucking whatever else. It all sounds like a fucking power play. You do good stuff, but you have to have some fucking status, some titles and shit. Instead of just doing the /stuff/. Which is, like you said yourself, what that Squires fucking do. Only we don't have a weird hierarchy, and we don't have fucking titles, we're all a goddamned team. That's what I'm worried about and shit." He shrugs at Paige's teasing. He's unaffected by it, "I have twenty hours a fucking day and I put it to good use. Usually. Speaking of, I should fucking get to that. I got my questions answered. You got some of yours, I'm sure." He looks over at Leo. And there's the bottle fiasco. Maddox just rolls his eyes, but he seems used to it. And immune tot he admonishment. "Yeah, yeah, train together. Call me if you fucking need something. I'm going to get back to it. I'll let you know about the Harvestmen shit. Shit, maybe I'll be better as a consultant, get you shit made, and work with you. I'm not down with the whole fucking, you know. Whatever. You know where to find me." Maybe not, but Maddox figures Leo is there, and can, so there's a connection. With that, he's punching Leo in the shoulder, lightly, and then he's tromping off towards the door, already grumbling to himself, "I'm sure I can dim those fucking lights, but then will they be bright enough when turned on... what is the goddamned spectrum they're capable of..." He mutters to himself, heading out. "I'd be happy to train with you. Unless you like guns. I don't mess with guns," Paige tells Leo with a quick smile. "Beyond that, all depends on what you want to train /in/ or with." She glances at Maddox, shaking her head. "It's not about status. it's about chain of command. If everyone tries to lead, nothing gets done," she says, shrugging and seeming unaffected by his ranting. But then it's back to smiling at Leo. "I need to take care of a few things for the bar, but you're welcome to drop by anytime. Doesn't even have to be about Harvestmen stuff." Leo nods a few times at Maddox' rant, "Yeah, I mean.." a pause, to Paige, "I can find him, if you want, I left my number uhh.. well, I dunno, I probably forgot but I'll call Cyclone and leave it later." he says, stretching his legs out and starting off after Maddox. "They're just regular lights, we didn't get the grow lights. What if we just turned down like how much power you gave them? By like.. seventy five.. maybe ninety percent? Just to see?" He waves at Paige, "Let's train soon. Uh I use a sword, we'll.. you'll see. It'll be cool. I'll look forward to it! Bye!" he says as he waves and heads for the door after Maddox, "Or if we could just cover like.. half the lights, so if it turned on it wouldn't be -as- crazy? You could still tell."