CAT-22 is busy as usual: folks coming in for coffee and baked goods, or to browse the info stand, or admire the twenty-two paintings of the eponymous Yossarian, a thickly-furred white cat who doesn't seem to be present at the moment. Dross has stopped in this morning, too. A tall, thin man who tends to look a bit like he just came out of a wind tunnel, he sits at one of the tables with a mug of black coffee, watching the patrons come and go.
"What have you been doing lately? Think this is only the second time I've seen you in here... or um, maybe we just miss each other a lot," offers up Ziv, who's working the counter. She's talking around scribbling down some things on a pad, taking inventory during a brief break in the lunch rush. People have to get their vegan and vegetarian goodness somewhere afterall - and Cat-22 is an excellent place to do so. Occasionally, the (to Lost eyes) batling is humming along with the current music - Dream a Little Dream of Me, apparently - while she works.
She's still keeping one eye towards the door, attentively, while she's doing other things - and there's likely the pink-bearded millennial around somewhere as well. Ziv doesn't usually work weekends, afterall, or quite this early in the day. But it happens sometimes.
Levi pushes open the door and steps inside, shaking the collar of her jacket- black leather, and WAY more expensive than she looks like she could afford- to stabilize the temp inside before sidestepping the door and looking around. Spotting Ziv, she cracks a small smile, pleased to see her on her feet. There's the customer she's speaking to, the lanky fellow with the blue eyes, but- he looks pretty normal. Not a bad thing. Just- limiting. But then, the clientelle isn't exclusive. So she just waves and moves around the coffee shop, looking idly at things while Ziv is busy. It's kind of awkward, honestly.
Who's that standing over in the doorway to the back room, unmoving? It's six feet of unsettling Ogress with a very dead arm. Sure, autumn may be in full swing, but the Moon -- because fuck, look at that Mantle, there is no way that shadowed figure is anything but wandering the Wayward Road -- the Moon is wearing a leather battle vest abso-fucking-lutely covered in patches and tassels, the sleeveless and raggedy sun-bleached black t-shirt exposing that... Very, very, very-very-very dead left arm. There's no real breeze in here, yet the translucent pinkish-grey skin is flaking off and floating around Uschi like a slow drift of disturbing snow.
Birds singing in the sycamore tree // dream a little dream of me...
Uschi's face is hard to see under all that shadow, but the iridescent glint from what are presumably her eyes flickers. She is staring across the cafe, directly at Dross. Everything else? Ignored. Only the slightest of movements is made.
She shifts her weight -- ugh. Why isn't Uschi wearing shoes? The Ogress' feet are... Well thankfully they are shadowed, but there is a slight creaking, rustling noise of callused skin on wooden floors. Why hasn't anyone kicked her out yet for being a health hazard?
Rowan strides in like there's a party going on at Cat-22 and it's all for her, and then seems immediately, though quite mildly, disappointed when no one else seems to realize this. Spotting a couple of familiar faces, she gives a wave and calls out, "Hiya! Nice weather we're having today."
When Ziv addresses him, Dross looks up. He studies the batling closely for a moment or two before answering, "Perhaps we've missed each other." He glances over at the observation tower that Yossarian usually occupies when he's here, then back to Ziv. "And you..." Have been doing what, exactly?
Dross continues to keep an eye on the cafe at large, looking up when Levi and Rowan enter, but not saying anything. In response to the hard stare from Uschi, he looks over at the Ogress for a moment, searching the shadows that hang over her eyes, and then touches the tabletop with the tips of his first and second fingers, perhaps as a sign for her to approach. Or perhaps it's just coincidence; random movement.
From over there behind the counter in the back room doorway, Uschi continues watching Dross -- the creeper -- and the tapping of those fingers, the Moon Ogress shifts her weight again: perceivable mostly as a further creaking of the floorboards. There's about three seconds of observation -- dull glimmer of light off of those half-shadowed blackened horns -- as she glances from Ziv, to Rowan, to Levi.
No smile is given to the singing Ziv. No reassurance passed Levi's way to counter that surprise. Hell, there's not even any grump, really - what Uschi's face betrays is... Very, very, very little. Only; did Uschi just snort? There's a sort of grumbling noise there... But she's on the move:, steady steps as the Farwalker makes quick time of the short distance between herself and Dross.
En transit, without a moment's hesitation, a blueberry danish is plucked up from behind the counter. Uschi does not pay, stop, thank anybody, or use tongs. Ruddy fingers of her dirty right hand merely take what she wants, and Uschi moves onwards.
Rowan eyes Uschi with a mildly distainful curiousity. Shrugging off whatever it is her initial reaction is, she offers a smile toward the Ogre, then pulls out a few bucks, handing them toward Ziv, "That pastry yer man just selected," 'yer man' being Uschi apparently, "and tea for me, if you could, love." Noting that Levi has, in fact, put in an order before her, she adds generously, "Take your time," as she settles into a seat. To Levi she says, "Look's like you've been getting yourself settled in. How's the record shop working out for you?"
Ziv had seemed about to answer Levi, eyeing the wad of cash the Stonebones pulls out - and then it turns into what -might- be a protest towards Uschi. Since she's definitely looking that way, her ears turning to the sides and slightly back. And then Rowan just up and pays for the pastry, like that! Off-center, the batling just closes her mouth and stares for a short while, at those gathered around the counter and at the fairly gross Uschi who just nabbed something from the case, without asking or washing hands or using a tissue or--
Eventually, she just decides to pull the basket out, and remove the next-over pastry Uschi might have touched in getting grabby with the case goods.
"Record shop?" she finally manages, while taking the money proffered and putting it away. Soon after, she's getting two teas mixed up, with familiar quickness, even though her "hands" are shaped rather oddly to such a task. They don't exactly make kettles or mugs for bat wings, afterall.
"Someone's dog?" As more people-- strangers, to Dross-- appear around the table, he shifts focus to each in turn, looking Levi and Rowan over in silence. There's something a little off-putting about the intensity of that scrutiny, but then Uschi appears and interrupts his study of the newcomers. "Good afternoon," he says to the Ogress. And nods to a chair. "Sit." To Levi and Rowan: "And you are...?"
"It's working out gr-" WHOA. The strange ogre just tromped over and stole blueberry pastry. Rowan's got it covered, though. It's got Levi's hackles up, though, and she keeps her eyes on the stranger as she engages the less strange stranger seated at the table without stolen sniffpastry. "... grea-t. Um. Vinne says I'm really good at getting the customers to the stuff they want. As opposed to her, who helps them figure OUT what they want. And Cheryl. Who, um. Scowls tactically. I suppose?"
"Oh! Yeah! The owner of the record shop, Majesty? She gave me a full-time gig." She's been back here a few times for some volunteer shifts, out of apparent gratitude for being put up for a night. "Thanks, Ziv, really. And the humming- if you want to do that some more, I wouldn't- you know. Complain."
"Oh. Uh. I'm Levi. Sir?" She's thrown off by her name being demanded without an introduction. She doesn't even think to ASK for his name. NOBODY IS PLAYING BY THE RULES.
Good? Bad? Uschi's the girl with the blueberry danish -- who gives a crap if she's getting disdainful glances from Ziv or some alarm from Levi, since Rowan has handed over some cash money and the Ogress' debt to the universe - er, workers cafe? - is undoubtedly paid. Of course... She /was/ hanging out in the back room, before. Does she work here? Why hasn't she washed her hand?
Uschi doesn't care about dirty hand, that's why - look at the way she's licking her fingers, as she eats that danish in about four bites, grunting and upnodding to Dross. Also? Only one of those hands seems to actually work, so... Sticky, dirty fingers reach out to pull a chair out --
--Skreeeeeeeeetch--
-- then Uschi is thunking down, sitting backwards, leaning heavily on the backrest of the chair as she points a ruddy index finger in Dross' direction. "Whot's so fuckin' good about it?" Another beat. The Moon Ogress sniffs in, and lifts her chin up. "Someone's dog, whot?"
"Went and found someone's dog in the sewers. Guess it, um, made its way into the papers or something... if you can call gossip columns news," Ziv explains, though it doesn't sound as if -she- really considers gossip columns to be news. She nods towards Levi, saying, "Levi was there, too! But things got a bit strange...r." Another flick of an ear, dark eyes moving over Dross and Uschi thoughtfully. She, at least, doesn't seem terribly offput by the lack of fingers. Just theft. Probably.
Turning back towards Levi, she partially raises a brow, then swings away to fill the two mugs with steaming water. "Oh, so you're working for Green? I heard it's a pretty good... um... job. Think it's something I considered myself." Her pink tongue pokes out to the corner of her lips. "Sounds like you've got a knack for it though. Why're you so jittery?"
Rowan offers a friendly smile to Dross, "Rowan," she offers at the question from Dross, "A pleasure to meet you. And you are?" She looks to Ushi, including her in the request for an introduction. "I saw that," she says to Ziv, offering the batling an approving smile. "Good on ya, with the heroics."
"Yeah! We did! Well. I say we. It was mostly Ziv. She's super quick and great at finding things. Left us in the dust!" Levi sounds proud of how well Ziv did- enough to fight off a little of her worry over Uschi, worry that fades a bit when the woman talks some.
"Yea, for Miss Green." Levi nods in agreement, the gesture timed with a faint spiderwebbing of her cheeks- a thin network of cracks that darken her face a touch. "Vinnie thinks I've a knack, at least." The question about her jitters, though? She blatantly glances Uschi's way and back. "... no reason, I suppose. Things seem... fine." She stands awkwardly for a moment, then reaches out and rests a hand on Rowan's shoulder for a moment. Just a moment. Then she takes it back!
For some people, the side-effects of having used Mantle Mask are a pain in the neck; for Captain Kowal with a magic hangover, they're an unmitigated blessing. They mean that as he walks through the town of Tamarack Falls, he's not continually surrounded by a bright bright TOO BRIGHT mobile rose garden contributing to a massive headache. His mantle's still growing back. There are wisps of it as he comes through the door of Cat-22, and they're easily stifled by literally everyone else's mantles, and his hangover-shades are entirely capable of reading the sign that says stuff about 'LIVE IN THE STONE AGE'.
Tin-man in doorway, clearly considering turning around and leaving, finally sighs and pulls out his phone to shut it off.
Then he shuffles toward the counter in search of coffee, SLASK WROCLAW team shirt representing everything that's right with the world even as his headache and in fact everything that is not cats demonstrates what's wrong with it.
He looks over his shoulder at everyone inside, lifts his sunglasses, and *almost* says something. But then he doesn't because coffee is way more important.
Levi's surprise makes one of Dross's eyebrows inch up a little. He resettles the blue scarf while the others talk, as if preparing to leave. But when Rowan asks for his name, he does introduce himself: "Dross." Although: is it clear that that's his name, and not just a random noun? Either way, there's no return smile from him. Just a kind of thoughtful, quiet scrutiny as he looks over each new face.
After that introduction-- if it can be called that-- Dross stands up and pushes his chair in. With a glance over at Ziv, he asks, "Stranger?" But without waiting for an answer, or excusing himself, he just slides the mug of hot black coffee he was nursing over to Uschi and walks out of the room, brushing silently by the Captain on his way out.
"Papers." Uschi echoes Ziv's words back in her direction, blacked horns gleaming dully as the Ogress looks from Ziv to Dross and back again. "Whot th' fuck's'a bunch a papers doin' down inna sewer for?" Back to Dross, she snorts and jabs her chin in his direction accusingly, "Can ya fuckin' believe the shit people flush these days? Nobody preserves nothin', values nothin', an' they deserve less."
Oration over, the Ogress lifts a cracked fingernail so she can pick blueberry skin out of a crooked cuspid, lips snarled back a bit as as she looks at Rowan's request for an introduction with blank faced incomprehension. It goes on, and on, and on...
Then Uschi is turning - watching Dross make his exit with a long, flat, lingering look. What the hell is that all about?! Another second, and the Ogress is picking up the coffee mug, sniffing at it, and turning to look back at Ziv and Rowan and... Levi.
Uschi stares at Levi -- her wheezing breath sending clouds of coffee steam up to mingle with the shadows that mask her face.
Rowan gives Dross a friendly nod at the introduction, taking it as such. The hand on her shoulder gets Levi a faint little smile, she doesn't seem all that bothered by it. And then, the unwelcome sound of a cell phone starts beeping. Rowan hops up, the owner of that sound, and gives a little wave. "Gotta go. You lot have fun. I'll speak to you soon."
Ziv's face draws a little more taut - she might be blushing. If she weren't covered in a short pelt of black fur, anyway. There is a slightly more rosy hue to her ears, at least. "Thanks," she says, sincerely to Levi, before dipping out the teabags and passing over mugs to both she and Rowan. That touch is watched, with curious dark eyes, and she tilts her head slightly to the side.
"No, no. In the papers like... the publication papers. But there might have been paper down in the sewers? I don't really remember," Ziv answers to Uschi, thoughtfully, while she buzzes around behind the counter with an occasional twitch of her ears. There is something of an apprehensive look when Uschi goes off on a diatribe about things being thrown away, and she blinks soon afterwards.
Then... Rowan leaves, and she looks down at the tea in the mug a little forelornly, soon deciding to apparently just leave it on top of the counter. No offers are given to enlightenment on what was 'strange' about the dog rescue. Instead, she gives Czcibor a greeting to the tune of, "Hello and welcome to Cat-22."
Levi watches Rowan dart off with- well, she doesn't seem disappointed. Truth told, the less people in the room, the more relaxed she gets. At least until she gets Uschi-stared. She bristles under the unrelenting gaze, and starts to say something, but- Ziv has it covered. No need to hash over THAT again. She stares right back at Uschi. Blowing determinedly over the surface of her tea. That'll show her. And THEN the drunk fellow from last night pops in, and Levi's sense of social order tips again, and she lifts her mug to half-hide behind it, sipping as Uschi's attention recalibrates onto Ziv.
At least Captain Hangover is pleasant and civil to Ziv; it seems almost reflexive. He leans over the counter and asks confidentially, "Is the cat in? Also hello. And may I have a coffee with a lot of cream and sugar in it?" His eyes may be featureless, blank silver, but the rest of his face is expressive enough to make up for it.
Uschi stares at Ziv - is she clocking in on the Batling's blush? Possibly. It's quite difficult to tell, what with all that 'terrible Moon Mantle' shadowing up her face and whatever. Plus? Uschi's countenance, when it is illuminated enough to see, is... Kind of flat: either she is very bored, very thoughtful, or very dim. Then again? She could possibly be all three.
"...Huh." Eloquent reply from the Ogress, at the explanation of the newspaper; taking a few seconds before adding. "Sounds like youse needa better memory."
Mug of recycled coffee in hand, Uschi stands up off of that chair -- her dead arm swinging limply at her side, as the Ogress starts lumbering towards the counter. Oh, no - not the front of the counter. Uschi is heading around back, as if she very well considers herself a member of the team. Wasn't there a danish put aside for her? The crust punk is heading for the flaky treat.
Uschi is now ignoring Levi - probably to the girls relief - in favour of staring at Czcibor. Huh. Did the Ogress just square her shoulders, widen her stance a little bit? There's a soft sniffing noise as she lifts her chin, the upnods in the hungover fellow's direction. "Nah, they don' put cat in anythin' here, s'fuckin' false advertisin' innit."
There's still that danish, and Ziv doesn't seem inclined towards stopping Uschi from going around to get it. She does look a little doubtful, but also like she doesn't want to contend with an ogre. When you're a rather small Windwing, that might be hazardous to your health - especially facing one that's not quite right in the head.
"It's possible I do," she agrees, readily enough, with the commentary about needing a better memory. She does, subtly, glance around perhaps in search of cleaning supplies.
But, there's still Czcibor, who's asking for a coffee and a cat. "No, cat's not in, and neither is his man," she says, cheerfully enough before going to pour out a fresh mug of coffee with care of her wings. She always keeps a fresh pot on. "Man after my own heart, sounds like. Light and sweet is the best. Would you like to try any of our all-natural flavorings today?"
Levi beams a small smile Ziv's way when she leaves the batling blushing with praise, and flicks a look at her once more when she seems to hesitate towards the danish snatcher. The Elemental scans her eyes across the room for a brief moment, marking a path she can take if she needs to get Ziv out of trouble. Doesn't seem NECESSARY, but better safe than squishy. The Cap'n comes to the counter to place his order, though, and Ziv engages cheerfully, defusing the tension again. Levi's getting a bit of whiplash from the change of pace up in here, that's for sure. She takes her tea and settles at a table nearby, chair tugged out so as not to leave her obstructed. She is totes prepared to leap over tables and counters if Uschi proves counterintuitively violent or some such nonsense. Such is the crazy world one half-blind to social cues lives in. Anything could happen! Anything!
Hangover Shades get pushed all the way up into the toy soldier's wiry hair and he gives Uschi a patently appalled look. "I should hope not! I assumed the cat was the owner--"
--but then Ziv's being much more reasonable, and he relaxes. His accent, notably, is a mishmash and hard to identify-- parts of it sound rather BBC, parts of it are inherently Polish, and parts of it have gotten smacked with Viennese so hard they're still reeling five years later. "Not today, on the flavorings, but thank you very much. I have to ask, are all the parties here completely over the top? Because I just got into town yesterday and went to one and I'm used to just-- a lot of alcohol... and that was not alcohol."
Uschi downs the rest of that recycled coffee, then carelessly places the mug off to the side so her one good arm can reach out and grab that danish. Cue eating - and talking at the same time. Crumbs, they get everywhere -- flakes of pastry joining the curls of flaked skin which shed from her dead left arm and drift about her as she grins rakishly in Ziv' direction. "S'why yer here, eh mousy? When the cat's away..."
Oh Uschi must be doing that on purpose -- there is no way she doesn't realise the Batling has wings, hence /bat/.
Meanie Ogress turns and looks at Levi suddenly - boo! - then lets out this rumbling cracking chak-chak-chak noise. Oh right. That's Uschi chuckling, as she looks from the Elemental to... What is Czci, besides complicated and hungover? Uschi stares at /him/ now, but that lopsided grin doesn't go away as she listens, shrugs a shoulder, and chomps down on the last of that danish.
"Don' be sucha fuckin' prude. Like -youse- ne'er ate somethin' questionable inna time of need..." Did Uschi just nudge a horn in the direction of Czci's neck? His welding mark? Uhm... The Ogress snorts again with amusement, licking blueberry jam from her fingers as she glances at Levi, Ziv and Czci in turn. "Like you ain't -all- done shit ya don' wanna think about, am I fuckin' right?"
Ziv doesn't look entirely comfortable with Uschi behind the counter, but she's enduring - and apparently, in spite of being a beast, she has something approaching social graces. It likely helps to be an intensely social animal for the parts that aren't human. "Cat's the owner, more or less, but it's a workers collective - everyone's a part-owner. I do usually work when the cat and his human aren't here," she agrees, only to twitch when Uschi suddenly says 'boo'. She doesn't jump or shriek, but there's definitely a jerk there, and her ears go back.
There's also a faint sigh, because she's really going to have to clean once Uschi is gone. Subtly, she moves in between the ogress and the rest of the baked goods. Perhaps hoping to keep various flakes from being added to their toppings.
"Course I have," it's kind of dismissive in Uschi's direction, though in spite of the words there's a subtle curl of her upper lip, revealing little needle-teeth to Lost eyes and a gleam in dark eyes. "Think we pretty much all have."
Levi doesn't flinch at Uschi's jumpscare. She frowns, though, at the way Ziv's made to flinch, and she turns a stone-cold laser of a glare towards Uschi as she continues on to provoke Ziv further. She doesn't say anything. Much like Uschi, she just stares, and lets the cold, mountainous weight of her utter disapproval slam down like a cave-in.
And then?
She fuckin' sips her tea. Without. Breaking. GLARE. At least until after the sip. Then she looks down into the cup and nods quietly.
S'some good tea.
"Yea', I know." Uschi snorts to Ziv after her explanation of the co-op, watching her with a smoooooth panning of her head as the Batling goes to shield the pastries from contamination. "I'm th' cleaner." That cannot possibly be right. Does... Wait, does she mean that she cleans up after things? Like takes care of the trash, if ya know what she means? Or does Uschi genuinely believe she provides some kind of sanitation service for Cat-22?
...Does Yossarian even know?
Sniffing in, Uschi starts to shrug as Czcibor begins his tirade - her sticky, icky, ruddy right fingers lifted so she can absentmindedly scratch at the seam where her dead right arm joins her regular-looking shoulder. Is that even her original arm? It looks so... Different, besides just being gnarled and crippled and all that.
How odd it must be, to be an rough n' raw Ogress like Uschi, and have such an obvious, glaring weakness. Must make a Ogress feel a touch insecure, a bit exposed, maybe even... Vulnerable, sometimes. Times when Ogress' like Uschi are feeling out of their element -- or reminded of times long past, where their resolve was shook up against some immovable force, something mountainous and monumental, like... The weight of a boulder, crushing. Like... Levi's glare.
Uschi catches sight of Levi's look as she's half-listening to Czci -- the Farwalker immediately goes still: even the shadows of her mantle stop, turn, and condense around her. Then, in a snap? It's not so much that Uschi runs, as much as she drops and lopes out of the cafe and through the door to the back room: one easy, speedy, fluid and FAST movement.
Now ya see her, now ya don't. The Moon Ogress is no more.
"Who said anything about eating cats? I didn't--" Ziv seems kind of baffled when Czcibor says that to her, but then the tin soldier is starting to leave. But then--
ZOOM.
That just happened; even though the look on Ziv's face virtually screams "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT JUST HAPPENED".
Czcibor blinks, coffee in hand, as Uschi goes nyoom. "Uh, she sort of implied it. It's okay. Uh... I hope she's okay." He looks down at his coffee, then glances sidelong at Ziv, sips it, and makes his exit carefully.
BAM. Levi applies her stare like fast actin' Tinactin, and just like that, Uschi uses her athlete's feet and is GONE. The Elemental is left blinking in surprise at the abrupt exit, much like Ziv, with the difference that she knows -why- she left. Or at least theorizes. Though that raises a new question in Levi's head.
Since when the fuck was she that frightening?
There's too many patches in her memories of what happened in the Queen of Storm's Domain for skills she didn't know she had to be anything but unsettling, and she does her best to drown the discomfort with tea whilst listening to the Captain discuss losing his head, and having too much head that aches, and promising to return after some combination of the former situations resolves. Yeah, okay, that's fine. She doesn't get it, but she'll allow it. Once the others depart, she sets her mug down and murmurs towards Ziv.
"... sorry for scaring off your coworker. She seemed like a bully." A moment's pause. "... don't like bullies."
"...I'd guess she is probably actually my coworker? I've never met her before..." admits Ziv, her ears twitching to and fro, and a look of continuing confusion lingering on her face. She then goes and gets a rag, with some cleaning solution, and a broom to presumably clean up bits of ogress and ogress-feedings. "I imagine she'll be okay. You can apologize to her later, if you want?"
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