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"Ah don't know, man…Ah barely remember the concert at all," Jay is sitting at a table in the bar with Doug, rather than working at the moment. The night crowd hasn't come in too thick tonight, and Jay is actually looking…a little rough around the edges. Not so much physically, but for a few feathers that still look ruffled and those which had snapped off while he was being danced to death and trampled when people started to panic and wake up. "It wasn't what the Zombies were expectin', though, Ah'll tell you that…"
"What precisely happened out there?" Doug says, from where his fingers are curled around a mug of coffee. "I'll tell you what, chicken wings," He says, over it, "Why don't you take the rest of the night off? The band can make do without you as a vocalist tonight, and I'll just tell the crowd you came down with the avian flu." He gives Jay a flat look. "Honestly, you look like a half-plucked chicken right now."
Zombies. Never listening to them again. Paige is so flustered that her first concert in the big city was almost turned into her last night on Earth. But. It's not just herself she's concerned with, but there was a certain baby birb that was showing off at the concert, and she's none too happy about that as the young woman did a little research to find out where Joshua was living before she makes her way to the apartment above the club.
In a small bag she carries some cookies from home, momma's special chocolate chip cookies, and a small jar of clear liquid. The moonshine is for Doug, the cookies are for Josh. She walks up to the door and gives it a sharp rap, not giving her name, the blonde wanting to hold some element of surprise.
Jay leans forward on his turned backwards chair, casting a dry smile in Doug's direction, warmed fondly. "You got another bird joke ya wanna throw in there, Dougie?" Sitting up, Jay flexes his shoulders. "Ah don't hurt, but Ah feel like there's still…static all around me, y'know? Can't focus on anything." He sighs, rubbing his first two fingers between his brows. "Ah honestly don't even know what happened. The band was playin'. They opened with 'She's not There', Ah think. Kale was doin' good, then things started goin'…dim?" He squints, trying to explain.
"Well you know me," Doug says, "I'm just an old mother hen." He notes the rap on the door, and says, "One second." He gets up and walks to the door, and opens it. He's got glasses on, a bow tie, sleeves rolled up around strong forearms, but it's little Dougie Ramsey, the weedy, geeky kid who always had his nose in a book. What was his mutant ability again? He blinks, because he remembers who Paige is. He turns and walks inside, "HeyJayyoursister'shere—"
"Hi Doug!" Paige's smile is absolutely beaming for a moment before she pulls Doug into a quick hug before he can escape. The girl is dressed in her home clothes - flannel and jeans, as she makes her way in after Douglas. "Joshua." she tries to sound stern, but concern is in her eyes as she follows after Douglas. "I was at the concert and saw what happened, are you alright?" Mother hen mode engaged.
The mother hen comment gains another tired-looking smile from Jay, motion rippling down his exposed wings in a shiver. No point in hiding here. In fact, he doesn't normally hide. Not since Warren happened. The concert was an oddity. He's nursing a glass of water at the table, waiting for Doug to return when he gets that quick heads up. "Mah what?" An ever-so-intelligent response to the alert, Jay's caught like a deer in headlights.
All big green eyes and surprise as he slowly stands up from his seat. Work hand-me-down jeans from Sam and a tee shirt with the back cut out, Jay seems utterly himself, but for the fact he isn't hiding the looming feathered appendages currently fluffing up over his shoulders. The name makes him cringe softly, but he turns it into a gentle smile. "Paige you were" He squints. "Ah saw you. Ah saw you there, that's raght. You were naked though, and…shiny?" He tries to recall. There's a wave of his hand. "Ah'm fine, Paige. C'mon. Y'know me…"
Doug waves his hand to the two, and then turns to head into the back, moving so quickly he's practically leaving a Doug-shaped dust cloud. "I need to make a phone call real quick, I'll be out in a minute, but that's okay because I bet you two have some catching up to do, haaaaaaaaaa!" Zoooooooooooooom.
"Uh. Okay.." Paige worries her bottom lip when Doug suddenly takes off, but it's back to Josh that her attention turns to as she gives him a critical look. "Yeah, I know you. And I know you're usually more cautious than that! What got into you?!" Though while she's fussing, the girl is primping the feathers and then gives Jay an affectionate hair tossle. "I was terrified when I couldn't get to you!" Of course, being mentioned about being naked causes Paige to raise her brow. "Ya know when I use my power I have to lose the clothes too. I ain't got that much control yet."
Jay whips his head around at Doug's fleeing blur, tersely calling after him, practically between his teeth. "Doug. D-/Doug/!" Whipping back around to face his sister, Jay offers a weak-willed smile while Paige walks up to him. "Sooooo. How long you been in town?" Expecting a smack upside the head as likely as a hug, he's surprised and begins affectionately dodging his head back and forth in the expected manner while he's ruffled, touched and petted. Feathers fwip and eventually, the musician offers a breathy laugh, trying to gently grasp one of his sister's wrists, then clasp that hand in both of his with reassurance. "Look, Ah'm fine. Paige. Paige, Ah'm fine. Ah'm okay. Lookit me." Dipping his head forward and giving her a candid look. "Ah'm raght here. It takes more than a nap t'do me in." A flutter of his wings, shame trying to sound confident.
"Yeah, well." Paige murmurs. And now that one of her hands has been captured in both of his, it's her free hand that indeed thwacks Jay upside the head. Lightly. "Ya scared me to pieces!" she manages, before gesturing to the basket. "Few days, I'm teaching at the Institute. Elementary math." she explains, before frowning in the direction Douglas went. "I didn't upset him, did I?"
Okay. A moment later, and Doug comes back out. "Sorry about that," He says, "I needed to confirm that I'm going to do so some translation work for someone tomorrow, the Museum of Natural History got hold of some ancient Atlantean pictograms when a fisherman pulled them up in Key Largo." He shrugs his shoulders, and says, "Well, it's good to see you two are catching up!" He goes behind the bar, and pours Paige a coke.
WHACK!
Jay's head snaps to the side after that tender moment that had him taking his guard down. Okay, yeah, I should've seen that coming. Ow. And then /he/ apologizes. "Sorry!" Letting Paige's hand go. "Ah just went fer the concert, how was Ah supposed to know?" Rubbing his ear with his palm, he glances in the direction Doug went. "Nah, he's okay. He does that sometimes. Yer at the institute? Hrm. You check in with Sam 'n' Jeb already?"
Lo and behold, Doug comes back sooner than he thought. "Uh huh No problem. Ah was just" being assaulted. "catchin' up. Yeah."
"Not yet. They weren't gawking and galavantin' all showing their business at a concert." Paige chides, before she turns her attention back to Douglas and the drink. "Thank ya." she offers, before she ohs. "Gifts from home!" she offers cheerfully, heaidng over to the bag. A tin is taken out for Jay. "Cookies." And the jar is handed to Doug. "From the family still." comes the cheerful smile.
Doug takes hold of the mason jar and opens it, before he inhales, and then he has to look up and away as he sneezes. "Whoo! Okay!" He says. He'll put this stuff up for a rainy day… or a day when he needs to fuel a rocket, or maybe throw something flammable on a vampire. Or maybe he'll just drink it to forget the world for about a week. Yahoo! "Thank you, Paige! I really appreciate it." He looks over at Jay. "Showing your business?"
The tin taken with both hands, Jay opens it up and smiles wryly toward Doug. "You get liquor, Ah get cookies." Still, cookies. "Thanks, Paige. Vic'll tear through these in a sittin'. He'll love 'em." Jay takes his seat again, but pulls another chair around helpfully for his sister, trying to be thoughtful.
Verdant eyes slide toward Doug, his whispering smile in place while he explains quietly, "Ah had mah wings out at th' concert." A little old shame brushing down him as the feathered appendages consciously slick against his back.
"I'm proud of them." Paige points out, though she frowns. "Doesn't mean ain't gonna worry about you." she admits quietly before she takes a seat. "So this the venture that yer writin' home 'bout?" she asks, glancing up to Jay, and there's concern pulling at her fatures.
"Oh." Doug says. "Good. They're so beautiful." Doug says, "You shouldn't have to hide them. If you walked down Soho you'd give every artist there neck problems." Doug goes silent, putting the cola in front of Paige, and letting Jay answer all the questions.
"They look great, you should be," Jay compliments easily as he always does regarding Paige's work, folding his hands over the back of his chair. Leaning comfortably. He says nothing more about his wings and whether or not he should be hiding. Fact of the matter is that it took him a long time to get there and /conveniently/ he hasn't mentioned it back home. Trying to pull the conversation away from the topic before Doug and Paige start arguing about it, he pulls attention back to the club. "Yeah, it is. This is Doug's place. Incredible, ain't it? Worked on it all fall to get it together—Doug, me, Jeb, sometimes Sam. Club Atomic. Edgy name, huh? Children of the atom, raght Doug?"
"…yeah, edgy." Paige frowns a little before she sighs. "Yer going to finish yer education though, right?" She sounds concerned. And she should be. Despite being the girl that stayed behind for the most part, Paige was also the defacto secondary mom, and it's now showing a bit as she primps and checks over Jay a little more scrutiny, though she glances towards Douglas and there's a frown there for just a moment.
"Yeah, Children of the Atom." Doug says. He notes that look, and starts to take another half-step toward the back room. "We're working on getting Jay's music career into gear. The people who've heard his opening night recording are really interested in getting more, maybe in getting him to come out to their places to play—"
Jay's a little rumpled, but it really does take more than almost having your life force sucked out of you by a terrorist organization to keep him down. The only lasting outer signs of the encounter are some ruffled and snapped feathers, but his wings are far from clipped.
The look that Paige gives Doug, Jay tries to counteract with a glance to the man and pointed glance back at his evacuated seat. Jesus, Doug, don't leave me alone here.
"The institute an' Ah had some, uh, crossed wires an' general difficulty when Ah got here, Paige," Jay explains quietly, shoving a hand through his hair, ruffling it side to side. "Ah haven't signed up fer any classes t'finish out school." Just putting it out there in one go. Him dropping out of high school to work was a huge point of contention, but he stuck by it. He quickly picks it up, "But Doug's raght. Ah've been workin' hard, too. With his help, we're startin' to get along with it."
"Josh…" Paige slips into old habits. Her hands find the table, and she holds onto it, because she needs to remain calm. No need to slip and lose a good flanel shirt, after all. She lets out a breath. "What if it doesn't work?" she asks, pratically. "I mean, ya remember Walker's bar back home, they thought they had it good too." Glancing between the pair, she swallows a little, before she lifts her gaze to Jay. "What if something happened at your show like what happened last night?"
There is a sudden slamming sound — that's Doug's hand on the table. Something seems to have nettled him. "What IS it with you Guthries and putting on appearances" He frowns, and says, "Look. Unlike you and your brothers, he doesn't really have the luxury of hiding. And sooner or later, sooner RATHER than later, Paige, someone is going to come and try to take the luxury of hiding away from all of us. Besides… the only way we're going to not have to hide anymore is to stand and *fight*" He shakes his head, and then curls his hand. "I'm sorry, I just lost my temper a little bit. I'm going to go get a glass of water—"
|ROLL| Paige +rolls 1d20 for: 2
Dipping his head to hide the grimace over his own name, Jay hides behind his hair a moment. Ready to defend himself, but gently, he's beaten to the punch as Doug slams his hand to the table. Jay's attention grabbed, startled, he stares at the blond man. Shock melting into understanding. Agreement. Doug goes to get water, Jay inhales a deep breath, his hands holding tight to the back of his chair and wings pressed slick to his back.
Turning to his sister. Squaring with Paige. Jay takes a gentler position, but there is metal in his spine. "Life's full of risks fer us, Paige. Some of us more than others, but livin' with fear jus' because somethin' might not work out ain't no way to live. Ah know yer scared fer me, but Ah want this. Ah really, actually want this, an' it makes me /happy/, fer just a moment." He wets his lower lip, staring at his sister. "If it doesn't work out? Then…it doesn't work out. But that's what Ah got y'all for, raght? Ah got you, an' Sam, an' Jeb, an' Doug," Jay throws the man out there. "An' Ah got a bunch of real great guys Ah live with y'oughta meet who got mah back."