RP:Meri Meet... Office

From HollowWiki

Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc


Summary: Hudson, in a mood, ends up telling Meri about his role as Firefly Steve alchemist. He takes her on a tour of the office and the two discuss a new product as well as using her as a connect in Rynvale.


Cenril Apothecary

Hudson is in the Cenril apothecary's, stacking large quantities of the same reagents in his cart. He's wearing a baseball jersey and jeans and sharing an aisle with an older man in a white labcoat and glasses. "Hey," says Hudson, trying to get the guy's attention, gesturing to two different brands of the same product. "Do you know which one is generally of higher quality? Not too familiar with this product." "What are you making son," comes the immediate reply, as the man appraises Hudson's casual attire and unlikely scientist demeanor. "Uh, literally, trying to make some drugs," says Hudson, who's now turned to buy three of the next item on his list. "I mean, you know," he adds, to no effect. The old man at first is silent. He studies Hudson, now bending to peruse the section of various dyes, baseball cap on crooked. "Maybe the first one," comes his cryptic reply, before steering his cart into the next aisle.


Meri's arrival is marked by the chime of the bell, one that hangs over the main door of the shop to announce the coming and going of any of the customers. It wouldn't do for him to have all of his wares stolen due to inattentiveness. In steps Meri right when Hudson announces that is he looking to make some drugs, Meri's initial reaction is to lift a brow. Shortly after the woman is cart side, curiosity peeked. This go round the tattooed blonde is not suffering from all of the horrid affects of a massive hangover and seems more willing to engage in conversation....which Hudson may or may not appreciate given the teasing words that fall past ruby red lips. "Drugs? You want to make drugs? Isn't this the place to buy drugs?" Yes, she has an inkling that they are referencing two different types of drugs. "If I were him I would not want to peddle to my potential competition. Pretty sure they teach you not to do that in business 101." Try and escape, Huds, but Meri is intent on being nosy, she's going to follow down those aisle for a hot minute here. "I don't recall your name," she confesses, "I just remember you have a cute horse. Remind me of it."


"Thanks, man," Hudson calls after the scientist's retreating figure. He sweeps several boxes of the stuff into his cart, and runs his thumb along the items on his list. His concentration is short lived, as an attractive woman steals close to him and begins asking him questions. He smiles reflexively, as 99.9% of men do in this situation and then he realizes: ... he vaguely remembers this woman. "Yup," he answers her question, looking a touch sheepish for the subtext to what she's saying. "Maybe I'm opening my own apothecary," he's reaching for a couple more reagents, dropping them into his cart. He leans his elbows on the handlebar, screwing up his forehead and gazing at her in concentration as she mentions not recalling his name. "Cleo's the horse, she is cute," he says at length, after deciding they're mutually worthless at names. "I'm Hudson, Huds, hey you, whatever. I forgot your name too, so, we're even. We met stuck in traffic, yeah? Some sort of... spill... thing? Are youuuuu buying," scare quotes, "drugs as well?"


A shrug is given at the admission that her own name isn't remembered, "Well at least I don't have to feel bad for not remembering yours." Red lips curve up into a wry smirk, she was amused with herself at the very least. "Meri." As she is presently pestering the Hudson about drugs, formalities such as handshakes are skipped. No sense in trying to behave like a civilized woman at this point. "I came here looking for some manner of sleeping aids," comes her explanation for her being here. It's unlikely that Meri doesn't follow the implications here, based on judgement of the content of her numerous tattoos alone Meri is far from a wholesome woman and probably understands those quotes. Still, for show, Meri picks up a bottle of this, eyeballs it. Replaces it. Repeat with something completely different. "I guess if you were opening your own apothecary and you were a smart businessman you'd probably chat with me about what you could offer that may help with that. If anything." Baby blues abandon any faux attempt to find this 'sleeping aid' from the shelves in order to pin an analytical look on Hudson, attempting to gauge his reaction. Not everyone took kindly to forwardness and excessive curiosity. "Then again, a good time is a good time. I could be open to other suggestions." 

Meri gives her name, and Hudson pulls the face of a man who's just missed it, mutters, "Meri, right, I knew that." He offers her a knowing nod in response to her alleged need for sleeping aids. "Gotta get your sleep," he says, with a boyish grin. He continues to lean on his cart's handlebar, smirking as she goes through various items on the shelves, supposedly in ignorance. This is some performance. "Valerian root and chamomile are supposed to help if you can't sleep," he says, playing into it. He rolls the cart back and forth a little, eyeballing her and letting an intentional pause slide in after her last comment. His mouth twitches into a smirk as the loaded silence lingers, and lingers. He breaks it: "I'm actually a wholesaler. I make the stuff, and my people sell it. Trying to make something new right now." He gestures at the cart. "What kind of good time are you looking for.... Meri." He says her name with pleasure.


Meri assumes a casual lean against one of the displays when Hudson lets silence fall over them, one hand finding the curve of her hip as she waits. Either Hudson will say something or she'll get a clue and walk away, conversation over. She's thankfully spared that snub. Everything that Hudson said was heard and processed and yet not everything was actually given full regard. Specifically the point where he mentions that he's the wholesaler, that causes red lips to twitch up into another smirk. "Wholesaler, hm? And yet it somehow it doesn't quite sound like you're telling me to get packing, hit the streets and find your people instead." Pushing away from the display, Meri takes a half step closer to inspect the contents of Hudson's cart in more detail. "What sort of good time am I looking for? Why don't we take this approach. Why don't you finish your shopping, and then we can mosey along and you can tell me all about what your cooking up these days. Then maybe we can figure out what sort of good time I'm looking for."


Hudson shrugs, continuing the theme of nonchalance. "Or: my stuff's all over the streets, I don't need to direct you too much for you to find it," he says this with a grin, using his cart as a scooter to drift further along the aisle. So she can't inspect it too closely, although she'd probably had a good look already. He's in some mood, turning one's life upside down has that effect at times. "Or I could be pulling your leg," he throws a glance back over his shoulder at her. "Maybe I just really need a lot of cold medicine, stockpiling for the apocalypse, and I'm just messing." He raises his eyebrows playfully, jerks his head toward the counter. "Let me check out here, meet you outside?"


Different people come with different levels of sensitivities. There is a large population that perhaps may not have any appreciation for for the way Hudson is toying, Meri seems to take it in stride. There is a laugh and a roll of her eyes as booted feet set her on a course toward the door. Pause is given right next to Hudson, "Naw, those apocalypse people are unhinged in an entirely different manner. Besides, I suspect that you would also be wearing a tin hat to block any mind reading signals instead of a cap were you one of those doomsday weirdos. Unless you are going to tell me that your cap is actually lined with tinfoil, that you've managed to figure out how to be fashionable and prepared." In a bid to be intentionally obnoxious, there is an attempt to flick the brim of that ball cap with enough force to knock it out of it's current position. Another chuckle, but Meri doesn't keep in the room long enough for Hudson to get a word in edge wise, as out the door she goes. Where she'll wait, assuming another casual lean, but this time she is propped up against the outside wall of the apothecary, one leg bent at the knee with her booted foot planted against the wall. What a perfect time to indulge in a cigarette.


Hudson claps a hand on his hat to prevent it from being flicked. And then before he can reply with something smart, Meri saunters past him. Very well. His gaze follows her out and he pushes his cart to the register, whereupon he pays for an immense amount of basic cold medicines and even flirts harmlessly with the old lady who's ringing him up. He gets a nice crate that closes for discretion for his trouble to carry it all back to where his operations are based. Meri's outside, waiting for him, and he turns his smile up as he joins her. He removes his hat, actually, and shows her the inside: normal Cenril Cubs hat. Nothing to see here. He puts it back on, jerks his head toward the street to invite her to walk with him. "Not sure why I feel so chatty about what I do today, normally I tell people I make uh, pharmaceutical reagents," he tells her. "Mood, maybe, I feel like being a big shot. Anyway, I make Firefly Steve, blue dust, but some of this stuff in here," the crate, that is, "I'm going to use to make some sort of... hallucinogenic product out of some shaman mushrooms I've got a hold of. So this all is for science, if you have any good ideas as to how people should take it I'm all ears." He swings his gaze her way. "I don't think I caught what you did?"


Meri's reaction to having her antics blocked is to grin slyly, she's quite alright with a failed attempt. Onward and forward, that hat is only given a half-arsed inspection when it is presented to her and a soft chuckle. The tattooed blonde doesn't remain in her lean when Hudson indicates that she should walk and follow. Her cigarette is held in the hand furtherest away from Hudson as they walk to keep the smoke from drifting toward him, having learned over years as a smoker that it is considered more socially polite to do so. "Ah Huds, you're talking to a simple tattoo artist. Don't go getting to technical and advanced on me here." There is a flash of a grin as she jokes at her own expense this time. "But I assume you've done shrooms before, right? They taste horrible, tend to be inconsistent on potency. You and your bro can eat the same amount and one could be tripping balls all night and the other may only get a tickle of a high for a couple of hours. And it can take a hot minute for them to set in. If I was smart enough to do it, I s'pose I'd process it to a liquid that way I can have an edge over just eating the mushhrooms themselves. Better taste and all around better high. But what do I know? You've got the brains, not me."


"Do you work here - say, do you know Lita? Super hot, works in Rynvale," Hudson wants to know. In his mind, tattoo artists all know one another. Possibly, more than likely, not the case. Meri looks like a woman who likes a good time, though (like Lita), maybe that's why he's feeling more candid than usual. (It's the tattoos.) "That's the plan actually," he replies to her, about making the potency consistent. He has an easy smile but a lot of work ahead of him. "Isolate what makes it work, fix the medium. Maybe if I get it going I'll let you know, if you want." They're heading toward the edge of the dodgier side of town. "There's people on the streets who sell what I make but you can always get it at The Office, do you know it? Dancing establishment...... of a certain repute?"


It does not seem that Meri is going to make a strong case against Hudson's line of thinking that all tattoo artists know each other. There is no sass to the smile that spring across her lips this time, Hudson has officially dropped a name that Meri is quite fond of. "Barefooted vampire with the soul of gypsy? Yeah, she's my boss. Well, when she's around at the very least. She's often not in one place for very long, I have found." Though Meri was familiar enough with the streets of Cenril, Hudson was basically left to take the lead of their walk. It's safe to say that Meri is not entirely even close to put off by the fact they are venturing into seedier areas. "I've heard a couple of sailors chattering about the place down at the docks. To be honest it sounds like a place my exes would want to hang out at more than I would. You're making the place sound a little more intriguing though. If you tell me that you've got some hunky male dancers, that'll score the place some extra points." Cue an impish grin. The remains of her cigarette are flicked forward and then snuffed out with the toe of her boot in her next strike forward. "Is that where we are headed to then?"


"Noooooo crap," Hudson drawls out as it dawns on them that they have a mutual friend in common. "Lita and I are buds, I met her when I was going through a tough time, she helped me assemble my kids' cribs. Tell her I said hey. Uh, I don't know if she knows what I do for a living, though." He winces and grins wildly at the same time. "So." He leaves it at that. They're going to talk about The Office now, and he nods along with what Meri is saying, though that comes to an end and he snorts at the suggestion that the Office is stocking man dancers. "Yeah..... no, sorry," he tells her, like he's letting her down easy. "Yeah that's where we're going. I mean, you don't have to come with or anything, though I enjoy the company. Mostly I just wanted to talk official shop out of the apothecary, although that old lady behind the register loves the crap out of me. We have a serious relationship. But yeah, if you're free, I can show you the place and you can look appropriately bored until I introduce you to a connect, assuming one's hanging about..." He nods at the distant signage for the establishment. "I can make you a protein shake, I'm gonna have one."


Both brows are lifted in surprise for a fraction of a second. of all the activities she could picture Lita getting involved in...crib assembly? "Sure, I'll be sure to pass the message along next time I see her. And yeah, don't worry, I sort of figured that your role of wholesaler isn't something you want spreading like wildfire. It seems like a quick way to get on your bad side. Which is not something I want to be on. Yet. I reserve the right to change my mind though." Hudson is flashed a grin, hopefully to show that the last statement she made was nothing but hot air. Given that Meri is still carrying on in the same direction as Hudson and the conversation keeps coming, she not be opposed to checking out The Office at least once. Meri has some serious thoughts about Hudson's lack of male dancers, those are saved for another time. "Bored? Do I look bored, Hudson?" One brow is arched, "A protein shake? Sure. Why not." With that distant signage noted, Meri indulges in one more quick burn through a cigarette while they are still outdoors. The pack is also offered to Hudson in offering, seemed polite.

The Office

Hudson returns the grin. "Wowwwwww," is what he has to say in response to Meri's teasing about being on her bad side. "Honestly not sure why I even told you. Usually I say I make medical reagents. Maybe you seem cool, maybe there's that, also I'm in a mood." He waves off the offer of a smoke. They reach The Office soon enough, and he leads her around to the side door, balancing his crate against the wall to get the door unlocked. It doesn't officially open until a bit later, of course, so inside it's mostly empty and quiet. There are a few dancers milling around in various states of undress, stretching, eating cereal out of the box, gabbing. "Hey boss," they greet him. "Sup," he replies, sending a slightly sheepish look Meri's way. "I may own the place," he comments, leading her away from the floor, which is lit up as it's the daytime and peppered with sofas and armchairs and little end tables, down a hallway, and into a manager's office. There's all sorts of stuff in here: file cabinets, a suitcase that looks like it's exploded with men's athleisure apparel, an ancient (and suspect) couch with a afghan over it, a desk papered with magazines and invoices and notepads. With a grunt, Huds puts the crate of junk he'd bought at the apothecary on said desk. He picks up a sports magazine and razor and cream for shaving one's face off of his chair. A heavily made up woman - one of the dancers, though she's in sweats - pops her head in. "I left those. Article on Bryant in there. Also, shave your face, you have dinner with your mom tonight," she reminds him perkily, waving at Meri. "Thanks, Crystal," says Huds, after a glance her way to acknowledge the intrusion dropping both in a desk drawer. 'Crystal' vanishes, but he calls out after her: "Hey, can you tell the cook to make me and Meri the peanut butter protein milkshake thing?" A girlish murmur of agreement echoes back to them, done. "It's a bit of a mess in here, I'm temporarily crashing," Huds acknowledges, gesturing around him. How quaint it sounds to be 'temporarily crashing.' "My distro girl isn't here, so... I got nothin' besides welcome to the off hours of a strip club. So glamorous."


Seeing women in various state of undress was nothing, as a tattoo artist seeing the body up close and personal is just the norm and most artists did not discriminate against gender. Baby blues peruse all of the details of her surrounding, both decor and dancers, from the main room all the way back to the manager's office that Hudson paves the way to. Only half an ear was kept on the conversation between Hudson and Crystal, Meri's gaze was fixed on that couch in contemplation. She's not a snob ,or a total neat freak, but the mind wanders over the stains that the afghan is hiding and the couch quickly becomes ruled out as a sitting place. Naw, Meri plants her rump upon Hudon's desk, shortly after he's done depositing the items Crystal gave him in that drawer. There is only mild mindfulness paid to the papers on the desk, in that she manages to move them partially out of the way. Some are safe, others are not. "Dinner with mom. How cute." Because yes, that can't go without comment. "That's twice you've mentioned being in a mood. And you've mentioned kids. But you're temporarily crashing here?" She makes a vague motion around the room with her hand. "So I could take a wild guess as to what that means. It means you're in the dog house, or you know...that bridge is nice and toasted." There is a slight pause here, but that's really the point she is trying to get at. "And you're coping with this by drinking peanut butter protein milkshakes? Mr. Wholesaler? You don't dabble in the product you make?" Red lips are pressed together in a bit of a pout. "Shame your distro girl isn't here. Quite the place you've got here though." In a shady and skeevy sort of way. "You really need to embrace the concept of ladies night though. Please and thank you."


Yeah, maybe don't sit on the couch, it's pre-dated Hudson's ownership of the joint and gods know what's happened during its tenure here. He assists Meri in moving papers. "You gotta have dinner with mom," he says, plopping in the office chair and rolling up to face her. He winces at her question. A little personal, whoops, he looks at the couch and the afghan as she keeps talking. "Oh, ...yeah," he rubs the beard that's growing on his face like a weed. "It's pretty complicated, something's wrong with our house right now," he just leaves it at that, because he's a little embarrassed. Like it sounds like they've a horrific plumbing problem now, but ehhh it's OK. That's easier than 'mobsters tried to snatch my woman and she nope'd out with the kids, and now I can't stay at the house by myself because I gotta sleep sometime and ehh mobsters.' "Hey I'm coping," he says defensively, but still good humoredly, "As for using, I'm a dad and stuff and... I dunno." Crystal is back, dropping off the milkshakes. Huds pushes one toward Meri, takes the other for himself. "Cheers," he says, drinking the stuff through the reed straw. "Ladies night. Huh. I think I'll stay focused on this new product. Maybe you're right, maybe I should try it when it's ready. Maybe you know some people who want to try it. Maybe you know some people who might want to buy it. You seem like a cool girl who knows cool people. Trying to expand into Rynvale, actually, I got a guy on it."


Meri shifts the focus of her gaze to Crytsal when she reappears, flashing the woman a smile as a non-verbal gesture of thanks. There is a small bout of silence as Meri contemplates the offer that is put before her, but that silence could also be attributed to the straw that is presently in Meri's mouth. This is not really a prolonged thing, there was always that danger of a brain freeze. It'd be most ideal to not have to suffer through one of those in the middle of this chat. "This is good," she says, entirely steering the subject away from Hudson's personal problems. "I think I'm right. I think you should try it when it's ready." Stated first and foremost, because peer pressure, yo. "I know some people. I meet some people. Bouncing around taverns and inns is a favorite hobby of mine. I would say I probably have plenty of opportunity to move a bit of product for you." A casual shrug of her shoulders, another moment of silence so that she can enjoy another sip of the shake. "Of course, you know, I can see what's in it for you. Quite a bit of perks for you if I am actually one of those capable and reliable workers. But no offense, I don't really care about what's in it for you. I want to know what's in it for me."


Hudson has a second helping of his milkshake, and chuckles into his straw as Meri compliments it. "Yeah, the strip club milkshake is good," he comments, the words gilded with amusement. "Noted," he says between slurps as she doubles down on his trying his own product. He locks eyes with her as she explains her connections within Rynvale. "There's commission, to be determined," he says flatly. "Look," he levels with her, "Like I said I have a guy who's overseeing Rynvale, but Rynvale's a big place and he might appreciate the help. I don't know if this is something, I'll be honest there, but why don't I give him your name - do you mind? He can find you at the tattoo parlor?"


Meri pins an analytical look on Hudson because of the turn the conversation seems to take. Another round of silence, this time the artist doesn't bother using drinking from the milkshake as a gimmick to make this silence less awkward for it's placed on the desk right a distance away from Meri so she does not accidentally knock it over. "Well, aren't you just a no good tease tonight." Hand grip the edge of the desk. "Maybe I've got drugs, maybe I don't." And then off of the desk Meri goes, booted feet smoothly finding the ground. "Maybe I've got work that might interest ya, but then again maybe I don't." Steps are taken toward the door of the manager's office, explaining while in motion, "Sure. Go ahead and give him my name, and yeah, the parlor is obviously one of my haunts. In the mean time, you've got to be a good momma's boy, no? I'll show myself out. Maybe I'll see you around...but then again..." A quick grin is flashed to Hudson and then Meri will make good on her promise of showing herself out.