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Jebediah has left the doors to the club open for any of his new employees to wander in. He is currently sitting on the bar counter, one suited leg crossed over the other, textbook laying on his lap while he looks something over, following it with his finger. He is dressed as close to the nines as he can get on a dime, so he's dressed to about the sevens at least because he has to make a good impression on the new hires, of course. His jacket is left on the bar counter beside him and he's wearing a bright red dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up right now.
Wither was not dressed remotely close and didn't have anything left 'to the anything' and settled for clean and not wrinkled. Fortunately Jeb was cool enough about letting him get prepped there and that seemed to sort. At least he's been proven to be on time, have a sharp memory, and was a quick study. Coming in from the back Kev let out a low whistle, "Steppin it up, man. Someone in particular droppin by?"
"Nah, just tryin' to look the part of 'boss' even though ain't no one in their right mind would truly give me the title." Jeb says cheerfully, looking up with a smile and there just might be a dusting of a blush across his cheeks. "How you feelin' today, Smiley?" He hops off the countertop. "Ready for another rowdy night at Atomic?" He places the textbook down. 'Ancient Art History' reads the title.
Wither snickered, "Smiley? That my new name now?" It amused him though he looked around with a shrug, "Sure, sure. AH' mena, yes, boss." He grinned to Jeb and shrugged offering, "Eh Ah get that feelin. Around here they don't expect us t'be much but lookit you" He grinned slyly back over, "You an y'all's fancy college book that 's gotta weigh as much as you do. Gonna have a lotta gals climbin your tree to throw a rock at your window. What's the book about?"
"Yeah, Ah'll change your name tag over, much better than that one you picked for your damn self, Ah ain't like that one a bit, even if it might make sense, Ah still ain't like it. Smiley it is." Jeb says with a shy smile now when Wither is none too shy about complimenting him this time around. He ducks his head, cheeks turning red. "Ah don't know about all that. Why you complimentin' me so much? You want a raise?" He teases with a wink. "It's about Ancient artists and what not. It's for school."
Wither boggled, "Kevin? But that's my name!" He was trying to find the logic in that one but ultimately shrugging, "Eh, I dunno. An' it ain't so much. It's just an observation. I mean… They're gonna." He was pretty certain. His head tilted sideways to check the spine. "That….sounds throughly un-fun. Ya know I was gonna say I was plannin on livin through ya, but this book looks liek it's as heavy as a horse."
"Well, it's kinda interstin'! To see what they did for art back then, how it started, some guy just threw some paint on some paper and that's how art came along. It's cool seeing how it's advanced and the different techniques. Anything that ends with history always sounds boring but it really isn't this time, I promise." Jeb explains and laughs a little. "You think me carryin' the book gonna kill me young?"
Wither grinned and shook his head, "Man when I was studyin it it was all these ladies holdin Baby Jesus. I mean they did a good job but it was all so much of the stame stuff. Promise me y'all won't go around encouragin this. Sooo" His head wobbled as it was early yet, "You actually like DO art or you just learnin stuff?
"Oh, Ah haven't shown you, huh?" Jeb holds up a finger and goes into the office, returning with a sketchbook. This one is filled with sketches of his brother Jay, some of Doug too, a couple of Kaleb and Elmo, just people he knows, his friends, his brothers. "Ah do this and Ah also use my mutation to burn designs into wood."
Wither grinned, "Heeey I know those mugs anywhere. Man you' good. Ah mean Ah' been doin sculptin for a while but I can't draw or nothin. I think you drew e'ery feather in there. heck, how long that take you?
"You sculpt? You should show me some time! Ah'm taking a pottery class this semester, Ah know it ain't the same thing but anyway, that's real cool, Smiley." Jeb says with a big smile. "What do you like to sculpt?"
Wither turned red across the bridge of his nose and tried to find words to explain it. "Metal. Ah mean cause anyhting else I touch is kinda… eh" And metal was inorganic which might make sense. "Clay gets a lil tough but sometimes I'll use that, stone, concrete. Welding. I weld." He set his jaw hesitating mid ramble, "I'm a um, I'm a welder. Worked with Dizzy and Hellion for a minute. They used to get me some things. Doug too when We were workin on buildin a computer casing for him… man. If… ya do see him? Tell him Ah said… Tell Doug Ah said Ah'm sorry for lettin em down." That was something he wanted to say for a while that he was kicking himself for but offered to Jeb. "If you want to Ah mean… people like you. Maybe he'll listen."
"When Ah see Doug and we get him all fixed up, you can tell him yourself, Ah'm sure that he'll appreciate that, you don't gotta be afraid to say your sorry to Doug, he likes when people do that, when they're brave." Jeb encourages. "Ah would still like to see that, to see you weld. Maybe if anythin' starts fallin' apart in here, Ah'll call you. Do you make, like metal sculptures then? Surely you do! That's really awesome, Smiley, you're insanely cool."
Wither chortled with a squint in those green eyes leveling with Jeb, "Jebediah Guthrie, Ah jsut sold 10 months of mah life t' some government that lock me in a box and put me on trial. Ah don't think Ah'm worried about being a coward when Ah'm pretty hated by half the country an Ah never even met em. Ah'm just… sorry for lettin em down. He's been one of my ony good friends and Ah don' like … makein em disappointed is all. Ah dunno. My old friends haven't … really talked to me after so…Ah mean Ah dunno." He shrugged letting it be what it was. The smile had a sadness to it and asked, "Call me Kev. No one calls me by my name. It's all abd stuff. But.. yeah like you seen some of that Worhol stuff? It kinda inspired me when I had been taken up to the school. Everythin kept fallin apart so I started makin like some surreal stuff. Sometimes I like making these kinda cool lookin stick people lookin thing so they make some sweet shadows and feels like there's more people around. Some with wings like your brother, Jay or Warren or Angel who ain' Angel-Angel an' have bug wings."
"Well, you got me as a friend now, don't you? Can be your boss and your friend. Where are you stayin'? Ah imagine it isn't easy for you know, an ex supposed con to find a place to live. Ah worried about you from the moment we spoke to one another. Are you alright? Are you safe?" Jeb asks, leaning against the bar counter and giving Wither a good onceover. "Everyone needs a safe place to store their art too. You got a place for that? Because truly your gift will need to be shared with the world. Someone told me that once about me. So it's the same for you."
Wither reached back and rubbed the back of his neck with a wry grin, "Ah'm not used to people fussin but… it'll sound crazy but I was underground and found a place that ain't been used a bit an' found this weird bird lady and… we talked. So I found some place without neighburs that's all concrete so I can't accidently hurt no one. Ah'm thinkin Ah might… fix it up. Ain't like when I was back at the school but …yeah. Lil hard to go back. Ah've been avoidin the Morlocks so far tho."
"What's a Morlock? Ah was going to suggest you come stay with me if you needed somewhere to crash for awhile. Ah'm not /fussing/, Ah'm just making sure you're safe and that you're eating enough." As if Jeb had any room to talk with how thin he's been looking lately.
Wither considered he's actually been in New York longer and paused to find a fair explaination, "Subterranian Mutant street gang? Some say it's a cult, but I dunno if that's true. Like runaways nd pick pockets a lot of em. Their leader is… scary as hell, lemme tell you. She's… one I'm happy to avoid." Looking to Jeb he laughed and smiled warmly witha shrug calling him out, "Y'all're fussin. It's alright though. I don't mind. And yeah man, I'll totally take a friend-boss. but the bird lady helped me set up securitywhich, iiiif you wanted to see it? You're welcome to?"
"Maybe Ah'm an expert at fussin' then but what you just said don't make me worry any less, you know but if you say you're safe with this bird lady, then you're safe. Is she a bird lady like she got wings like Jay? Or like she collects a bunch of birds?" Jeb asks and then shakes his head. "Not like it matters, all that matters is you're safe. We should probably start gettin' set up but Ah mean… yeah Ah would love to see your place sometime."
Wither considered that question noting, "Ya know that's a super legit question ummm…" How did he describe her, "She's not exactly a birdy-bird? Like huge, razor shard talons. Speaeks in riddles. Beaky, but huncheed. Blue black feathers. Had one of them kinda neat accents like German or somethin. Doug'd know." Was he? Yes describing the Beast. Looking up to Jeb he shrugged, "Sounded like another 'Ford' name. maybe we're distant cousins."
"Wait a minute… she ain't just a bird is she? Is she like a bunch of animals smashed together? She's huge right?" Jeb says as recognition sets into his features. "Ah think we might know each other. Fjorskar?" It's amazing that Jeb pronounces that correctly.
Wither said, sitting back "Well I'd never call a lady big no matter how many critters she made of but… yeah I suppose." The name made bothe eyebrows pop up, "Wow you're good at that. yeah that's…You're gonna have to teach me out to say that cause it keeps coming out Ford-Scar and I know that ain't it.But yeah that's her. Scary as hell? Really pretty cool?"
"Ah.. um.. she's um… she… about me knowin' her name. She.. um.. She's a friend of mine, you could say." Jeb stutters and then gestures vaguely anywhere in the club. "We should definitely go about cleanin' up and gettin' ready to open, you know?" Halgrim was right, he really was collecting a whole bunch of young men in need. no matter who he was currently presenting as.