Jack Oat (masterofnone) wrote in lost_world, @ 2013-01-29 18:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !status: complete, jack oat, mary winchester |
A little shoptalk between strangers (Jack/Mary, TBC in comments)
Jack sat at the table and stared into her drink. She had much to think about, but then when did she not? She tilted the bottle this way and that, watching the dark liquid inside move just enough to keep the horizon flat. Her lips set in a slight smile. Always keeping an even keel, or something like that. It made her happy and restored her calm.
When the waiter came back, she looked up slowly as if she were returning to the here and now, but really she was only considering what she was going to say next.
“I’ll have a basket of fries. Oh! And onion rings. The mix basket.” Thankfully this place had that, or she just made it up. Either way, she did not mind it at all. She looked down at the glass bottle in her hands and was about to get lost in the moving of the liquid within when the waiter interrupted with...
“And another bottle of rootbeer?”
“Yes, that’d be great. But when the food comes.” She smiled warmly and let herself relax.
----
Mary had a lot to think about herself, and drinking sounded really damn good. They’d followed that longshot of a lead of hers all the way to Electric City only to find nothing. Not her Uncle Sam, not Ellen. Not a damn thing that could help them. Now they were just... here. Looking into what they could and hoping that somebody turned up soon. Her mom had, after all.
It wasn’t that the entire world had changed between now and the time that she was from. Not exactly. There were some things that never changed, after all. Like dive bars with the food that tasted like a little slice of heaven and shuffled you several steps closer to the grave.
That sounded really good right now. For that matter, spending a few hours outside of the company of people who wouldn’t quite be the people she knew for another thirty-odd years sounded even better.
For a dive bar, the place was crowded. In fact, there weren’t many seats left at all. Mary approached one table that seemed to only have one occupant. She just really hoped that the woman’s boyfriend wasn’t in the bathroom or something. She didn’t want to be a third wheel. Not when she’d been playing perpetual third wheel to young versions of her parents lately.
“This seat taken?” she asked, eyeing the other woman’s choice of drink curiously.
----
Jack looked up, brows raised. She sat up to look around, not at all having expected to get a second at her table. She leaned back to look at the woman. Blond, pretty, kind of reminded her of a particular bartending hothead turned hunter.
“Yeah, sure, go head.” She motioned to the empty chair. “The waiter was just by, will have to grab him on his next round.” She smiled, as usual. It was who she was.
“Who knew a dump like this could get popular?” She shrugged. “Guess people like their artery cloggers.” She laughed softly, seeing as she was definitely one of those people.
----
Mary took her seat and gave a small smile to the other woman.
“Never underestimate the power of greasy food,” she said. “It stands the test of time.”
She wouldn’t specify just how well she knew that. Instead she just left it as a casual statement, not a truth.
“Thanks, by the way. This place really is packed. Are you a local?”
She was curious about this city and while Johnny could answer quite a few questions, it didn’t hurt to get more than one perspective.
----
“Yeah, donno why. Seems everybody and their dog is in this place. There’s not a convention in sight either.” Jack shrugged, laughing softly. “And, no, not from here. Kind of from...” Her hand lifted with the bottle in it, just a small motion. “Everywhere, I guess.”
She flagged the waiter down by motioning to the new girl at her table. It seemed the thing to do. A few more sips and she’d be finished with her own drink, but she’d wait til the greasy grub got to the table before drinking more. She wouldn’t mind something more, but she was careful. She knew that she had to watch her health, always, which was always amusing when she felt like drooling over fries.
“Guessing you aren’t, using the word ‘local’ and all.” She gave the blond a smile and a wink.
----
“I’d say ‘everywhere’ about sums up where I’m from too,” Mary agreed with a small smile.
She ordered her usual whiskey on the rocks from the waiter, grateful to her tablemate for flagging him down.
“So what brings you to town?” she asked.
If the other woman was, in fact, a hunter, then they would both just exchange lies as was the custom. Mary wouldn’t poke holes in her story and vice versa. But if something else had brought her to town-like, say, the missing people that were suddenly appearing here-then Mary most definitely wanted to hear what she had to say. It was even worth being chattier than usual to have the chance of finding that out.
----
“A little small business, the usual.” Jack was a chatty one on occasions, but there were times she didn’t spill everything. She twirled her bottle, making it dance on its round bottom. She didn’t let it fall, and it wasn’t very loud as it twirled. It was habit. She liked stacking things, too, but for now, she’d play with her bottle.
“Just passing through really. You? Business or pleasure?” Her smile suggested those were often one and the same. People who didn’t at least like what they did for a living weren’t really living. She watched the blond for a moment before looking round again, just watching more than anything.
Something was going on in this place, and she wondered what it was. Kai may have something when she met up with the girl later. Funny that she saw Kai as a girl when Jack wasn’t that much older herself. Experience maybe, or lack thereof?
----
Mary was usually tight lipped about her reason for rolling into a town. Sometimes she had a story, other times she just kept to herself. She wasn’t usually this chatty unless she wanted information. Right now, she definitely wanted information. And while she didn’t think she’d find it here, it couldn’t help to start asking around.
“I’m looking for someone.” She tried very hard not to show just how worried she was, or just how emotional she might get over the missing person. “I heard that there were some confused people turning up here and thought it might be a good place to check. You know anything about that?”
----
“I only know that this is not Kansas anymore. Hell, if it is Kansas, their inbreeding has certainly come up with some really weird shit.” Jack’s voice wasn’t a whisper, but she wasn’t yelling her words. Her voice was a normal conversational level, and she was smiling. Her attention shifted to a group of fellows who were looking their way; she continued to smile and gave them a slight nod.
“That or they’ve got some mad scientist type on the loose, putting fun stuff in the water.” The hunter decided she’d have to look in something reflective eventually to see if whatever was going on with the locals was indeed something going on with her.
“Then again, you seen one crazy little town, you’ve kind of seen them all.”
----
Mary hadn’t had the chance to put her finger on what was weird about the people she’d seen lately. In fact, she didn’t realize it until she followed Jack’s gaze to the group of people the next table over. Her poker face was good enough that when she realized that the strangeness was in the eyes-dual pupils, to be exact-she didn’t drop her jaw or gasp. Instead, she turned her attention back to the woman at the table with her and noted that she, at least, only had one pupil.
Mary leaned in, as if their conversation was just that engrossing. She lowered her voice.
“Anything weird that you’ve noticed besides the eyes?” she asked in a voice that was quiet enough that it wouldn’t carry over the din of the crowd in the bar.
----
“They’re your average odd pupil types.” Jack shrugged, knowing full well that wasn’t average. Although there was possibly a freak of nature thing in which a iris coloboma was a frequent occurrence. It wasn’t normal there either, but she wasn’t ruling it out. It made her truly wonder what was going on.
“Kind of new to the city, but from what I understand, it has a good bit of tension and conspiracy going on. Go figure.” She gave the other woman a slight smile before looking up at the waiter with the latest arrival’s drink. Jack spared him a wink and a smile.
“Hey, there a birth rate in twins round here?” Yes, nothing like throwing odd questions at waitstaff. “My friend here has a thing for congenital mutations - like identical twins - just thought we’d find her a couple twins, someone with six fingers, or six toes. You got much of that here? Not to be rude, just..” She leaned over, smiling a little more. “She doesn’t get much play, and I’m tired of listening to her complain about finding that perfect person.”
----
Mary did her best not to roll her eyes when the waiter gave her a confused look. He turned his attention back to Jack and shook his head slowly.
“Not that I know of.”
Mary tried to be subtle in studying the waiter’s eyes. They looked normal, but then suddenly he looked across the bar and blinked and then there were two pupils. Mary said nothing but glanced over at Jack to see if the other woman had noticed that.
“Thanks,” Mary said, accepting her drink and trying to curtail the potentially awkward conversation that would follow the waiter being put on the spot like that.
She didn’t much care what the locals thought of her, but she also didn’t want them-whatever they really were-getting too suspicious.
----
“Sorry, honeypot, no sideshow action for you tonight.” Jack shrugged, smiling softly. She snapped and looked down at her phone. She wondered if Kai would know anything about it. The eyes were strange. There were any number of reasons there could be slight oddities in the eyes. Of course, as much as she wanted this to be some genetic thing, she kept coming back to it was abnormal even if it was genetics. This many in one location of this size and type? It wasn’t like they were dealing with a rather secluded rural town rife with inbreeding.
“As I said, not in Kansas.” As soon as the waiter went away. “Sorry about throwing you under the bus, but sometimes the stranger the easier. Sometimes the stranger, the stranger.” She shrugged, smiling again. Her tactics were odd, but she got results. She wouldn’t be walking the world if that weren’t the case.
“What’s your poison?” She wasn’t talking about the whiskey. “Fangs, fur, chains, doodads?” Of course, the question may like it belonged with her earlier ones, but if the blond were in the know, as Jack suspected, then she’d understand.
----
At first, Mary wondered about what Jack was really asking. But she quickly realized what the other woman meant. She smiled slowly.
“I think the better question is-what doesn’t fall under that category? If it’s something that doesn’t belong among humans, it’s on my list,” she said.
She was a little relieved that Jack seemed to be up on things. It might actually be nice to have another hunter to talk to about everything going on here. A hunter who was just a hunter and not her future mom or dad or future zombie boyfriend. Yeah, that might be a nice change of pace.
“You?”
----
“Sometimes doodads, I do like a good doodad.” Jack laughed softly. “The word itself is fun. ‘Doodad.’” She knew she sounded crazy, but she didn’t even seem to mind it. Jack wasn’t the sort to worry about such things, not usually. Not unless she had to get into an office, crime scene, or anything that was related to a job she was working on.
“But, I range. Have to diversify these days. Or that’s what they’re always saying on tv these days.” She shrugged as she flagged the waiter down again. “Water until food gets here? Thanks.” She gave the poor guy a wink before looking at the other woman.
“Jack.” She finally offered her name.
----
It was only then that Mary realized that she hadn’t yet introduced herself.
“Mary,” she replied. She was relieved that Jack hadn’t offered a last name. That made it seem less strange for her to avoid giving a last name as well. Sure, she had more than her share of fake names but now didn’t seem the time for that alias.
“So what’s a doodad?” Mary asked. She’d heard the term, but not in relation to things to be hunted.
----
“A doodad?” Jack blinked. It wasn’t normal that people didn’t know that word, or it wasn’t usual. She smiled at Mary. “It’s an object. It could be so many things, a trinket, an item, anything really. Often times it goes with ‘newfangled’, but it doesn’t always have to.” She laughed softly, not at all teasing the other woman.
“Fetishes, cursed objects, charms, bits and pieces of hex bags.” She shrugged, smiling. Yes, the dark haired woman had no problem mentioning such things in the public. “Also doesn’t have to be all that either. It could simply be a gadget.”
----
“So is that what’s brought you here?” Mary asked, still curious as to what else might be going on with this town. It did seem coincidental that another hunter would end up here.
In a way, it reminded her of York-the way seekers of the abnormal and supernatural were drawn to the place. She supposed that made sense since Johnny had warned her that this place had all sorts of weird going on.
----
“Yes.” It was a short and sweet answer that didn’t completely answer her question. Jack gave Mary an apologetic smile. “And no. I heard there was something here, but so far I haven’t found much. Fact is, it could be a bunch of nothing. Sometimes it is. Actually most times it is.”
She shifted a little on her chair. With an appreciative laugh, she greeted the food that was brought right over to them. Onion rings and fries.
“Have some.” She motioned for Mary to join her. “But, anything could happen.”
----
“Thanks,” Mary said, accepting some of the food. She gave Jack a grateful smile.
“I’m coming up empty on my leads too.”
She did her best not to sigh. It was extremely frustrating to keep coming up empty. The longer Ellen was missing, the less likely it was that she would be okay when they did find her. If they ever found her.
Mary took a healthy gulp of her drink to try to cover just how personal this case was to her.
----
“No luck?” Jack’s brows lifted in question, but she didn’t seem to mind shop talk. Really, that was all Jack had in common with some people it seemed. She claimed one of the onion rings and sat back to give the other woman a better once over. Mary. Hunter. Well, ‘Mary’ wasn’t all that rare a name, but she couldn’t help the familiar feeling, as if somehow she knew the other woman.
“Dire situation or just common usual shit?” She chomped the onion ring, chewing as she waited for the answer. Really hunters did have some very uncommon common usual shit, so it could have been anything.
----
Mary considered just how honest to be here. She would have moved Heaven and Earth or made whatever deals she thought would help if it meant getting her sister back. So it wasn’t too much of a stretch to take a chance and confide in someone who might have heard something, even if she wasn’t sure whether or not she could fully trust that someone.
“My sister is one of the missing people that I’m looking for.”
She certainly wasn’t going to tell the whole truth. Nobody needed to know that she was in the wrong time and was just hoping that finding her sister would be enough for the angels to decide to send them both back to when they belonged.
----
"I see. Any good leads?" Jack was asking not just to be nice, but hunters were supposed to help each other. When someone was looking for family, then they definitely needed help. She smiled as the bottle of rootbeer she'd asked for was brought to the table. She had downed one bottle already.
"Thanks." She nodded at the waiter before turning her attention fully to Mary. She felt for the other woman. Jack didn't have any family to look for anymore, so she could only imagine what Mary was going through. She did feel for the other hunter, no matter what.