Post by Carley on Oct 28, 2015 21:16:19 GMT -8
CAST: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit@aol.com), Andrei "Ash" Popov (eatltup@aol.com)
SUMMARY: Ryan stops by the Clockwork Cat and meets Ash Popov. Mild bro bonding and a promised exchange of skills ensues.
TW: None
SUMMARY: Ryan stops by the Clockwork Cat and meets Ash Popov. Mild bro bonding and a promised exchange of skills ensues.
TW: None
[Ryan] So the Clockwork Cat sure seemed like...a place. A place to, say, get a drink, which was what he had been looking to do in the first place. And it was close to Shepherd University, which was one of his reoccurring haunts of late. Not so much during the week though. He was usually around here during the weekends. Dressed in a dark hoodie and jeans, the hood thrown up over brown hair, he strolled in like he owned the place and then stopped immediately, just so he could look around and check out the fancy decor. So much light. So much buzzing. So much glow. Dark eyes swept through the place, and then he was strolling over to the bar to get something to drink. Yes, he was of legal age. Ugh, fine, he'll show you his ID. Ryan Malone, eighteen years old, and from the tone of voice, American. Southern-fried American, at that. "I dunno. What's a good beer?"
[Ash] Good news! Ryan Malone would get prompt service at the bar. I'm not sure if Dapper Dan is working, but my answer is, probably, and if not, don't we all wish he were?? The bad news was... well. Ash wasn't really paid to talk to people. So unless someone started up a conversation with him or needed help, Ash would be off in the corner, cleaning up tables. Even WORSE news! He couldn't even recommend a good beer. The boy was kind of young, and didn't have much experience drinking.
[Ryan] Dark eyes briefly lit on the guy with the platinum hair, and then he was taking up the beer that he had entrusted the bartender to order for him. Sip. Taste. News flash, beer kinda tastes awful, but he was a stalwart sort of guy who was also trying to figure out how to impress girls these days, so he just sucked it up and drank it. The hood was pushed back and left to dangle behind his head, while he pulled out his phone and started composing a text. It was then held out before him so he could take a pointless selfie.
[Ash] Clean, Ash, clean! Really, Ash just kept cleaning. I mean. Unless, like, Mr. Malone wasn't so great at the selfie hoodoo, which means that if he zoomed out too much, he'd catch a picture of Ash cleaning up another table, not even paying attention to the camera.
[Ryan] Snap. The camera went off, and Ryan didn't realize that there had been somebody else there. His eyes widened, and he grinned. Whoops. And no, Ryan was the worst at selfie hoodoo, to be frank. All of his photos had a touch of the amateur suck going on here. "Aw, damn." Frown, and this time he stood up, backed up, tried to get a better angle, and ended up with his ass bumping into Ash. "Sorry, man," he offered up, giving him a smile.
[Ash] Great! Then it was a TERRIBLE picture of Ash on his phone, looking a bit forlorn as he cleaned up a table. No smile, bad lighting since he was in the background, a bit of a shine since his face got that way due to working with hot water while cleaning dishes. Just as he was crouching down to try and get that lozenge up (it had soaked enough in the cleaning solution,) he had the guy backing up. QUICK THINKING, RYAN! Is your balance good enough to not trip over a crouching figure? Or is Ash gonna get boomped, and end up on his butt, on the floor, in cleaning solution? YOUR MOVE.
[Ryan] Oh yes, Ryan's balance was fabulous, actually. The young man practically danced around Ash. It resulted in him catching himself in an awkward but rather feline crouch, knees bent, one hand on the floor between sneakered feet. It left him nose to nose, almost, with the blonde kid, and that meant that Ash got a face full of dark eyes and an expressive face wearing a cocky grin. "Whoops. Hi. Sorry." Damn, he even caught his phone, saving it from falling at the very last second by sliding his hand neatly between it and the floor. It landed in his palm without so much as the faintest of scuffs. "You okay? I didn't accidentally stick my heel in your leg or anything, right?" Had he? Hopefully not.
[Ash] STARING CONTEST, 3, 2, ... .. nah. Ash seemed a little surprised to find himself nose to nose with a customer, while those dark ink pools clashed violently against crystal blue shards, eye to eye, nose almost to nose. Did the guy know kung fu or something? "... do you know kung fu or something?" It bloody well seemed so, because the guy had the moves, y'know? Also he'd watched Scott Pilgrim earlier in the day, and he kind of had it still in his head. "No, I'm fine," offered Ash with a crooked smile, while he picked up the lozenge he'd loosened and began to rub the spot dry.
[Ryan] "No. I don't know kung fu." Did Ryan look like he knew kung fu? He just had the benefit of being agile and slightly built. Now, considering they'd practically had a forced NOW KISS moment there, he figured the right thing to do was introduce himself. "Why, do you know kung fu? Are you offering to teach me? That'd be cool. I'm Ryan, hi." Nobody should actually teach him kung fu, really, because he'd just whirl around like a moron practicing his kung fu moves and pretending he was in the Matrix. Or pretending he was Scott Pilgrim, yes, minus seven evil exes to contend with.
[Ash] He didn't, but he'd caught the phone and ended up in a crouch, so Ash automatically assumed he'd hop up and they'd break it down like in the movies. Well... actually, that COULD happen, but it wouldn't be The Matrix or Scott Pilgrim, it'd be Step Up 16: Anarchy in the UK. In either case, he ended up shaking his head, and getting up to continue cleaning while he chatted. "No, that's why I asked you. Thought of learning it." And setting a sword on fire. He saw it in the movies, and like any kid, he thought he'd try it maybe someday. "... the name's Ash, and I'd shake your hand, but mine have been cleaning." Whether it used bleach or whether it was just soap and water, Ash's hands were a little tender at the moment, poor boy. "Come to the Cat often?"
[Ryan] No, it would be Dumb and Dumber, probably. "Sorry to disappoint you. I'm pretty good at playing violin, but I don't think that's what you're looking to learn." One hand in his pocket, he returned quickly to get his beer, and then came back to stand with Ash and talk to, well, whatever, a new friend or something? Ryan needed to get out more because he knew a grand total of two people in London thus far. Three if you count when his father had visited. He was here to expand his horizons. Hard to expand them when you kinda kept to yourself in coffee shops and your flat. "Nah. First time. It's a cool place, though. I like all the lights and stuff." He glanced towards one of them. "That one's going to go out soon, though." It wasn't even flickering, was it?
[Ash] "... violin wouldn't be that bad, actually! But right now I'm kind of swamped with work." Had to figure out a dance with Hannah, had to contact Jaycee and see if she wanted to work on a four handed piano solo...the composition was already done, the music sheet had been handed in. Work was going steady, but the holidays were coming up, and they tend to be busy in bars and other places where you go drinking with your friends, family, or people who don't have friends and family, just like You. "Maybe later on we can get together. You want to learn piano, or guitar?"
[Ryan] "I know guitar." Ryan looked around, frowned at the fact that yeah, the Clockwork Cat was a busy sort of place tonight as the holidays came in. Halloween was just around the corner, wasn't it? And here he was without a costume other than confused Nashville native in London. "Could learn piano though, that'd be cool." Arguably, anything with strings was supposed to be his domain, so to speak, but pianos were a special sort of string instrument and apparently that meant they didn't count. Shrug. "Yeah, sure, works for me, I'll learn piano. You a good teacher? I'll trade you violin for piano." Mmm, knowledge. No, not book knowledge, Ryan had all the attention span of a sugared-up hummingbird when it came to actual courses. But practical, useful knowledge? That was his peanut butter and jam.
[Ash] "We'll find out, won't we?" He asked, giving a little laugh...even as he paused cleaning long enough to steal a pen from a waitress nearby, so that he could write down his number on a napkin. "Just be sure to call me. I'm terrible about calling people back, I tend to forget." He folded the napkin up and then offered it to the kid... right as the waitress came back up to him and took her pen back from him. She ALSO added a brief, curt mention of, "There's a lot of dishes stacking up, and Nero should be coming in soon." Ash IMMEDIATELY went to work, furiously cleaning the table, before turning. "WELL, it was nice to meet you Ryan, but ... you ..." he nodded toward the kitchen, even as he walked.
[Ryan] "Call you because you don't remember. Got it." Ryan tucked the napkin in his back pocket, grinned, and hoisted his beer bottle aloft before finishing it off. "Alright, alright, I'll stop keeping you from work. Later, man. I'll call." Awesome. Ryan now had a one whole friend who was not either a) the guy who worked at Joe's or b) the girl he was seeing. Who, by the way, Ryan would have been just amused as all hell to know that Ash knew. He paid his tab, left a tip, and headed for the door. Pause near that light he'd pointed out. "Three...two..." Flicker and die. The bulb winked out, and Ryan smirked to himself as he departed the Cat.
[Ash] Meanwhile, Ash was working up a sweat in the kitchen, furiously cleaning all the plates, for fear that the Pimp of the Pompadour would turn a corner and spot him being chatty during a busy hour.