|
    |
There's a mechanic's shop nearby, which is just as well for Elmo, who needs parts for his car Probably good for Ford, because it's business. What's Kai's stake in all this? There are pipes, and where there are pipes, there enterprising ways to make bongs. So he peeks in, dressed in jeans and a psychedelic button-up. "Hullo," he calls. "Are you open? I need to buy parts. For my car, dig? It needs a pipe."
*
Elmo had to take the bus. Like an /animal/. He schleps up to the garage, about to yell for someone, sees Kai, and openly stares at him. "You a Beat or something, pal?"
*
Tannenworth Garage. Ford's business in the sense that he works there, and quite frankly, keeps the place afloat. As Mr. Tannenworth's only real employee of merit, he sees to most of the garage's day-to-day tasks. Most customers know to just go in through the open shutters to the side instead of the main office at the front. That's where one often finds Ford. "Allen! I need that muffler for the Chrysler. It's in the back shed, go grab it for me, would ya?" he calls out before wiping his hands. Ew, engine grease!
"Hrm? Oh, hey, welcome to Tannenworth's! Come on in!" Ford smirked, waving Kai in and tilting his head at Elmo, pointing at him. "He with you?" he asked. At the request for a non-specific pipe, Ford arched a brow before nodding. "Ah, yeah, sure. What kind of pipe do you need? Carberator? Muffler? Coolant?"
*
Kai says lazily, "Man, I'm the whole far out melody." Then he turns his head to look at Elmo, toe to tip, and he smiles. "That coat is the Ginchiest. I could trip on it for hours." He pauses to stare at it for a moment, then shakes his head and offers Ford a pleasant smile. "I'll know it when I see it. Can I see what you've got laying around?"
For those on the street, Kai and Elmo are in the doorway of Tannenworth Garage. Kai's in a psychedelic shirt that makes him stand out, and Elmo's in a bright blue coat and canary yellow shirt. Not exactly camouflaged. "After you," he tells Elmo, and he gestures to the door.
*
Elmo is now confused because he was going to go in but now Kai's /inviting/ him and making it weird. He kind of starts going, then stops, then starts. Then edges by Kai as if Kai was poison ivy. "You gotta hill holder?" he calls to Ford while he's doing this. "For a '40 Chevy?"
*
"Erm… well, I've got some scrap parts over in the corner?" Ford said, grimacing curiously at Kai and nodding to what looks like a crate of older, slightly dusty, dirty, or broken parts near a set of lockers. "You're welcome to look through 'em." As he looked back to address Elmo, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. Hill holder? Huh… hadn't heard someone ask for that in a while… or even use the term! "Ah, hrmmm… lemme see what I've got. I've sent my… apprentice, for lack of a better word, I guess, to the back shed to fetch some mufflers. Should be back with the stock sheet so I can check it off. I'll see if I've got anything able to do the job… and if not, I know where you can get one, for certain!" Ford set the rag he'd been cleaning up with on the bench nearby. "So, ah… I'm guessing you're something of a car buff?"
*
So, being stalked is an interesting experience. There's all the fear, the violation of privacy, the cliche that persistence equals success in the mind of the stalker, and the eternal question of if they want YOU, or simply want to wear your skin for socks. Loki falls somewhere on the stalker scale between a panther and a leering high school math teacher.
The bookseller, Serrure, has been stalking a psychodelic prey for a bit, seeing what the guy /does/ with his day, and its come to this? A car parts store? He's come to the final conclusion that he cannot be an enemy spy for Asgard by now, and makes himself evident with a slow pacing. Tonight, he's dressed entirely inappropriate for an autoparts store, in a black suit with a green and gold scarf, black hair dusting his shoulders.
*
Today, the guy scrounges for spare parts! Kai looks up (and up) at Ford, his smile coming easily, rarely seeming to fade. "Cool, I'll just have a looksee." After letting Elmo by, with just a hint of an amused glint at his discomfort, he stands there like a cat that can't decide if it wants in or out. Only because as he's about to step in, he turns to spy Serrure. Now it's time for him to be awkward. In an open doorway on a cold day in early spring. "Hi," he says with a little wave. Is he being stalked? Is it stalking if part of him is happy to see the bookseller? Given how often he runs into the Winter Smoulder in this town, he fully buys this as coincidence.
*
Elmo, by contrast, looks jittery and worried. What about? Nothing seems to be obvious. But he quirks a smile at Ford. "Yeah, kinda. Tesla's old, I can't machine everything for her." The unspoken 'yet' hangs off that sentence like a dewdrop at the tip of a blade of grass. "You lookin' for more help? I can fix anything with wheels." Then he pauses sharply and whips around to glare at Kai. "Is NOT. That word you said. IT ISN'T."
*
Ford blinked back at Kai as he seemed to be talking to… someone else? A… fellow in a very nice looking suit! A customer? …a well-funded customer?! "Hey! You can come in, you know. I know the main office is over that way-" he nodded briefly to his left. "-but everyone comes in through here."
At the prospect that he had another mechanic to talk shop with, Ford's expression seemed to lift immensely. "A fellow mechanic, eh? Always welcome in here, my good man." Ford held out a hand to shake Elmo's, giving it a hardy shake (if he took it) and nodded. "Ah… you'd have to Mr. Tannenworth about that. Still saving up to get my own shop… looking into it with a friend of mine at the moment. About the only person I'd be willing to say is on par with me, at the moment… but, if we get that shop up, we could always use a set of good hands. Where'd you learn the engine?"
*
Loki slithers into the shop with a faint smile when he's welcomed. His eyes linger on Kai for a moment, then shift to Elmo. "Is Kai giving you some trouble?" Asks the troublemaker. "He's like that. He probably wants you to fight him. Do you think you would win?" Green eyes glint at the prospect of causing just a little mischief. And to Ford he nods. "Thank you."
*
Kai's eyes widen. In his defense, he laughs. "Cool your jets, square. I'm trying to pay you a compliment." He veers toward the indicated corner where scrap can be found. "I'm a lover, not a fighter." His cheeks turn pink after he says it. He peers through the scrap, picking up this, setting aside that. Hmm, this thing-majig here might make a good bowl. He glances toward Loki. "I was being nice, man. Ginchiest means good. I already had to translate English to English once today." He picks up part of an old muffler and asks Ford, "Does this come in smaller?" Loki gets side-eye. Trying to get him in fights.
*
"Taught myself," Elmo says to Logan, after a very carefully measured handshake, the kind of handshake that someone has to be taught to do. That didn't come naturally. "Been taking stuff apart and putting it back together a long time." Is he even 20?
When Loki addresses him, Elmo gives Loki an appraising look. More 'that guy is rich, I bet his car is awesome' than 'that guy is hot'. But maybe there's a tiny bit of that too. "Yeah I'd win," he says, nonchalantly and with real confidence. He really does think he'd win. Despite being underweight and short. He eyes Kai, gauging him, too. "Okay. It means good? You sure?"
*
"I think he's right. Odd way of saying 'good', but what can ya do?" Ford tried assuring Elmo, shrugging a bit. Truth be told, he DIDN'T know, but it was clear Kai didn't mean any harm by it. Ford nodded to Elmo again, smiling. "Same. Started working on my old bike when I was 15. Finally rode it a year later. Never stopped since. Good to see someone's got the same spark I did. You'll go far with that, pal." He patted a hand on Elmo's shoulder.
At the mention of fighting, however, Ford looked up and shook his head. "Oooooh, no. If there is any fighting, I ask you all take it out of my neighborhood. I keep the peace around these streets, so before anyone goes breaking buildings or smashing up roads, I ask you take it somewhere like… I dunno. Greenwich Village?" Where Kai or Elmo might be thinking Loki is even a tad cute, Ford sees none of that. All he sees is a potential rival. Rich, handsome-ish, perhaps a little stringy… at the question of sizes, however, Ford turned his attention to Kai. "Ah… if we do, it's probably still being used… but if you need it smaller, give it over, I'll see what I can do." He offered, holding out his hand for the scrap.
*
Loki is totally thwarted in his attempt to pick a fight between two other people, and he leans on the counter without really giving any indication of why he's there. No car part need in evidence. Then finally he says, calmly, "Mmm. Do you know how to drive?" He asks of Kai. "What are you doing with that part?" He doesn't know what a bong is so…he'd have no clue what Kai was up to.
*
Kai glances between Elmo and Ford both. Squares. Then he goes back to studying a busted muffler for its bong potential. Er, that is, to fix his car. Yep, totally going to fix a car he totally has with this. He snorts then when Elmo says he'd win. "I know what Ginchy means," he says. He looks up from his muffler to eye Ford. He comes over to hand him the muffler, and he says, "Don't break the Village. I'm not done with it yet." The way he smiles at Ford there are some who might call it flirtatious, but there's nothing wrong with someone just being happy. He flirts with life! The smile falters though as Loki asks if he can drive. "How hard could it be?" he asks.
*
Elmo has an impressive range of responses to this compliment from Ford. Flattered, embarrassed-moving-to-humiliated, and puppy-style wriggling joy. "Th—thanks," he manages to get out, half mumbling. "Uh. Thanks." Praise God that Kai is providing a distraction. "Whaddaya want with that, if you can't drive?" he asks him suspiciously, eyeing the half a muffler. "Don't tell me you /weld/."
*
"Hey, I got a gal from Colombia who used to be a soldier. Now she does jewelry." He paused, smiling as he took the part in hand from Kai. "Oooooh, does she do jewelry…" One can almost tell he isn't talking about actual jewels with that comment. Looking the part over, he handles it a bit before pressing his fingers into it… and slowly, the metal squeals and dents inward as he starts to make the metal slightly smaller. "Not sure the specifications you need, but… I think I have a decent idea. For a '57 Lincoln, right?" As Kai asked how hard driving could be, Ford couldn't help, but let out a chuckle. "Driving isn't hard at all. Driving /legally/ is an entirely different issue. But if you need someone to teach ya, I can do some simple lessons. Should have an old practice car in the back I can get running again."
*
"I am curious too, what you want with that, if you cannot drive. Hello, by the way, I am Serrure. I'm a bookseller…but…the zombies are making me close early these days." Loki frowns slightly. "I thought about getting a car. But, I would need a driver too." He may not remember a lot, but he's real sure he doesn't know how to drive.
*
Kai juts his chin at Elmo. "So what if I do? Welding's crazy, man. It's hip. I mean if you can handle the fire…" He shrugs a shoulder. Then he watches Ford compress the metal with nothing short of fascination in those big blue eyes. "Wow," he murmurs. He lifts his hands to make grabby, but he holds off. Let the man do his work. "Sure, it's for a whatever you just said man." Then he perks up at the offer to teach him to drive. "You will? Oh wow. Wow! That's swinging, man. That's cool. That's… you're the most." He bounces a little where he stands, and the hands that wanted to grab the muffler are now clasped together. He shoots a look at Loki. "I'm… maybe I just want a whatever this is. Look at it, it's nice. It would make a good centerpiece."
*
Elmo introduces himself, bouncing nervously on his heels, "Elmo. Nicetameetcha." He has a lower Manhattan accent one could use to scour pans. "No seriously, what are you gonna USE it for?" Maybe if he asks louder, Kai will obey. When Ford just starts working the metal right there with his damn hands, Elmo almost jumps onto the counter to see better, suddenly shoving against Kai and Loki without a single care. "You're a superhero! That's…that's……that's ginchy?" He shoots a glance for confirmation at Kai.
*
At being called a "superhero", Ford stopped in the middle of his metal-working and looked up, shaking his head. "Ooooooh, no. Never call me a superhero. Trust me, I'm not hero." He returned to working the metal, albeit a tad slower as he spoke. "Heroes go out, find danger and evil, fight it, do the right thing, all that jazz. Me? I just keep my corner of the city safe. Let the costumes do all that nonsense… I'll stick to being the best mechanic I can."
Squinting a bit and finally popping some metal into place, Ford held up the finished product, decently shaped like the old bit and nodding, handing it back to Kai. "I know I am 'the most'… but glad to hear someone else acknowledge it for a change~" he said. "Oh yeah, whatever's going on in Central is… I have no clue. But it sounds magical in nature. Last time I went there, some old guy in a wierd cape said he had things under control. So, I figure best to let him have at it. Like I said, he wants to be a hero, let him."
*
Loki pushes off the counter when Ford starts shaping metal with his own hands. He tilts his head and squints his eyes, particularly when Ford declares himself a not-hero. All the slang he's unfamiliar with, its almost like time travel, or going to another planet. He never asks for an explanation, just keeps that slight smile on his face that betrays little. "What would you do if the trouble came closer to home?"
*
Kai erfs as Elmo nudges him. He's heavy for his size. It's like trying to shuffle aside a small horse. He sidles away, though, giving him a look. He doesn't mean to bump into Loki honest. He looks up at him, smiles awkwardly, and moves around him slowly. "Sorry," he says. Then, "I know what I'd do if trouble came close to home." He tries another angle to take the muffler from Ford. "I'll take you up on that offer to teach me how to drive, daddio," he says. He clasps the muffler in both arms. He is going to smoke so much weed out of this thing. It's already got sentimental value.
*
Elmo meets unexpected resistance and rebounds off Kai a little, giving him a confused look. "Where d'ya put it all?" he asks Kai snarkily, because it's obviously Kai's fault that Elmo bumped into him. He pays quite a lot of attention to Ford's explanation, though. "Yeah, sorry, I guess," he says unrepentently. "That's still righteous, though." He's using 'righteous' as a real word, not slang, and not talking about Ford's super strength.
*
"Then I put a stop to it." Ford replied, smirking at Loki. "You don't cause trouble close to my home, you don't have to deal with me. Simple as that. S'why you won't find any drug gangs or drunk drivers or wannabe supervillains in my part of town. And lord help anyone who threatens my mom, my aunt, or my gal… I would face all of Asgard or whatever supervillain gang - and win - if it means protecting them." For someone who doesn't like being called a hero… he sure seems to sound like one…
"You just let me know when and where. I'll work on getting that clunker in the back fixed up… maybe start my own driving classes… yeah… be a good way to bring in a bit extra." Ford seems to ponder that a bit, before turning and looking at the back door. "Where is that kid? He should've been back by now… sorry, I gotta go check on Allen, make sure he's finding what he needs. I'll be back in a moment." Ford nodded and headed towards the back of the garage, hoping to find his apprentice…
*
Loki is bumped into and he, also, is a bit like bumping into a horse instead of a person. "I need you to learn how to drive." He declares to Kai, as if that's part of some master plan and he has any say in it. "I…should go, but…it has been interesting…following you around."
*
Kai gives Ford a nod as he leaves, and he studies his new muffler with a pleased smile. He holds it up to Loki like it's a carnival prize as if to say 'look what I won.' "Okay," he says, though his brow furrows. The shopkeeper's leaving? But… but… The prey doesn't get the point of stalking, clearly. "Let me make it easier to follow me around," he says, and he rattles off an address of some dismal little apartment in a rough part of town. He shrugs a shoulder. "Like, if you ever need to find me." He then tells Elmo, "It's all in my pants, man."
*
Elmo yells after Ford, "Whaddabout my HILL HOLDER?" He mutters something about Ford should grow upside down with his head in the ground like a turnip. Kai says that thing about his, Kai's, pants and he, Elmo, turns an alarming shade of red and hunches up.
*
Loki chuckles when Kai makes Elmo blush. "What is a Hill Holder? Do you mean some sort of…dwarf? I do not get the impression they do that sort of thing anymore." Upon being given the smoker's address, he reaches into his suit and pulls out a little card to write it on, so that he doesn't forget! "I take it that you do not mind, then." He wets his lips.
*
Kai smiles as Elmo hunches up all red. Victory! "Don't worry, I can keep it contained. Barely." He leans against the counter, looking over his muffler, and he glances Loki sidelong, and he bites his lower lip as that smile tries to broaden, and here he is trying to play it cool. "Not at all, man. My pads a happening place. It's like living in a work of art. Why not show it off?" Unlike Elmo, he has no shame, thus he cannot blush.
*
All this shameless flirting is making Elmo /stay/ blushing. He gets distracted, though, as Loki asks him about dwarves, of all things. "Uh, dwarves? Like in The Hobbit? Yeah, pretty sure they don't make car parts." Loki is clearly meshuggener. "It keeps you from rolling backwards when yer on an incline," he explains, suddenly warming to the subject, "because the engine don't got enough power fast enough to push you up when you let up on the brake. I guess I don't really NEED one, but she came with one, I don't wanna make her go without."
*
Kai watches Loki go, and there's mischief in his eyes. Fitting for seeing off a trickster god. Then he looks back to Elmo and says, "Come on, I'm going to show you where to get the best doughnuts in Hell's Kitchen." He chucks Elmo on the shoulder. "I'll even buy my own."
*
Elmo falls over only a tiny bit. But hey, donuts. "Yeah, all right. Wait—" Connections happen. "You're not gonna EAT out of that muffler, are you?"
*
Kai steadies Elmo. He's careful with these breakable humans. They're so squishy. "No, I'm not going to eat out of a car part." He doesn't even know what kind of car part it is. "That's, like, wow. No way, poppinjay." He shakes his head. "No, I'm going to smoke weed out of it, dig? Get high. Gotta get my kicks." He fixes Elmo with a bright, winning smile. "Donuts."
*
Elmo, conversely, weighs less than he looks, with all his clothes and coat and mysterious junk-in-pockets. He grabs Kai's hand to get his balance, scowls when he hears the plan. "NO. You can't BREATHE out of that. It's covered in lead, pal. It had exhaust goin' out of it!"
*
"I'll wash it," Kai says. He gives Elmo's hand a little squeeze and says, "Come on, I know just the place." He tugs Elmo toward the door, his muffler under one arm. "You're a bit of a live wire aren't you, daddio? Cool down, don't blow your jets. Pastries await."
*
Elmo allows himself to be tugged, possibly because he is busy groaning, "Oy, you beheyme, it's /bonded to the metal/, you can't wash it—" Oh. Kai is holding his hand. Abrupt silence and going red again. Kai successfully tows him along.
*
Kai isn't completely for orchestrating his downfall, so he lets go of Elmo's hand once they're out where the average person on the street could see them. "You're Jewish," he says. He's been around. He was in Germany at an inopportune time. "Anyway, what does lead do to you?"
*
Elmo finds it a huge relief when Kai lets go of him. He resumes slouching along like none of that ever happened. "Yeah, wanna make somethin' of it?" he mutters, but without real heat—Kai doesn't seem like the kind to make somethin' of it, what with the touching hands and all. "Lead destroys your brain, okay? You get crazy and real sick." He shakes his head, walks along quietly for a bit. Then, sudden: "I could make you something way better."
*
"I knew a few Jewish blokes in London," Kai says. That English accent will be well suited to the mod he'll be some day. He lights up a cigarette plucked from a silver case, and he offers one to Elmo. "Cool cats." He takes a drag, exhaling smoke with a sigh. Life? Life is good. "Oh yeah? What can you make me? I can't pay, but I have this nice shiny whatsit to trade." He gestures with the muffler.
*
Elmo thinks about it silently for about two seconds, then: "I saw a guy make one outta an apple one time. Didn't heat up real good. You gotta make it hot, right? Metal's a great conductor. And then you gotta have a pipe? I got plenty of clean metal. Maybe ceramic's better. You'd needa hold it with a hot pad if it was metal. He didn't make it boil, so you don't need it to boil?" And /on and on/ until donuts.
*
Kai discusses bongs with Elmo happily. He has the more artistic angle on the properties of metal and ceramic, and how one might be combined with the other. He knows about a bongs. A lot about bongs. Eventually, they reach the donut shop, and Kai gets the door for Elmo. "They're kosher," he says. "You'll love them, they're," he pauses, then says, "The Ginchiest."
*
Elmo mumbles, "I don't care about that," but it's not all that convincing. Then his head snaps up and he says, sourly, "Ha ha. A real comedian." Kai holding the door for him is a little weird /again/ and he can't figure out what to do about it /again/ and he tries to act like it's not a big deal, passing so close, but it's kind of a big deal. But there's donuts at hand, nobody has time to care about adorable men holding doors.
*
Kai at least doesn't try to get too physically close where there's people. He doesn't care so much for himself, but Elmo needs protecting (that's what heroes do, they protect). So, polite distance. Barely polite. "So what did you think about that booky bloke?" he asks casually. He walks up to the counter. "I'll take a sprinkles. I dunno what this cat wants, but it's on me." He looks back to Elmo. "I got some washingtons to drop, daddio, I'll be your angel."
*
Elmo gets jelly donuts and coffee for himself and seems guilty yet pleased about it. He has a brief conversion in Yiddish with the shoplady, which concludes with her coming around the counter and enveloping him in a bosomy hug. He suffers this with remarkable calm, considering, then retreats to a table. "Only fair," he tells Kai, "I'm gonna make something for you. Something amazing."
*
Kai watches this with an odd expression, his brow furrowed, and his smile a ghost on his features. This is something he misses about being the only one of his kind. Always an observer, never the one getting the bosomy hug. Still, it's sweet to see. He pays and takes his donut to the table. "Fair enough," he agrees. "So what's the story? You know that plucked chicken?" He nods toward the old woman.
*
"She's a tante. An auntie," Elmo adds in English. "You know, someone you aren't related to, but takes care of you anyway? She invited me to Shabbat. She worries. She says—" he cuts himself off abruptly and applies donut to face. "That guy who said he's following you?" he says when he comes up for air, frowning at Kai in hilarious disapproval. "The meshuggener?"
*
Kai sys wryly, "That's sweet. She seems nice." A world completely foreign to him. Having Shabbats. Having somewhere to go for them. "He's not," he says, when Elmo calls Loki a meshuggener. "He may not be groovy, but he's cool. Besides, he was just, like…" Kai gestures vaguely. "This city is far out. I run into the same people by coinkidink all the time. He was just making words, being kookie."
*
Elmo insists, "He's /following/ you. That's weird. He's weird. Is he….is he…" He can't manage to say exactly what Loki might be in public. Instead he waves a donut about. Then realizes a safer option. "Is he an alien?"
*
"Ha, are we in Roswell?" Kai asks, looking around. Then he settles back and says, "Maybe I want him following me." He smiles slowly, eyes lidding. "Like I said, I know that cat." He sits up and leans over, lowering his voice. "He just doesn't know cars, dig? Don't be so hard on him. I bet if you got cornered on beat poets, you'd come off square. You'd be a cube. A murgatroid."
*
Elmo doesn't even try a staredown. His gaze slews away as Kai leans over at him. "I mean, a real alien," he mutters. "Like in the news. He asked me if dwarves made cars, what am I supposed to think? Anyway, cubes are great," he adds, now defending shapes. "I'd be a cube." He hitches a shrug. "You like him, fine. I don't know your life. You wanna inhale out of a used muffler, am I allowed to worry?"
*
"He's a bookseller," Kai says. "It was a literary joke. A guy tries to make nice…" He shake his head. And he just keeps shaking his head. Cubes are great? "You are so not tuned in," he says. He picks off a bit of donut, pops it in his mouth, then grins as he chews. "You're worried," he says with his mouth full, crumbs on his lips. He swallows, then says, "You saying you care, man? That's sweet."
*
Elmo looks intensely abashed, a sudden switch from his scolding. "I don't get jokes so good," he mumbles into his coffee. He stays awkwardly silent while Kai eats. Then he looks up, mouth twisting into what is not quite, but close, to a smile. It doesn't get to his eyes, but an attempt was made. "Well, you're too dumb to know you're gonna wreck your brain, so, someone's gotta."
*
"My brain's on a whole other level," Kai says. "It's been blown, dig? Expanded. I got grass, kick sticks and thrill pills. What a little lead?" He waves a hand. "But I can use this for art if you're going to make me something that won't fry me." He smiles and pats Elmo on the hand. "I'm the one who cares in my galaxy," he says. "Who takes care of all the little chicks peeping away. Got my people I feed, check up on. It's nice seeing someone else doing it."
*
"It's good for everything else, except licking it," Elmo says, eyeing the crumpled muffler. "So don't do that and I won't yell at you." Kai's touching him again. He swallows hard. "I don't," he says, and then pulls a face, realizing how much like Ford he sounds. "But I mean, I really don't. I just build stuff. I like building stuff."
*
"I like that," Kai says. "The act of creation. Building, making. I make things. His smile turns wicked as Elmo swallows. He gives his hand a squeeze and adds in a lower tone, "Are you afraid I'm going to give you queer, mate?" A little beat, a little British. "I don't think that's how you catch it."
*
Elmo flinches, shooting an alarmed glance at the tante behind the counter. "Don't say that," he hisses under his breath. "You can't say that."
*
Kai says in a low tone, "What, I'm being quiet." And he is, but he has to lean in closer to do it. His eyes are bright with trouble and mirth. "I won't get you in trouble. I know these squares can't handle anything out of this world. You just don't look like the kind of guy who's going to throw a punch over it."
*
Elmo turns positively florid and kind of can't look away. "Maybe I oughter," he whispers. "Yer meshuggener too." His heart is clearly beating faster. "You're gonna get in trouble, talk like that."
*
Kai laughs and settles back, picking off another bit of donut to munch on. "You're too wound up, man," he says, all mirth and sunshine. "I'm tuned in. I got my brain on things smaller minds can't dig, man. Who's gonna hear me?" He looks around. For a self-styled revolutionary, he does keep his voice pitched not to carry. "Do you ever relax, man? Would you know what to do if you did?"
*
Elmo narrows his eyes. A muscle ticks in his jaw. "Prick," he growls low in his raspy voice. "Don't scare me like that." He sucks in a deep breath, then the rest of his coffee. "I relax all the time. I'm relaxed right now. The ginchiest relaxed."
*
"Points for effort. You're getting there," Kai says. Calling him a prick just makes him seem that much more in love with life, and with this moment in particular. "I can tell you're so relaxed. So relaxed you might blow a gasket." His lips twitch. Blow. "Did I ever catch your name, man? I'm Gerhard, but everyone calls me Kai."
*
"Elmo," he says, still eyeing Kai half resentfully. "Maybe you're not seeing me at my best, yeah? I had to take the /bus/." Like an /animal/. "Nicetameetcha Kai. I think. You sure you're not Jewish? That's a pretty Jewish name."
*
Kai makes a 'beh' sound like a goat. "What do you mean you're not at your best? Look at you. That getup is swinging," Kai says. "I'd live and die in that coat if I could. It's far out." He looks that coat over. His eyes are almost that blue. "I'm pretty sure I'm not Jewish," he says. He finishes off his donut, then brushes sprinkles off his hands as he says, "It's a Norwegian thing, actually." Well, maybe Norway by way of Alfheim, but never mind that. "Kai is the nickname for Gerhard." He shrugs. "Beats me why. I'm from London, not Oslo."
*
Elmo squints at Kai, with his bleating. Then looks down at himself, tugging his coat closer, totally to look at it more, that is exactly what he's doing. "I like colors," he admits. "Dyed it myself. Turned out pretty good I guess." Okay, Kai's forgiven.
*
Kai sits up, perking immediately. "You dyed it yourself? That's, like, wow. Far out!" He touches the coat's sleeve, getting a feel of the fabric. "You have to show me how you did this, cat. What'd you use? Oh, man, we've got to get together. You show me how you did this and I'll show you, um…" He purses his lips as he thinks. "I'll make it up to you. Show you some of my own techniques."
*
Elmo's eyebrows do something complicated that communicates his thought perfectly clear: 'with the touching again.' But it's not on skin this time, so it's fine. "Put it inna copper bathtub, gave it a few jolts," he replies, almost really smiling this time for reals. "But I'm no good at art. Maybe you can teach me something."
*
Kai's eyes widen, and he looks from the coat to Elmo's face. "Wow," he whispers. Then, "You have to show me how you did it. Teach me that and I'll teach you painting, sculpting, drawing, whatever you want, man." He practically bounces where he sits. "You just shot a jolt through a copper tub? Wow. Just, like, wow." Elmo is looked upon as though he might just be a genius.