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Dead Girl is hanging out in Eight Ball, Mutant Town's only pool hall. She's smoking a cigarette, just leaning back on the couches near the back as the television shows some show or another. It's early in the day, so the pool hall doesn't have a lot of visitors at the moment.
Humming to herself, Dead Girl seems content to lounge with all the laziness one might imagine from a corpse. If it wasn't for her inhaling on her cigarette she wouldn't even be breathing.
Forge comes on in. He's been by here before, stopping on a long drive. But now he's going to have a little fun. He comes in carrying a small case. Once inside, he buys a drink, and starts pulling out a pool cue. It's made of a shiny gray metal.
Wither came in, wearing a hoodie even in the late summer heat that was finally starting to break. Gloves in crowded places was pretty much a must. He had with him a small paper bag folded that looked to have what was possibly a record in it. looking around he was on the way to the bar when he stopped, startled, but it wasn't fear it was a smile that warned, "Heeeey, How's it going? We um… we met at…Atomic. few days ago." Hey he wasn't one to assume her social life was so scant she would remember. He looked with a glance to Forge and specifically that cue, "Man, I need to make myself one of those."
"Yeah! I remember!" Dead Girl says with a bright smile, "How's it going? Good to see you again. It's important to get out and about, you know?" she says as she streches out like some kind of cat, the little pops and snaps of bones heard as she rolls to her feet, looking over her shoulder, "Yeah, that's pretty fancy." she says about the pool cue. "I just use the ones they got around here."
Forge looks to the others, and gives a salute. He then comes around a table to rack up. He makes sure, visibly, to rack the 8 ball in the middle. Then, stepping back around, he lines up the cue ball, raps the cue against the edge of the table, lines up his shot, taps once, then rears back and makes contact. The balls fly across the table. When all is said and done, he's pocketed 7 balls, and has a perfect shot on the 8 to win the round.
Wither let his eyes hover over that queue curiously, a grin turning the corner of his mouth, "Ya know, it's… it's starting to go. Been looking for a job and a place to stay. It's been weird coming back. So if all goes alright maybe I'll run into a couple old pals and see if they're still talkin to me. GO from there." Then there were seven balls in on that break and Kevin just stopped talking "Dude!"
"What?" Dead Girl asks, turning her head as Kevin's attention shifts to the pool table. She missed it, her attention had returned to split betwen Wither and Gillgan's Island! "What happened?" she asks again as she shifts to lean on the back of the couch and watch the pool area now. "Did his cue like go and do something fantastic?"
Forge walks around the table, pockets the 8, and then re-racks. Same process. He makes absolutely sure everything's racked. He even gestures to Wither to come check the rack, and comes around to the far side again, cue ball in hand. Once everything's verified, he does the same procedure. Taps the edge of the table, taps the cue ball once with the cue tip, and makes one clean stroke. The balls are a blur on the table. Last time he pocketed 7 solids on the break. This time it was 7 stripes. And again, the cue ball rolls to the middle of the table for an easy finish.
"Forge, what did you do?" Dead Girl asks again, frowning a little. "Did I miss something really cool? Does your cue stick have like a scope on it or something?"
Forge pockets the 8 ball again, then lifts the cue. "What did I do? I just built a custom cue. No lasers. it's just the most stable cue ever built. Gyros."
"How does lamb and cucumber sauce help stablize a cue?" A science wiz Dead Girl is not. Nor is she a student of proper Greek pronounciation "I mean, I like a Gyro as much as the next girl, but really? How does it work?" she wonders next, still peeking over the couch to look back at Gilligan's Island as it plays in the background.
Forge blinks. "Those are pronounced differently, miss. The cue has miniaturized gyroscopes in it, which stablize the cue to make sure I make the perfect shot every time, once I line it up.:
Wither watched transfiked, gloved hand handing inthe air, "He hit the balls on teh first shot and sank like… half." He paused and counted. no there were 15 balls and seven sank and he siad "Yeah just shy of half." At the gyors comment he laughed and grinned "Well it makes it taste better for one, but that is a yee-roh, not a gye-roh." No harm no foul and curiously he asked, "May I see it? I eman I'll be careful."
"I see." Dead Girl offers slowly, "Yes. Very scientific!" she chirps with a bright smile, then. Happy to watch and learn. "Neat! Yeah, I want to try, too!" she says, "I mean, if you don't mind."
Forge shrugs, and holds the cue out toward Wither. "Help yourself. Without the gyroscopic effect it's simply a cue milled to rocket precision."
Wither was hesitant and really didn't answer DG about why he was looking for all these things when now he had something that was really cool in front of him. Some people needed the distraction. He turned the cue over in one gloved hand. After being certain it was metal alloy up close he bit one synthetic glove and hesitated before running his fingers over it. "Wooooooah, Mister, what kinda lathe y'all use for this?" The Georgia boy looked to forge impressed and held it out for Dead Girl to take a look at, "This is some really impressive work. Still feels only about 20 t' 22 ounces too."
Dead Girl takes the cue, and looks at it closely- running a bare finger along the length of the thing. "Wow! You can tell it's got some quality worksmanship." she remarks, as she then offers it back over to Forge. "You do good work, Forge!" she says with a bright smile.
Forge goes to take the shiny metal pool cue back, spinning it in his hands, and goes back to the pool table to re rack. "Thanks. I used the equipment I use for machining parts for airplanes and rockets. It's overkill for a pool cue, but the perfect balance means when stabilized, I never miss."
Wither says, "Well," Kevin thought, "Ya can. I mean you still have to have the skill to use the tool. I wouldn't short change ya that." Careful to hand the cue back he shook his haid airing it out and looked around, "Kinda glad I ran into ya. I was tryin to see if I could find Daire or Doug. See if we can change some of this around." Looking from Dead Girl back to Forge, "That's a cool name. I can see why ya got it. You work on real rockets?"
"Yeah, that stuff is all way beyond my skill-set." Dead Girl offers simply, returning quite happily to lounging on the couch. She rolls herself another cigarette, lighting up and puffing away quietly. "Change what of what around?" she wonders over to Wither, "I'm a little lost here." she says with a wide grin- she might be lost, but she doesn't seem to mind.
Jebediah enters 8-Ball, maybe more so to get a sense on how someone else runs a club than anything, being that he's been given the keys to Club Atomic for now while Doug is away and Jay figures out why Doug is away. He's also come here sneakily, thinking about telling a few of the workers that he has job openings at the Atomic. All servers and bussers need a second gig, right? His eyes are rimmed a little with dark shadows but otherwise, he's completely upbeat. He heads towards the bar first, watching the three of them, if only for Forge's incredible pool cue than anything else. He /might/ be heard asking the bartender if he knows anyone looking for a job.
Forge re-racks the balls,a nd lines up for another shot. As Jebediah comes in, he's treated to the view of Forge carefully lining up a shot, rapping the edge of the table, tapping the ball with the tip of the cue, and then making one smooth stroke. The gyroscopes take over, keeping the cue perfectly level, striking the ball precisely where he wanted it to hit. The result? A nearly perfect break. Balls bouncing all over. Seven go in. Then he stands. "It's not skill, it's research and practice. I know where to hit the ball, and how to hit it. The cue makes sure I hit it where I intend. I'm marginal at pool without this."
Wither fell quiet and shrugged to Dead GIrl maybe reluctant, or embarassed, "Things have been kidna … ot great. I Used to live at this pretty groovy school but I had to leave just before New Years. Sooo now I kinda don't have a place or a school or a job and…" he sighed and shrugged, "Was kinda hopin my friend Doug was stillat Atomic to talk to buuuut he might be avoiding me or just busy. I.. I dunno. Can't go back home so I'll figure somethin out." That might be more than what was asked for so he shrugged, "Just …gettin some things sorted out." Looking back to Forge's game he gestured "THAT! That is the fantastic thing I was That'ing about" The smile returned and he shook his head. "I need to get better at shaping metal. Doesn't even need a fancy gizmo in it."
"You should just hang out with me." Dead Girl offers, "I mean, you know, if you want." she offers to Wither with a bright smile, "We can start a band. It'll be great!" she continues, as she looks over towards Jeb as he enters in and starts his look around. She doesn't know him- but all the same. She waves, a friendly sort.
"I mean, I don't really have a job." Dead Girl notes, "I just sort of hang around, you know? Do my thing. Help out the ghosts."
It's when Wither mentions Atomic and Doug in the same sentence that Jeb is inspired to come over to them. "Ah'm sorry, Ah don't mean to butt in or nothin' but Ah coulda swore Ah heard you say somethin' about Atomic and Doug?" Not that he was eavesdropping per se but his ears have been fine tuned lately to Doug's name, any clue as to where he had gone and what was wrong with him. "Ah'm Jebediah, Jeb Guthrie, Ah'm currently running the club for him. Did you know him well?" He asks and offers his hand out to Wither and anyone there that might take it.
Forge pushes the balls back into ther pockets, and starts taking apart his cue. As he slips it back into the case, he grabs his drink, and approaches the other. "Lot of people in this neighborhood don't have jobs. It's good if we can help each other."
Wither warmed a smile to Dead Girl and paused, totally not opposed to this idea, "You ain't ever hear me play. I do alright though I'm told. Used t'play with m'dad growin up. But, I'd love t'hang out with you." Having someone who you couldn't kill was a high plus on his list.
Whe Doug approached using Doug in the past tense though Kevin's expression fell to concern, "Wait…were?" He winced and he said, "Y-yeah? I went t'school with him and Sammy." He looked to Jeb and paused. "Kevin. Kevin Ford." Noooot something he liked to say out loud after spending a year with a trial on the news ina federal trial. "What… what happened to Doug?"
"He's alright, he's just.. uhm.. He's sick." There's an air of something unsaid but also like Jeb might not know all the details either. "Ah'm just taking care of the club for right now. He'll be back, just on an extended leave of absence while he gets all fixed up is all." Jebediah definitely looks far too young to be running a bar but he has dressed every bit the professional, a nice suit even as he has come in here with recruiting on the mind. "Ah was actually looking for more help because Ah'm realizin' Ah can't run the club, tend the bar, bus the tables and keep the drunks from fightin' each other all on my own. Kevin gets away with dropping his own name because Jebediah has been far too busy with solving things within his own community to keep up with the news.
Forge sets his case down on the bar, sits, and ships is drink. "Ah, musician? I don't have any call to hire for that, unfortunately."
"Hey, if you're not doing anything else it'll be a fun way to spend the time, right?" Dead Girl wondered with a grin as she looked over to Jeb and Kevin. Just listening, now. "Sounds like that guy is offering you a job, Kev!" she says, leaning back to chill and smoke her cigarette.
Wither arched an eyebrow looked confused for a moment until Dead Girl clarified. "Oh I um… sure? I mean if it'll help Doug? An'it'd shure help em out. I'll work hard. And," He looked from Jeb pulling his sleeve down and offering him a gloved hand, "Any brother of Sammy's got to be… you um… you ain't gonna punch me or keep shuttin off my hot water are ya?" Oh yes, he did time at school living with Guthrie Sr. enduring the tribulations that came with it.
Jeb laughs at hearing what Sam did to Wither, shaking his head. "That's good ol' Sam for you, givin' us all a bad name. Ah'm fifth Guthrie, so Ah dealt with all the brother bullyin' to know better than to take a page out of Sam's book about making friends. No punchin', promise." He says shaking Wither's gloved hand. "Yeah, Ah mean, job ain't pay a whole lot but Ah need all the help Ah can get."
Forge smiles, and sips. "Good man, hiring in the community. Not that we shouldn't create ties with the rest of humanity, but we need all the help we can get."
Dead Girl waves, "I can help!" she offers, "I don't need a lot of money, either!" she says with a grin, "But I might need some weird hours, because I've got a lot of things to take care of all the time. Like there is this ghost that's just *hounding* me. Man. He won't leave me along until I clean his grave, like I got time to find a grave that doesn't exist anymore. I keep telling him, but man, one track mind the restless dead." Says the corpse of a young woman.
"I can play guitar, and sing, and dance- if you want some entertainment or something. I'm also pretty good with tables. I used to do a lot of that before I started getting regular work in acting."
Wither chuckled witha grin relaxing on his face, "So 4 times removed from trouble. He's agood guy, your brother. No disrespect to em or nothin. Just reckless. I'm tryin not to have any accidents." To say the least. Looking to Forge he nodded, "Too hard for anyone t'get by. Kinda why I like it here. People get it. Don't have to explain it ya know?" With Dead Girl's offer he nodded with enthuasim, "She's real talented too. I heard-" Sctress? He looked back with some admiration, "I didn' know you were a real actress too. That's fancy. Jeb, If you'll have us I'll be happy t'help out!"
Jebediah looks over to Dead Girl when she talks about being hounded by a ghost, a little shocked. It's not as if he hasn't heard far crazier things in Mutant Town, or like he didn't hang out with a vampire, a chimera and a man made from pieces of other bodies. "Well, we are a club so we operate on pretty weird hours already. It's jumping at night, not so much while the sun is still up. We have a house band, but could use a singer since my brother is usually the one that sings." Jeb says with a smile. "Ah'm sure Ah could work around your schedule. Ah really can use all the help Ah can get."
"Well, as far as reckless goes, Ah'm sorry to tell you that runs in the family but Ah'm workin' on not bein' quite as hot headed as my brother. You ever meet Jay? Ah'm workin' on bein' more like him instead of Sammy. It's a process." Jeb smiles though when the pair of them seem more than interested in working for him. "Yeah? The consider yourselves hired. Can only pay about a dollar an hour. Do y'all have somewhere to stay?" He's concerned, if they need jobs, they might need somewhere to sleep too. He smiles over at Forge for the compliment. "Ah only hire mutants. We the ones who need help."
"Oh yeah, before I got murdered I was in this little off broadway show! I had a speaking part and everything. We were a couple of weeks into practice before it happened, it was in all the news papers." Dead Girl says- and indeed, it was in all the papers: Aspiring actress murdered! Found in Central Park. Boyfriend beside himself!
"But, you know how it is- easy come, easy go!" She's still quite chipper for a murder victim. "Cool. I can work for a dollar an hour. That's good money when you don't need to eat or sleep or anything." Sure, it was below minimum wage- but who's she going to complain to. No one really cares about the legally dead. "Oh! I'm also legally dead, so that have to be under the table- hope that's not a problem."
Forge goes quiet, letting the young folks chatter back forth about their music and job opportunities. He nods, and drinks his brown liquid.
Wither looked to Dead Girl with a grin and could not help but snicker, "You know that statement should disturb me far more than is does, I'm sure but-" Aroo?? He paused when Jay was mentioned and he looked to Jeb and tentivly asked, "Yeah Ah' know Jay. He helped me out He ain't um… he ain't mad at me Ah'm guessin." He chewed on the inside of his cheek and shrugged, "I'll take what I can get. Better pay than most Mutants get so, hey, I won't kick a gift horse in the pants." He looked back to Forge and asked curiously that settled up a bit, "You still a fair shot without the fancy queue?"
Well that was interesting, so this girl wasn't actually alive and Kevin here has some kind of history with both of his brothers. They both seemed plenty kind though and they sound like they'll be hard workers and well, two of his closest friends may not actually be deemed as 'alive' either. "Why would Jay be mad at ya? Jay ain't never mad at nobody, he just gets disappointed instead and that's probably worse." He says and nods to Dead Girl. "Sure, Ah can pay you under the table, whatever it takes honestly. Need more help. Sounds like we all got a deal here. Think y'all could start this weekend?"
Forge pats his case, and looks at Wither. "Not at all. Like I said, I'm mediocre at pool. I played a little in the Army, but that's it. Any interest I had in pool got cut short when I lost the hand."
Wither nodded to Jeb, "Probably tomorrow if you really need the help." He turned to listen to forge smiling just faintly with a nod. "Me too. We'll have to play sometime." Looking to Dead Girl he remarked, "I like this guy he found a different way to do things like us."
"I can't play too good, either, but there was this guy- looked like an animal, right. Big hair, maybe a biker. I think his name was Logan- anyways, he showed me some tricks. It was fun!" Dead Girl says with a beaming smile. "Yeah, for sure!" she agrees to wIther with a nod of her head. "Yeah, this weekend is fine! I'm your Dead Girl!"
Forge slowly gets up. "Well good luck, kids. I'd better get home before I drink too much to get home." He leaves cash on the bar, grabs his case, and heads out.
"Is that what you would like to be called, miss? Ah wanna make sure Ah'm bein' polite." That doesn't sound like a very polite thing to call somebody but hey, whatever she /wants/ to be called. He looks at Wither with so much relief in his eyes his body practically sags. "You have no idea how much that would help. We can find somethin' at the Club tomorrow that works for you. Ah was gonna keep the club closed for tomorrow, we can work through the different jobs and find somethin' you like best."
"Dead Girl." The young woman answers, "Fitting, yeah?" she asks as she floats through the sofa- as if it wasn't even there, before again she's solid- offering a hand to Jeb. "A lot of people call me DG, though. Or Just Deej." she notes, "I can do all sorts of things, though. I've done waitress and bartender work before. What actor hasn't?" she wonders next with a smile.
Wither shrugged and smiled to Jeb and shook his head, "Hey Jay… helped me out once, and Doug's one of m' only friends I figure if they're trusting you you're good people." He sat and unzipped the neck of his hoodie and took the gloves off. "Man It's so neat you can do that. I which I had somethin' like that, though, I'm guessin food's prolly hard for you too, huh?" He looked around and looked back to Jeb curious, "Runnin a whole business sounds pretty had, man. How ya learn to do it?"
"Ain't the first time Doug left the bar to me, Ah had a trial run couple months back when he took vacation time but Ah had Sammy at least then. Now Ah ain't got no one so, mostly book readin' and a desire to keep everythin' the hell together for Doug's sake." Jeb says, rubbing his head. "It's great to meet you DG, Ah'm sure you'll be fantastic at anythin' we find for you."
"Oh, that's because I'm totally fantastic." Dead Girl says to Jeb with a playful grin. "It's true, ask anyone! Hey, do you know that Dead Girl? She's fantastic." She says, her tone playful. "I can also do that whole walk through the wall trick- which is great at parties."
Wither offered from knowledge with a grin, "Eeeh might run smoother then." He knew Sam well enough to give him a little shit even if he wasn't present. At DG's playful declaration he nodded ruefully, "SHe is pretty unfortunately fantastic. Strangest thing I tell ya. I try an' be mad at her once. Didn' take." He grinned to her waiting for the shove or something. but he explained, "I didn' get hte pleasure t'go to school with Jeb here, but his brothers I knew when I was at school with them for a long while. They're a good family."
"It's good to hear that someone thinks that we're a good family, certainly didn't hear that much back home." Jeb says and smiles. "Alright, so if Kev here or DG or both of you want to come around Atomic tomorrow some time, say after six? That would be fantastic. We can figure out your best fit and talk about the hours there. Ah should be gettin' back. Thank you both so much!" Jeb nods to them both and starts heading towards the door.