Bailey Session 2: Thaydean (in-progress)

<Nick|GM> ...
* Nick|GM has changed the topic to: Pact Dice Bailey   ʃʃ  Info ~ https://goo.gl/s7fidH   ʃʃ  Sessions ~ Coming soon!   ʃʃ Date ~ Wednesday, June 11 2014
<Nick|GM> The trip from Montreal wasn't pleasant. Jean's mother was not happy with him, and the only conversation between them on the multiple-day road trip was perfunctory or passive-aggressive. Finally, they've arrived outside his aunt's house. Fukumi steps out of the parked car and waits for Jean to do the same.
<Nick|GM> "Come on," she says. Her voice is stiff and emotionless, but Jean can't tell if she's actually emotionless or just putting on a facade.
<Nick|GM> Looking out the car window, he can see Itsumi's house. It's not big, but it's more house than she needs, living alone. Her lawn is immaculate, green and tidy. There's a fence around it. It's the only house on the block with a fence. ||
<Thaydean> ...
<Thaydean> "Yes Ma'am," Jean says, a dopey, stiff smile on his face. Not that he was happy, but the smile was for his mother's benefit. She probably knew that Jean was less then pleased with the current circumstance, but of course that meant that she was also aware the smile was coming from a place of spite. Good.
<Thaydean> Jean looks over the house. He'd already heard about Auntie's reputation in the town, and looking at that lone fence it wasn't hard to see where it came from. Even someone who hasn't spent a good chunk of his life studying the meaning in these things could pick up on that barrier.
<Thaydean> "Gonna be a pain to meet people with that sitting over my head," Jean thinks to himself. He looks down at his shirt sleeve, which has already been stained in sweat, and lets his spiteful smile briefly slip into a grimace. That's gonna make socializing a pain too. ||
<Nick|GM> Jean follows his mother up to the front door. His mother knocks. Immediately, a dog starts barking from inside. After a few seconds, Jean hears his aunt tell the dog to "knock it off," and then the door opens and both the dog and his aunt greet them.
<Nick|GM> Some people look like their dogs. Itsumi Hokusai is not one of them. The dog, a beagle, jumps at Jean happily. Meanwhile, his aunt gives him an unfriendly smile and says "Hi, Jean. Fukumi. It's good to see you."
<Nick|GM> Jean suspects that if she were awakened, she would have said something else. ||
<Thaydean> Jean grins, scratching the beagle under the chin in response to its antics. The grin sours when he looks up at his Aunt.
<Thaydean> "Hey Auntie, been awhile."||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> "Come in," she says. "Kiko, down!"
<Nick|GM> His aunt holds the door for them and then takes them to her living room.
<Nick|GM> "Jean, you sit on that dark couch. I don't want your jeans staining the white one."
<Nick|GM> His mother, silent so far, attempts to speak, starting "Thank you so much f-"
<Nick|GM> His aunt interrupts her. "How was the drive?"
<Nick|GM> "It was long, but uneventful," his mom replies. "Thank you." ||
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<Thaydean> ...
<Thaydean> Jean looks longingly at the white couch. If only Fukumi had just asked nicely, he probably would have sat at the dark one without issue. He seats himself at the dark couch anyway, slouching against the corner so that he can lean over and pet Kiko.
<Thaydean> "Too uneventful if you ask me, I don't get how use that word like it's a good thing. Over a thousand miles, and we didn't even get anything better to eat then cheap fast food." Jean says, his tone disdainful. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> "Well," his mother says, "you should have thought of that before, and then we wouldn't have had to come here at all. There's no point complaining now." ||
<Thaydean> ...
<Thaydean> "Pissing you off is point enough, mother." Jean says, his grin starting to stray towards a more genuine territory. ||
<Nick|GM> ...
* Thaydean is now known as Thay|Jean
<Nick|GM> "Hm," his mother says. She sounds half-amused, half-indignant.
* Divock|Riley is now known as Divock
<Nick|GM> "Don't use that kind of language towards your mother," his aunt scolds. "If you want to eat anything besides oatmeal for the next week." ||
* Camtist|GM is now known as Camtist
<Thay|Jean> Jean brushes his hair to the side, shooting Kiko an exasperated eye roll that would hopefully be hidden from Aunt Itsumi.
<Thay|Jean> "Yes Auntie, I'll try to keep your aversion towards swear words in mind Auntie."Jean says, monotone. ||
<Nick|GM> "It's not about the words," she says. "It's about respect. You should keep that in mind before responding flippantly again." ||
<Thay|Jean> "Yes Auntie, I'll try to keep your aversion towards flippant responses in mind Auntie." Jean says, just as monotone. ||
<Nick|GM> "Alright," she says, "that's enough from you. Unless it's a promise to obey me in good faith while you live here, I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth."
<Nick|GM> Jean's mother watches this exchange and looks exhausted. "I'm going to head back to Montreal," she says. "Please make an effort to be less abrasive, Jean."
<Nick|GM> She walks up to him and attempts to give him a hug. ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean leans back for a second, for sighing, and relenting to the hug. They might not see each other for awhile.
<Thay|Jean> "Love ya' Mom," Jean groans, before forcing another smile, this one hopefully in good faith, "Tell Grace I did something badass to get stuck down here." ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Thay|Jean> *before sighing
<Nick|GM> "Just because I can lie doesn't mean I will," she teases. "And I don't want her to think you're a good example to follow."
<Nick|GM> She turns to her sister. "Will you come out to the car with me?" Itsumi nods. "Jean, promise you won't make any trouble while your aunt's outside." ||
<Thay|Jean> It's good that Jean decided to hug his mom, otherwise she may have seen him grimace. Fukumi's words about Grace hurt, but Jean can't exactly disagree.
<Thay|Jean> Jean pulls back, eyes wide. "No way am I making that promise! Otherwise I couldn't do anything construed as trouble anytime Itsumi ever leaves the house! What if I /have/ to do something bad! For the good of the family!"
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> ((interupting))
<Nick|GM> ((interrupting*))
<Nick|GM> His mother sighs. "Just for while she's out at the car with me, Jean." ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean stands tall against the great personal sacrifice he is being asked to commit. "I suppose I can deign to just worry about moving myself in," He says, voice regretful, "No trouble while you head out today." ||
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<Nick|GM> "Thank you," she says, and both of the adults leave the house. ||
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<Thay|Jean> Jean gives Koko one last pet before getting up. "Your master's kind of a bitch, isn't she," He says, before picking up two heavy suitcases with a grunt and trying to find his new bed room. ||
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<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> He finds a room that seems like it's probably the guest room. It has a double bed, a small nightstand with no drawers, a dresser, and a bookshelf, filled with mostly old mystery novels. ||
<Thay|Jean> "Christ, is this place gonna be the death of me or what?" Jean says, thumbing the books while carefully making sure to phrase his sarcastic comments so that the spirits know he isn't making ominous prophecies.
<Thay|Jean> Jean throws one suit case on the bed and pulls out a clean shirt, leaving the rest of the suitcases sitting on the floor. People do judge books by their cover, and he was liking this one's abstract, warm jumble of colors more then the plain white Tee with sweat stains.
<Thay|Jean> Jean scrawls out a quick note so that his Aunt knows he's heading out, and strolls outside into town. ||
<Nick|GM> His aunt's house is not too far from the lake, and he can see the beach (which is rather unimpressive) and a few islands off towards the horizon. The town is depressingly small, and there's probably nothing to do, but he heads towards what looks like the denser part. ||
<Thay|Jean> ...
<Thay|Jean> Jean hums to himself, tapping on his leg rhythmically. Good god, there really is nothing to do here.
<Thay|Jean> Jean sits at the stoop, staring at his fight, frowning. Back at Montreal, there was good food, there were street musicians, there were sexy, promiscuous people, there were  drugs that took all the good things to an even better level. Here there was only dry heat.
<Thay|Jean> "It should be fine, just as long as I don't get personally involved, don't start any trouble," Jean murmurs to himself, before switching on The Sight.
<Thay|Jean> *staring at his feet
<Thay|Jean> ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> He sees connections, faintly, crisscrossing the town. It's hard to make anything specific out of them. He can see some places with more or less power, presumably homes and demesnes of practitioners. The closest island, a small one, has more than a few connections reaching out to it from the town.
<Nick|GM> His aunt lives on a sort of hill, so he can see down into the docks and much of the town. There's a little bit of a commercial district a little ways towards the docks, it looks like. ||
<Thay|Jean> ...
<Thay|Jean> Commercial distract, that sounds good. With any luck Jean could gather the lay of the land, talk to some people, possibly learn more about the political scene here. Magically speaking of course, mundane politics are pretty boring.
<Thay|Jean> Jean stands up, heading down towards the dock, a smile on his face in the wake of something to do. ||
<Nick|GM> He walks by a few semi-interesting places. FedEx, a local grocery store, a diner, Bailey Center for Recreation. ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean's smile fades a little with every store front he walks past. There really is nothing here. He decides to head into the diner, get a nice bite to eat, maybe talk up some cute waitress? It's a faint hope, but it's still better then nothing. ||
<Nick|GM> May's Diner, it's called. He hopes it's not too expensive; he was only able to convert a couple hundred dollars and who knows how long he'll be staying here. Then he remembers that he's in the middle of nowhere. The cost of living has to be close to zero.
<Nick|GM> The diner actually has several patrons at the moment. Five tables at one time! It must be the dinner rush. He's greeted by a cheerful young-twenties hostess. "Hi, welcome to May's Diner," she says. "How many?" ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean smiles, waving at the hostess. "I'm new in town, haven't had time to make any friends yet," he says genially, "Just me for now." ||
<Nick|GM> "Oh, I was going to ask," she says, picking up a menu and marking something with a pencil on a piece of paper behind her stand. "I didn't recognize you, and we don't get a lot of customers I don't recognize. Welcome to Bailey! Here, follow me."
<Nick|GM> She leads Jean to a small two-person table. "What brings you here?" she asks curiously, pulling out a chair and placing his menu down. ||
<Thay|Jean> "Family, work," Jean says, showing much more fondness for the latter then the former in his attitude. ||
<Nick|GM> "Well, I hope the town's good to you," she says. "My name's Mia, and I'll be your waitress this evening. Can I get you something to drink?" ||
<Thay|Jean> "Just water is fine, thank you." Jean says, opening up the menu. "Anything you can tell about this place? Places to go, people to see?" ||
<Nick|GM> "There's quite a few places and quite a few people," she says. "Where and who are you interested in?" ||
<Nick|GM> -||
<Nick|GM> On the menu is typical diner fare. Lots of options, large text and pictures. ||
<Thay|Jean> "Quite a few places my ass," Jean thinks to himself, flipping towards the breakfast section. "Well let me think, there's this Charlie Mueller guy that my Aunt might know?" Jean says, "Would you know anything about him? If my Aunt knows him, I figure I might as well get acquainted, but I don't wanna fly in blind."
<Thay|Jean> "Especially since, from what I've heard he's involved in some shady things," Jean says, leaning in conspiratorially, a joking smile on his face, "You know, /politics/." ||
<Nick|GM> "He seems like a nice enough guy to me," she says. "Works for the National Park Service."
<Nick|GM> There's a chime as a man and a woman walk in the door. "I'll get them seated and then grab you your water," Mia says, and walks away. ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean leans back. Maybe he shouldn't have made that little joke, but there wasn't much that was amusing here. Jean reaches in to his pocket and puts in a single earbud from his phone, listening to music and softly singing nonsense words to the melody.
<Thay|Jean> Deciding on what to have for dinner, Jean flips to the back to see if there's a dessert menu. ||
<Nick|GM> There is a dessert menu, and a fairly good one, at that. Ice cream and cake make up the majority, but the pictures look appetizing.
<Nick|GM> Mia comes back to the table and sets his water down. She looks like she wants to ask a question, but seeing his headphones, she turns away. ||
<Thay|Jean> Jean looks up at Mia, before smiling sheepishly and putting away the headphones. "Oh I'm sorry, I should have waited until after you took my order to do that, huh?" Jean says with a slight laugh. ||
<Nick|GM> "Actually, it looked like you were still deciding, so I was going to come back, but I can certainly take your order if you're ready. I was going to ask who your aunt was before the other party came in." ||
<Thay|Jean> "My Aunt? That'd be Itsumi Hokusai," Jean answers, "Could I have the ham omelet please?" ||
<Nick|GM> "You certainly may," Mia replies. "Hokusai? That rings a bell. Where's your family from?" ||
<Thay|Jean> "Well, there are Hokusai's all over I guess, but my Mom is a professor in Montreal," Jean says, "Fukumi Hokusai Chaput."
<Thay|Jean> "Maybe you heard of her? Me and my siblings all took our Mom's last name with our Dad's, but I can't think of anything we've done that would be particularly famous all the way in Wisconsin." ||
<Nick|GM> "Oh, huh. I might have heard of your family?" Mia says, sounding very uncertain. "I'll just go and put your order in, then." ||
<Thay|Jean> "Alright thank you," Jean says, leaning back, before suddenly jumping back up excitedly. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to know of a /Leah/ Hokusai Chaput, would you?" He says, excited at the prospect. ||
<Nick|GM> "I don't think so," she says. "Should I have?" ||
<Thay|Jean> "No, I guess not," Jean says, once again leaning back, this time with a wistful look on his face, "Sister of mine, she's been traveling around the US, and it would have been pretty sweet to have a friendly face in the area." ||
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Mia nods, and goes back to her duties at other tables, leaving Jean to listen to his music as he waited for his omelet. ||
<Nick|GM> ((waits*))
<Thay|Jean> Jean leans back, music in one ear while the other stays open to notice any potentially fun stuff going on, absentmindedly watching the spirits dart back and forth between the patrons to amuse himself. ||
<Nick|GM> ((Did you just turn on the Sight?))
<Thay|Jean> ((yeah, sorry if that wasn't clear))
<Nick|GM> ((No, no, it was pretty clear. Just wanted to be sure.))
<Nick|GM> ...
<Nick|GM> Some of the patrons of the diner are being paid more attention to by the spirits than others. Practitioners, Jean expects. An unusual concentration of them. Out of the six other tables, two of them have a practitioner sitting at them.
<Nick|GM> An old man sitting with an old woman. The man is the practitioner. At another table, a high school aged couple, the girl the practitioner. ||
<Nick|GM> -||
<Nick|GM> Jean's music and the spirits while away the time, and it's not long before Mia comes back. She's a practitioner, too.
<Nick|GM> "Your omelet," she says, putting it down. "Is there anything else I can get you?" ||
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