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Jeb comes up the stairs shaking his head. "Jay, what the hell is wrong with women? How this girl gonna say somethin' about havin' fire in her and it bein' expected because she got red hair, when you the sweetest thing on two legs and you had red hair your whole gol'damn life and you ain't never say nothin' weird like that when you tryin' to come onto someone and Ah know you ain't say it because Ah seen you flirt before. Ah took notes, badly and then badly used them and realized that you and fuckin' Sam got all the fuckin' Guthrie charm and ain't leave none for me." Jeb fusses as he hops the stairs two at a time, going off to Jay. "Ah was tryin' to find more help for the club since you know, we down Sam and we gon' be down you and we down Doug, but hell, if Ah get any more women in here talkin' bout fire just 'cuz they got red hair, Ah'm gonna lose my mind. Fire. Why, you a gol'damn angel, talkin' bout fire. Shit."
Yep! Jay's upstairs, as Jeb presumed and all. He's even in the livingroom at the moment that his younger brother comes hopping up the stairs two at a time. Moments earlier looking aggitated and worried while he goes through Doug's bookshelf, tugging out all the spines that he's seen the man reading since he started acting strange and not sleeping. he's trying to gather any reason at all that might have influenced the shift in behavior, and a good number of the texts are in a different language and some are from when Doug was investigating myths, legends and monsters, which all smacks of 'suspect' to Jay.
Like a good brother, he's trying to insulate Jeb from the meat of the issue however, so with the warning of his fussing brother, the angel-imposter straightens up, consciously slicks all his feathers down and takes a breath to steady himself while he turns to greet Jeb. an eyebrow arching over its brother.
"You had a live one down there, huh? Ah dunno, Sprout," Jay whispers a chuckle and shakes his head, folding his arms loosely over his chest. "Some ladies sure do toe the line between flirtin' and makin' a fool—same as any man does. What happened down there?"
Kaleb was following Jeb up. Really since Jay was going through some shit Kaleb's made the effort to go out in public and suck up being among the unwashed masses. Really though if the dirt was from Mutant Town he was oddly rather complicit with it. Either way Kaleb was now involved which brought all the sardonic commentary one could stand. "She is talking herself up. It's called marketing. It's not much different than any other mating ritual found among birds." Kaleb sighed and found a place to sit down nodding to Jay concluding, "Trust me, we all do dumb shit when flirting. Well," He considered and amended, "Most of us." A hand motioned, "So what are all the salacious details?"
"You ever flirted before in your life, Kaleb? Ah just assumed that Max like, fell out of the sky with coffee and you decided he belonged to you and you've lived happily ever after since." Jeb teases, lightly pushing on Kaleb's shoulder, before he wraps an arm around Kaleb's shoulders for a half hug. "Ah think Ah leaked them on the way up. Don't say 'matin' rituals' Cabbage. The first girl who ever flirts at me and it's all kinds of weird, maybe it was just 'cause Ah was offerin' her a job, like you said, Cabbage."
Jay's brows lift slightly when Kaleb appears behind Jebediah. Surprised, but maybe not as much as he /should/ be. "Max don't know how t'make coffee t'save his own life. Aside from that detail, y'ain't so wrong, cept fer the who belongs to who part maybe." Jay turns back to the bookshelf, arms unfolding with a swinging motion while he critically looks over the book spines. his tone a little more distracted. "Nah, nah, we all do dumb shit, period. It's jus' a matter of perspective. Gotta find someone who finds yer stupid shit endearin' instead of stupid. You gonn' hire her? Flirts don't make fer bad hospitality side—just lookit Sam."
Kaleb looked to Jeb and corrected, "Yeah, kinda the other way around and it was hell. Really not hate story we wanna be telling right now." Especially not when it actually kinda starts with Kaleb's abduction a year ago in the light of what's going on with Doug in deference to Jay's feelings. "But yes. I have, actually. I've gone out with many a fine woman I didn't completely hate an d also one of my school mate's mothers to help her get back at a philandering husband. Echo paused and squinted to Jay shaking his head, "I don't know I'm teh good example to go by in this." At least he had some awareness of this. He rubbed an eye with his fingers, "Jeb, simply put, money and influence always talk. Welcome to being in a position to have a tree for people to try to climb."
Echo crossed an ankle over knee looking to Jay, "You mae a good argument though." Looking back to Jeb he laid support for Jay's statement out there, "I'm pretty impossible. You'll run into someone that finds all teh hoops worth jumping through. Trust me if I can manage it I'm fairly certain there's hope." He really was impossible. The longer eh thought about it he consulted Jay uncertain, "I think I did an alright job tryin with Lor." He really did make the very formal approach of flirting at least, just had the entirely wrong target.
"You're not impossible, Kaleb, you're just.. you're a complicated man with specific needs but you're not impossible. No one is impossible, Ah like you plenty, you never make me feel stupid even though you're a million times smarter than me so that would be real easy to do but you don't." Jeb reassures him, patting Kaleb's shoulder. He's watching Jay look critically at all the books. "Do you need help findin' somethin', Jay? And yeah, Ah hired her because Ah figure she can hold her own with all that flirtin'. Ah mean, she convinced me that she actually liked /me/ of all people, so she'll probably rake in plenty of tips and customers and really, she ain't too hard on the eyes either, real pretty. Told her she don't got to do no dirty work and she got uppity about it, so she'll probably be a hard worker."
"You bent t'her every whim an' treated her like royalty," Jay confirms solidly to Kaleb's assessment as he pulls another spine out from the shelf a quarter of an inch with a finger. "The woman got stones drilled int' her nails on yer dime, for Christ's sake. The problem in that pairin' wasn't you, Kaleb."
Jay looks up when Jeb offers to help, resulting in a mild smile and shake of his head. "Nah, jus' tryin' to remember what Ah saw Dougie readin' the last couple months. Stop talkin' 'bout yerself like yer a horrible chut of a deformed possum, Jebediah." Jay cracks a crooked smile at his brother. "You got all kinds of charm, ain't no wonder she was sellin' herself hard atcha. What's the name so we can put her on the books?"
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 2
Kaleb nodded quietly to Jay trusting him. There were some things Kaleb just wasn't the most confident on but he quietly let that pass on faith. The mention of the stones won a wry half grin from the sonic, "Yeaaaaah my father is still pretty pissed at me about that. It's kind of fantastic." Knowing he got to his parents in spite of all the bullshit? Priceless. Lookign to Jeb there was a nod of approval, "Anyone that eager is going to give you good value. For what it is worth as an employer of people." It was trye, he did hire his own staff. Swinging his feet down he got up and walked to look at the books with Jay considering, "You said he's a bibliophile right? Loves to read? Obsessed iwth it?" An eyebrow arched and he considered his winged roommate, "I don't think he'd have shelved it. You start in his room first? I mean I could be wrong. It's happened three times before." Normally his deadpan and ego would carry that as arrogant fact, but he was trying to help and be considerate and even that fell a bit flat. Truthfully? He was concerned.
Jeb looks between Kaleb and Jay, how they are very concerned about this book, even though Jay is trying to act like he isn't, probably to shield Jeb from something, he's sure. Jeb worries his lower lip. "It's real bad, isn't it? Whatever is wrong with Doug." He asks. "Ah can take care of the club and handle knowing whatever is going on with Doug, Jay. You can trust me to hold down the fort here just fine but you gotta talk to me. Ah'm your brother and Ah ain't little no more, it's okay." Jeb encourages, moving closer to Jay and wrapping his arms around his big bird brother, a big, warm Guthrie hug. "You ain't gotta carry the whole of it on your own."
At the shelf Jay currently stands at, there are books of all sorts of subjects and all languages. It's actually something of a rarity to find something /IN/ English if it wasn't originally that way. He considers Kaleb when he's joined, Jay nods a few times in rolling motion. "Yeah. Well, Ah ain't so much lookin' fer /a/ book as much as tryin' to pick out everythin' Ah saw with him. See if anythin' stands out." Jay sucks in a breath until his chest swells, gesturing to the shelf and the myriad titles sticking a neat half inch out from the rest. "Yeah, he's always readin' somethin'. The one he was readin' the mornin's still on the table by the couch, an' the collection in the bedroom's…extensive." A corner of his mouth twitches upward. Fond humor.
Jebediah's concern has Jay giving Kaleb a warning look, then, a bit more defeated, turning his attention to Jeb. "He just ain't quite raght raght now. But we're gonna figure out what's happenin'. You know how he's been off a while now an' Ah told ya he's been havin' trouble sleepin'." Because that's natural stuff that you talk about with your brother slash co worker when the boss is being a pill. An arm lashes around Jeb's lower back for a squeeze as well. "We're gonna figure it out. Right this second, until we figure out what to do, the best way you can help is makin' sure this place stays runnin' like Ah know you can, Sprout."
Kaleb nodded with a faint smile now just curious what Doug was up reading. "Wow, sounds like my vinyl collection." At least Kaleb had good taste when it came to obsessions. he honestly couldn't tell if the same went ofor Doug as he read not in Sweedish, Czech, Japanese, or- he pointed and looked impressed, "Dongtian de shan? Uhhh winter mountain… winter of the mountain… or somehting about a mountain in tiner. High evelation, much sow." He was a tad proud of himself there but that wasn't what this time was for. While the brothers hugged it out he kept looking, "Yuuuup. not backsliding on long term effectiveness is cri-" He paused and looked to Jeb, 'Making sure he has something to come back /to/ is pretty cricial."
Jeb isn't much comforted by the lack information once more but he thinks that's probably all that Jay is going to give him, knows that Jay's trying to protect him and he knows that he would do the same with Lewis if he were in the same position. "Well, you take care of Doug and Ah'll take care of the bar and Ah'll hire a whole bunch of pretty ladies to fill the bar with when he gets back and he'll definitely never want to leave again. Ah'll keep it in tiptop shape, been readin' a whole bunch of books about how to manage and stuff." He thinks that assuring Jay that the club was in good hands might help settle his worries a little.
Jay's expression remains fond when Kaleb notes the similarity in eclectic, wide range tastes between himself and Doug. Though, along the edges of his eyes, there is a bit of strain to make the fondness seem tense somehow. "Yer not wrong, Kale. You should actually see his vinyl. It's the same thing. He jus'… /consumes/ data. Music, books, radio, language…" Jay's wings lift slowly away from his shoulders, giving Jebediah a squeeze and slowly releasing him to stand side by side instead. Jay stares at the numerous titles he's tugged out on the shelf. nodding slowly to Kaleb's corrected version of his own words. "Ah wouldn't trust this place with anyone else, Jeb. An' if we figure more out an' we need more hands, Ah promise yer gonn' know about it. Ah ain't pullin' a Kevin-the-dog on ya." whatever that means.
There are a number of medical looking texts as well. Brain functions. Neural pathway studies. right along side some thick, impossibly complicatedly worded titles which break down into 'computer lingo' and codes. Then there are the really weird ones. Magic, alchemy, where the fuck did he even get these? having friends in antique book circles and shops really has come in handy.
Jay sighs and pulls away slowly from Jeb. "Lemme grab the stack from the bedroom." Slipping off that way.
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 14
Kaleb paused and looked to Jay staring at him. Sloooowly he leaned out as if trying to peak. Vinyl? Kaleb's eyes narrowed thoughtfully and looked around the room curious and that got his relay mind starting to play a long game. Instead of thinking at this from Jay's angle he considered himself and something Jay said about similarities and let out a low, emitting tone that sounded not unlike a singing bowl might sound. Really what he was doing was following the waves back to himself with echolocation looking for hollow and open spaces that might seem out of place. It never hurt to try. Then again not everyone was a conspiracy plotter like he was. If nothing else he was learning a lot about a new space in a shorter period of time. Consume data? Well to each their own.
Jeb allows Jay to escape, still worrying his lower lip, trying to think of anything that Doug might have said to him or read in front of him that might provide a clue. Jeb just hadn't been around enough, studying for his entrance exam and what not, he was only here to work and then home to sleep. "What does that mean? Kevin-the-Dog? You know, never mind. You busy. You can explain later." Jeb says, waving away his own question while the two get back to finding the right book and he even gets quieter for Kaleb's sake, sensing he was up to something. "He was, um, tryin' a lot of new beers and stuff, from countries Ah ain't never heard of, said he was just trying to diversify the club though? Ah don't know if that helps any."
Jay returns not so long later, with a few more titles in hand. "He was usually pretty good about re-shelvin' things," humming thoughtfully as he turns a book over in his hand, reading the title. "But he got more forgetful th' more sleep he lost. Ah found one in the fridge last week on top of a pizza box." ignorant to what humming trick Kaleb is trying for, he moves through the mostly open space with a smooth saunter, pinging off Kaleb's radar the whole time. Here be Jay.
Setting the new books down on the table with the last one Doug had in hand before he stormed out. Still trying to make sense of one, he turns it over to look at the back cover, and looks up to Jeb. "Oh, uh, Kevin-the-dog is like when someone's in deep an' they give ya some tiny task t'make ya feel useful an' outta the way while they do all the real work." Kaleb may remember the real Kevin-the-dog from when he and Jay met. Gee. "Yeah, that sounds like Doug, at least. Always tryin' t'help bring the world t'folks who couldn't go out an' see it." Jay's praise has an edge of worry. "He was worried, too. He was readin' a lot of medical books. He kept tellin' me Ah was worryin' too much—dangit, Ramsey." The musician sighs. one of the books he drops is another weird magic book. Glyphs, symbols, patterns, dead languages, so on.
Kaleb was off in his own little world a bit keeping that tone out flat and even. Echo was called Echo for a number of reasons but none-so-much as the one where he interpreted the world through secondary information painting the world in its own topography in his head. Surfaces formed, people and their words formed slowly and after as more ways hit those surfaces began to define texture, and repeated low assault started to bring back information on density making the solid surfaces stand out sharper and others- fuzzier or i some cases a void.
After a long pause of this Kaleb's eyes flashed open again and honed in on a disruption to his signal. Echo drifted back to the book shelf putting engineering mind to work looking at one book, and then another and then remembered this was all built by hand. "Oh fuck it." And instead of playing this delicate he carefully started removing books from the shelf to tap a finger to… a hollow panel. "Jay… found em." Carefully, behind the bookshelf was a hollow void. The tone stopped. "You said that about him and it got me thinking about when I lived with my parents and all teh shit I kept from them and figured… well here you go."
Kaleb notably, didn't touch them. If they were driving Doug off his rocker? Well… Kaleb really felt he didn't need a push himself. He was still working on actively opting out of fanatical ranting for a little while.
"Ah should probably head back downstairs. Make sure we don't get any more walk in's. Gotta make sure Ah fill the bar with pretty faces to lure Doug back, right?" Jeb says, knowing he's not going to be a lot of help here. He never really took note of what Doug was reading. "Jay? You gotta remember to eat and sleep, okay? Should come over to my place some time this week so Ah can cook for you. Buttermilk misses you somethin' fierce. Asks about you all the time."
Attention called back when Kaleb says his name, Jay looks startled when he looks up to see the architect removing books from a shelf. Jay drops the book in his possession and quickly hurried in that direction. "What? Kaleb, what're you—" Every young man who has had overly-interested parents or a dozen nosy siblings knows what a false back sounds like. His stomach drops and every feather starts to lift as he looks to where Kaleb tapped. He starts taking books from Kaleb's hands and shoves a couple at Jebediah before he says he's going to go while he swiftly puts others on a nearby table. "Huh? Oh." looking right at his younger brother, Jay tries another smile and nods. "Yeah. Ah'll be down when we're done here. An' Ah'll come by t'see mah girl. Ah promise, Jeb. An'…thanks. Fer takin' care of things. Fer makin' sure there's still somethin' here when all this crazy's done. We're workin' quick as we can." Promising.
Kaleb stepped away from the find so Jay could do what he will with it looking to Jeb, "What're you going to do about her?" He blinked and shook his head elaborating, "The red-headed woman." No he's not forgotten. His hands opened palm up in that take it or leave it fashion, "Sometimes people with strange patterns of behavior will surprise you in the damnedest of ways." No Kaleb was not going to ask about the cat as things that crawl still seemed to remain beneath his notice, but also didn't piss all over their sentiments about the tiny pointy thing either. His hand fell to Jay's shoulder. "I'll give you a moment and go help Jeb." And by Kaleb helping Jeb one could bet their paycheck that directly meant sit, and order a drink to justify Jeb having something work related to do while watching Jeb do all of the work. See? Helpful!
"Hire her, Cabbage, ain't you tell me to do just that?" Jeb teases, and gives his brother one last lingering look of concern, a pointed one, a look that Jay probably taught him himself. "Ah'll pick a night and you're comin' over. Ah have some news for you too." He's sure that saving the fact that he passed his entrance exams for college would be a balm during all of this but it's also something that Jay doesn't need to concern himself with right now. The Club was what Jay needed to know that Jeb had his complete focus on and he did. "If Ah find any other hidin' places like that somewhere else in the club, Ah'll let you know. We could check his office too. He spent a lot of time in there."
Jay moves the rest of the books out of the way and sets them all down before he busts into Doug's hidey hole. Some things are still sacred after all. Jay can respect that and understand the severity of that broken trust enough to hesitate and take some time to say goodbye to his best friend and younger brother. "Okay. Thanks fer yer help, Kale. Sprout." Jay's hands set on his hips, a little awkward while he searches for something to do with them. He nods seriously to both the brunets, taps his nose and points to Jeb. "That's smart. You two take a look see down there if there's anythin' else. Good thinkin'. Ah'll be down t'help set up in a few. Unless you got plans t'night, Ah'll come by an' you can tell me yer news an' all about yer new girlfriend." Jay makes a valiant effort to still tease his younger sibling before he breaks the man he loves' trust and invades his secret stash.