RP:A Jock and a Nice Girl

From HollowWiki

A six pack of beer - probably not the best but what does a whiskey connoisseur know about choosing beer? - has been left on the doorstep of a house probably still in the throes of Hudson's contracting efforts. Stuck between two of the bottles is a single white daisy and a folded note. The package seems to have been left as a gift. Upon unfolding the parchment of said note, a simple message has been writ: "It is the will of men to navigate stars but it is the destiny of a brave few to change them..." The note isn't signed in name, just a simple black spade.

Lita's beer calling card had held a little bit of mystery but, at the end of the day, Hudson has got a wolf nose and from there developed a hypothesis that he wanted to test. There are only so many good-smelling women who might have pulled such a caper, and it's easy to rule out the other likely suspects: not Alvina, because they're at war, not Valrae, because he sees her at work and there's no need. (The note also doesn't smell like either of them.) He doesn't drink the beer. What he does is he shows up at Lita's place of business, with the six pack in hand. Maybe he's right, maybe he's not. He shuts the door behind him and leans on it, surveying the room. It's getting closer to spring but not quite there yet. He's in jeans but still has a light jacket. He brandishes the six pack, like Rafiki in the Lion King held Simba, and sings the opening bars of the circle of life song, popularized many years ago by a traveling bardic group. That out of his system, he slings an easy smile Lita's way. "This you?"

The shop door was propped open with a rock, leaving the shop smelling like the ocean winds and from the second floor, the faint scent of jasmine. Lita is perched on the workbench on the shop's western wall, her right knee bent with her foot against her left thigh. A streak of pale orange color is streaked across her left cheek and she's talking in hushed but animated tones with a gentleman in front of her on the bench, though he seems more interested in the way her fingers move through the air, outlining her words in the various colors of charcoal that have come to dot her hands and forearms in the last couple of hours. At Hudson's arrival her words stop short but she lifts dark eyes to greet him with a smile, sight of that beer and his antics only brightening moods. "So he does live." Said about Hudson, though the guy next to her had yet to turn to acknowledge the newcomer, only reached out to nudge Lita's knee with the backs of his knuckles to get her attention again. She rolled her eyse at him as she moved to stand. "Tell him it's four or nothing." The guy seemed annoyed by the answer and his jaw set before he stood slowly. He was a full head taller than her and twice her size and for a split second looked down at her with the steel edge of a threat in his eyes. Lita shrugged a bare shoulder at him, unphased by the challenge. "Or tell him he can get one himself." The guy sneered but turned to leave, pushing past Hudson on his way out the door. Lita drew a little breath and exhaled slowly, turning back to focus her attention on Hudson again. Though she'd vaguely recognized his chosen song, the lyrics were lost on her. Probably a language she didn't speak. Pretty though. "You got my gift." She'd been worried she might have left it at the wrong house or something. "Good. But you know it's fairly rude to try and return it to the person who gave it in the first place."

Hudson doesn't know the language, that's all the lion related content he's got right now. He waits for Lita to turn her attention fully his way but she's dealing with this unsavory character. There's a bit to dislike in the way they interact, but Lita seems to have it well in hand. Hudson keeps an eye on the guy but he's on his way out, seemingly upstaged by Hudson's arrival. Good. He flashes the guy a grin as if to say, It can't be helped. They bump shoulders, and Hudson lifts his eyebrows, gaze following the guy out before pivoting back to Lita. Literally a hot mess. He moves into the parlor, and, after giving her the perfunctory hug and kiss-on-the-cheek, parks himself in the spot just vacated. "Woah now. I wanted to have one with you," he remarks, looking out the window of the parlor just to be sure the guy's left them in peace. Satisfied, he digs into his pocket for a bottle opener, and his gaze finds its way back to Lita. "Do I need to knock some heads together? Dude did not seem a friend of yours," he remarks, passing her a freshly opened beer, nice and cold on account of a cheap alchemy party trick. In his casual wear and baseball cap, Hudson is the least likely gangster, and the remark comes off as playfully boastful. He opens a beer for himself, bumps the bottle against hers, the glass hitting glass makes a satisfying clink. One of the better sounds in the world, up there with the crack of a baseball getting hit to outer space. "What's cooking?"

The unsavory character might have grumbled something as he bumped shoulders with Hudson but he didn't pause in stride as he disappeared from view of the shop's doorway. Hudson's hug-and-kiss ritual was met with the requisite flush of color beneath that streak of orange across her cheek. But his words inspired a nod and a grin. While she liked Hudson's company far more than she liked the beer itself, she took the bottle from him anyway. Lita wouldn't label Hudson a gangster if he dressed up as Al Capone for Halloween- though he might look cute in the fedora. She spared a smirk for that thought as she tipped her beer towards Hudson in quiet toast, that clink of glass sounding loud in the sudden quiet of the shop. She lifted the bottle for a drink, thankful for that little party trick that had apparently made this party insta-cool. Lifting the beer made her take a little notice of the fact that her forearm looked like she'd murdered those annoying little cartoon ponies and she shook her head a little. "Business doesn't breed friendships- better the other way around." At least in her experience. But she doubted Hudson had come 'round looking to talk shop out of the blue. She perched next to him on that workbench, turning to face him with her right leg bent towards her left again, tugging the hem of her skirt towards her knee. "Few irons in the fire, so to speak." she mused in answer to his question, taking another drink. She still had no idea what this baseball thing was he was so obsessed with. Or at least, she was aware it was a sport involving a stick and a ball but she'd never seen a game. She reached up to tap her index finger down against the bill of his hat, managing a laugh as the hat likely fell downward over his forehead and eyes. How was anyone supposed to hit a ball with a stick with that thing on? "How've you been?"

Hudson wasn't going to mention the charcoal situation, though he offers Lita a sleepy smile as she notices for herself. "I kind of agree," he says, drinking from his beer and considering her. Strange statement to make considering the type of character that had been in here. What did that guy have to do with a tattoo parlor? "Irons in the fire, eh," he slumps against the wall and parrots her words back at her, looking at her as a silence installs itself around them like a comfortable blanket. It's like that now, with them, ever since the furniture assembly. He lets her poke his hat a bit lower, and then, after being blind for a few seconds, he takes it off and slowly lowers it onto her head. As if crowning a queen. "Kinda crappy, but your little gift cheered me up a little," he answers her candidly. He drinks from his beer and admires the effect that his hat is creating. "You wouldn't root for Cenril though, you live in Rynvale," he muses. "How's life for you? Everything OK - that guy just now wasn't someone you owe money to, was he?"

Lita didn't make friends with most people she worked with. It was easier that way, she'd found- keeping that distance, learning to live with a little bit of loneliness if it meant getting to do what she loved. Those who understood the insatiable itch and need for that sense of freedom were few and far between. Hudson had surprised her more than once in their few interractions. She hadn't expected to see him again after pretty much inviting herself to his house half crazed and mostly drunk. And yet there existed in him a kindred spirit that she'd come to enjoy the company of. Even if he did drink beer. She looked up at him as he settled that hat on her head and she wrinkled her nose playfully, gathered raven curls over her right shoulder and lifted a hand to settle the bill of the hat at a skewed angle, slightly obscuring her view of him. "I could totally rock this game. I'd root for whoever was winning." 'Cause all it took was wearing the hat, right? She doubted that's how that worked. Looking up at him, she wished she could somehow make Hudson's life less crappy. She wanted to ask about Alvina and the twins, about that house in Larket where she'd left the beer in the first place, but she'd overstepped her bounds enough in their last meeting- bringing up the girl from the wedding and all. So instead she let him steer the conversation away from himself and back towards the guy who'd left the shop upon his arrival. She shrugged bare shoulders at his inquiry to her own life. 'Good' and 'okay' were stretches she wasn't ready to make yet but 'better' might be an acceptable settling ground. She was grateful he didn't wait for an answer though and shook her head at his mention of owing money. "Naw, shop does alright in that regard." 'Cause if nothing else the money at least looked legal. "He works for a guy who wants something I have, doesn't want to pay what I think it's worth. Same old song and dance. Unfortunately for him I know that if he could get it himself, he wouldn't need to bother me in the first place." She took another drink of her beer as she offered Hudson a playful wink.

"Root for the Cubbies, then," says Hudson. A swell of silence follows. He's thinking the same thing Lita is, something about breaking the seal on his personal life. He wonders what it must have looked like to her, coming up to his house and it looking like nobody had been there for a few days. The conversation has twisted, though, moved on to the menacing dude who'd been there moments ago. "You're super cagey," he observes, drinking from his beer and eyeing her like she's a woman with many secrets. (Maybe she is.) "If he gives you trouble, you let me know. He had a certain look about him," he says, cracking his knuckles for good measure. He cants his head at her, his thoughts naturally returning to the place they'd been before. "How's everything going with your man?" he asks, meaning Krice. Feeling playful, he blows into the mouthpiece of his beer bottle, it makes a gratuitous melodious noise. "He know you got guys coming to the shop trying to twist your arm?"

Lita had been called a lot of things in her life but only one other person had ever called her cagey and the memory of it now made her smile a little, even as she narrowed dark eyes up at him playfully. Keeping secrets was all she'd known how to do in life and it somehow felt good to be a part of that world again. She'd tried the legit thing for a while but screw that noise... She took another drink but coughed a little at Hudson's next words, barely managing not to spew beer at him as a bout of laughter skipped past her lips. If he gave her trouble? Hudson was kind of cute defending her honor or something. She nodded but then he was asking about her man and the laughter faded a little, a sad sort of darkness crossing her features as she took another drink. She wished it was something stronger than beer. "He uh, knows I can handle myself." No pun intended, honest. "But I don't think it's gonna work out. He uh, would rather I didn't work, so to speak." So was pretty apprehensive about the current conversation topic, at least without copious amounts of whiskey involved. She shrugged bare shoulders and took another drink to wash the lump from the back of her throat. "What do you say I wash this mess off my arms and hands and you teach me something about this game you like so much? Maybe then I'll understand half the stuff you talk about." She was teasing him again.

Hudson would pry a bit more about Lita's visitor -- maybe they've more in common than they realize -- but the conversation drifts away. His polite expression of interest shifts into concern as Lita seems to snag on the question about Krice. That had been unexpected. He immediately sides with her, of course, although he and Alvina had The Exact Same Dispute going on. Not much self-awareness right now. He and Alvina have children! Clearly different. He says nothing right away, drinks his beer in a sort of respectful acknowledgment of what's happening. He's silent, grown equally pensive about the situation that's evolved on his own home front. He frowns. "Sorry to hear that," he says, "that sort of stuff takes a lot out of you." He leaves it at that, he nods in time with her suggestion that he explain the rules of baseball. Her playful demeanor stirs a smile out of him, sweeping away the strangeness just as quickly as it's arrived. "Do it, I got some time to kill," he encourages her, trying not to delve too deeply into the reason why he's got so much time to kill these days.

Lita's motives are entirely selfish. She wants a distraction. Hudson had a way of popping up when she needed one of those. She didn't say anything more about the Krice situation. They'd tried. Harder than most but wanting something and making it happen were not the same things and in the end, with an ultimatum on the table, she'd been more inclined to run. Old habits died hard. She understood that the shadows she lived in were a choice she made. She couldn't ask anyone else to live there with her if it wasn't what they wanted. And as much as Krice might have wanted them to work, it was not a life he wanted. And in the end, despite being horrible at card games, she'd folded her hand. She was suddenly grateful for that bottle in hand as she emptied it, letting the glass clink atop one of the display cases as she stood to her feet and left the empty bottle. She paused a beat, as if she might say something more on the subject but the words never came and she nodded instead before turning towards the little staircase at the back of the room and disappearing to the second floor for a few minutes. She returned having scrubbed all the color from her arms and hands, leather riding boots on her feet- normal people probably played games in shoes, after all and these were all she had at the shop- and raven curls tied into a loose braid over her right shoulder and under that ball cap she was still wearing. "So I was thinking," she was musing as she took the last few steps back into the shop's main room. "If you might've been serious about the muscle offer," she managed a little grin as she lifted dark eyes to regard him, "I need to head up to Frostmaw in a few days for a friend." Loose terminology. "Could use an extra set o' hands if you're still around?"

Hudson watches Lita go, her disclosure doing a bit to stir about the hard feelings he felt toward his own situation, which of late had been congealing into a sort of grim clarity. He simultaneously misses and wants Alvina back (desperately) and also hates her a little, because she'd ripped his heart out for one but also because in a fit of rage she'd told the literal Queen of Larket (and her best friend) a terrible thing that could blow back on him and Valrae and land them both in jail or dead. The only thing that makes him feel better of late is plotting to kill the bad guys in Larket. (Bad guys meaning... he doesn't think he is one.) He's just marinating in those thoughts and draining the last of his beer as Lita returns, cleaned up and with a proposal. He supposes it's fine, if they take his horse and don't defer to slower, inferior methods of transportation. While he's in Frostmaw, he can see his children (and Alvina, he supposes she'll be there too, as their mother). "Yeah, I can take us," he tells her. "I have a few things I want to check into while we're there." The truth is hanging over him like a blade, and he decides to just cut it lose. "My kids actually are staying in Frostmaw right now, with their mother," he says, his forehead creasing, as if it were a fact that he's only now recalling and not a fact that he's more or less always aware of, and resentful about. He pushes the conversation along, as if it were normal, "Plus there's some business stuff. Anyway, I'm certainly big bad wolf enough, does this relate to your... visitor earlier?"

Lita didn't think of Hudson as a bad guy any more than she considered herself one. She'd done a lot of bad things maybe but in a big-picture-view she'd carried the best of intentions on most accounts. Lita wouldn't object to his want to ride north. It had been a long while since she'd been riding. Her smile broadened a bit as he agreed to the trip north and she nodded at his intentions of having things to look into anyway. Couldn't argue. But then he was mentioning the twins and their mother- she assumed that meant Alvina- and her brow furrowed slightly as her smile faded. It washed over her in a slow wave, that realization that there was trouble in paradise. After all, why would Alvina and the twins be in Frostmaw if Hudson had just finished that house in Larket? Despite the earthquake the restoration of the city had made briliant strides and let's be honest, Larket needed a bit of a refresher anyway, right? "I'm sorry to hear." she murmured, not quite knowing what she was supposed to say. Better to not stick her foot in her mouth asking if they were on vacation or some such. Hudson wasn't likely to be in Rynvale if that were the case. Whatever had gone on between him and Alvina, he loved those girls. Anyone who put that much effort into Hollow-brand-Ikea furniture could testify to that. Before she could think of something worse to say Hudson was changing the subject again. "Bid bad wolf?" He got a smirk for that one. "Think less big and bad and more sly and willing to skirt a little danger."

Hudson offers Lita a rueful smile. "Ah, ya," he exhales, since there's nothing much to say about it that he can think of either. The lack of excuses he's providing is maybe indication enough of what has gone down. Perhaps they're both grateful by the conversation's movement away from the subject, touchy on all sides apparently. Hudson has to chuckle as Lita seemingly greets with skepticism the suggestion that he's the big bad wolf. "Maybe I am the big bad wolf and you just don't know, I just SEEM like a nice jock who might sit behind you in chemistry class," he 'jokes,' amusement re-inscribing itself on his features. "I got your sly and willing to skirt a little danger," he tells her, locking eyes as he goes about taking himself another beer and opening it. He offers it to her first, and then depending on the outcome of that goes about serving himself. "You gonna tell me what we are doing?" he wants to know, after he's had himself a sip. "So I can come appropriately prepared, you know like," his mouth twitches with a smirk, as he decides he'll cut a joke to lighten the question a bit, "bring a swim suit and whatnot."

Lita wasn't sure if it was the beer or Hudson or all those memories and emotions neither of them wanted to talk about but some combination of the above was making her head swim. She managed a bit of a laugh at Hudson's jest about pretending to be a nice jock. She didn't buy that for a second. "That so?" she lofted in playful challenge as he mentioned having that 'sly and willing to skirt a little danger' she'd requested. She'd take that offered beer. Maybe she was learning to like the stuff. Doubtful but she'd drink it if it meant she got to hang out with Hudson for a while. "Well you see, the thing about people wanting something they think you have is that you usually have to have the item in question." That was probably vague as hell on purpose. She tipped the beer for a drink and leaned her hip against the display case in the center of the room, angling to face him a little better. "I need to steal a dragon egg." Said casually, as if she'd just mentioned needing to buy a new pair of shoes instead of attempting to drag Hudson along on a suicide mission.

Hudson taps a finger along his beer bottle, hitching up an eyebrow as Lita explains that she's actually intending to possibly commit a wee bit of fraud here. Stealing a dragon egg! Not his usual angle, stealing things, but he's off in the deep end these days. He wants to do it, for her, not because he needs to, or has any particular desire to steal things. It's about his ego. "Wow, you are mixed up in some shady business," he pronounces her, drinking from his beer and eyeballing her across the room. "And I thought you were a nice girl, small business owner," he goes on. "I suppose appearances... can be deceiving." He looks her over, hip cocked, his Cenril Cubbies hat still a bit sideways on her head. "How much does a dragon egg go for, and where exactly are you stealing said dragon egg from?"

If there was one thing Lita knew how to do it was stroke somebody's ego. Yeah I'll leave that one alone. Shady business? Hudson didn't know the half of it. It was kind of cute. Then again, for the strange friendship they'd cultivated, they knew very little about one another. "I am a nice girl." she argued, feigning innocence as she took another drink. "Just as much as you're the nick jock sitting behind me in- what was it, chemistry class?" Okay now she was teasing him again. She wanted to tell him she didn't get mixed up in things nearly as often as she coordinated the show but she'd leave some surprises for later dates. "It's not about the money." She'd never hurt much for money. Shop brought in a decent wage and what didn't get bought at the shop got smuggled through the tunnels beneath and she made a cut of every run for the facilitation. "Person wanting the egg is in a position to get me something I want. So I want them to owe me a favor. And the first rule of any negotiation is that you don't come to the table empty handed." Except as far as dragon eggs go she was empty handed. Needed to remedy that. "There are two nests in Frostmaw that I know of." Though she'd never ventured very close. "I figured, if I can, take a couple eggs from both and let said interested party choose the prettiest one." She shrugged a bare shoulder at Hudson. "I won't think any less of you if you want out though." She understood he had little ones to think of, too. She tried to hide a devious grin as she took another drink. "Just don't expect me to call you 'big bad wolf'."

"Not about the money," muses Hudson over the mouthpiece of his beer, considering her. What it is about comes out soon enough. There's a favor involved. He rubs the light beard lining his face, appears to be mulling it all over. He drinks from his beer, a couple times, to get the decision making process chugging along. He is actually thinking about his kids, but what he's also thinking is that he has a really fast flying horse and that he can probably make some sort of flame retardant mixture through alchemy to make it a bit safer. "Well I do have kids," he points out, just to clue her in to where he's at. "On the one hand, there's that. On the other... I think we can mitigate the danger, and also I really like doing stupid things sometimes. Right now is one of those times. And I maybe I want you to owe ME a favor." He hides his mild smile behind his drink. "Also I have to go to Frostmaw anyway and this'll keep my mind off of other stressful crap that's going on."

Owing Hudson a favor? She could be okay with that. Favors weren't something she traded on a daily basis. It was one thing to be able to call one in but entirely different thing to be called upon and it was rare that she'd been willing to let someone else have that much control over her freedom. Though for a brief moment she imagined Hudson's idea of a favor might include copious amounts of beer and art supplies. She might have smiled. Lita had never bothered with danger-mitigation in the past but then again, she'd also never gone against dragons before. So it might be a decent idea. "Alright, I'll bite. You run this with me and I'll owe you one." The words were laced with a bit more enjoyment than she might have intended. "And hey, I'm all about a willing distraction. I'll make sure you make it back ok so long as you promise you'll still teach me about baseball."

Hudson brings his bottle against hers in a toast. "Done, always plenty of time to learn about baseball," he says, drinking to seal their adventure. "On that note, I should get going," he says after that. His mood's lifted, somewhat, though he knows it's only a matter of time before he falls down again and is forced to contend with the situation at hand. Still, one day at a time. He puts his beer back in the sleeve for the six pack, which is now a three pack (if you include this now half-finished cold one). "Let me know when and where I'm picking you up," he says, pulling Lita into a hug goodbye. He brushes a kiss against the chill of her cheek. He forgets she's a vampire sometimes. "See ya when I see ya." He brandishes his beers at her as he begins to back out of the shop. "Thank you!"

Lita tipped the bill of her hat at him as he mentioned that he should be taking his leave. Her hat as in she was currently wearing it, at least. She tilts her beer towards him before following his lead for a drink. Half finished, she leaves the beer on that display case as he tugs her into a hug and she loops an arm around his middle, squeezing him gently before he's pulled away. He was warm and inviting. That kiss against her cheek might have sparked a blush across her features but she'd clear her throat a little and if prompted at later date would always blame the alcohol. She lifted a hand, wriggling her fingers in a little wave as he disappeared from the shop's front.