Meeting Cass, Bone Gnawer Kinfolk

3/22/2005

06:20 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Full Moon phase (83% full).

Pool Hall(#3490RJ)
Pool tables, with one foosball table and an air hockey table hiding among them, dominate the space of the hall, hardly yielding any space for the motley crew of players chalking their sticks and eying the brandy bottle at the bar lining one wall. The dust and scratches on all surfaces save the green velvet lining the pool tables indicate this hall as skimping on maintenance and cheap on cleaners. Its lack of flashy videogames and surplus of toothless kibitzers underscores its appeal to the older crowd. No natural sunlight is permitted into the hall, its lighting provided by bulbs swinging from the ceiling.
A recent 'renovation' to the hall has caused many splinters and embedded bullet holes, adding much to the aged atmosphere. Ruddish stains, dark and ominous even under the lights, refuse to be washed out of the floor. A dart board brightens up the walls with its red-and-black scheme, and a moosehead looks down on the proceedings.
Mounted from the ceiling, a television blares its glaring brightness and noises.

A set of double doors, one locked, the other unlocked at the whims of the hall manager, lead out to the street. Unobstructive doors behind the bar undoubtedly lead to storerooms.
Contents:
Cass
Obvious exits:
Outside  

[look Cass]
Cass is a tall, stocky young woman who looks to be in her mid-20s. She's what one might call "big-boned" in the true sense of the word - not obese, but slightly chubby, broad-shouldered and broad-hipped, with a squarish jawline. Her piercing gray eyes, magnified by wire-framed glasses, gleam with fiery emotion tempered by a cooler, more appraising intelligence. Despite the dusting of freckles across her cheeks, her face is usually drawn in a tight-lipped frown. Wavy, strawberry blonde is drawn behind her head in a conservative pony tail, and a #2 pencil is tucked behind her ear. The woman is clad in a white button-down blouse, navy blue cardigan sweater and a black, ankle-length skirt. Knee-high black leather boots, with high heels, complete the ensemble - the only daring aspect of her wardrobe.

The pool hall is mostly empty on a weeknight, especially this early. The dim room is peopled by a trio of grizzled regulars sitting at the bar, munching on peanuts, and a seedy-looking pair shooting pool. The young woman seated at the table at the back looks out-of-place, dressed in a conservative ankle-length skirt, with books and papers spread out in front of her. She sucks on a Camel Light as if it contained the very essence of life, and nurses a bottle of beer occassionally, as she marks on her papers with a bright red pen.

If the woman in the cardigan looks out of place, then the youngish looking Asian who comes in is just slightly better. When Yi steps in, there's a few glances her way but nothing particularly spectacular. Over her shoulder, a black one-strap bag hanging down with a few noticeable corners poking through the thin material to indicate some books or other retangular shape objects within. Her first destination is the bar, and in her accented tones, Yi orders a decent tasting lager of sort. Her eyes scan the pool tables first, checking the regulars and picking out unfamiliars. And, more noticeably does her gaze settle upon the woman at the back table.

Cass seems intent on... well, whatever it is she's doing back there with her books and papers and pens. Lips pressed pencil-line thin in concentration, she doesn't look up until she feels Yi's gaze. Then, her ocean-grey eyes snap up, to seek the staring culprit.

Yi looks away like the guilty student when the other woman's eyes snap upwards, the ragabash turning back to receive her large lager. Slipping over a bill to pay for it. Then, she's walking about and looking at the various games going on. Her winding path moves along like a snake through grass, even though a vast majority of the seasoned vets are not affected in their game by the Gnawer's presence. Occassionally, her gaze flickers back towards the odd teacher, her inner question stirring to ask why she would choose such an environment to grade papers in. Eventually, the ragabash gets curious enough to approach in the woman's general direction, and she sets her mug down at an adjoining table.

When Yi sits at the adjoining table, it becomes evident that Cass is indeed grading. The papers in front of her have so much red on them, they look like they may've been used to mop up a ritual sacrifice. Cass twitches a bit, then takes a long, slow drag from her cigarrette, eyeing Yi out from askance. Not looking directly at the Gnawer, the woman intones, "Good evening."

Yi starts a bit, not having expected the woman to actually talk to her. And, though it's not incredibly tense, her return smile holds an underlying restraint, either from politeness with strangers or just a tension that goes beyond the skin. Regardless, the Gnawer's answer is polite and with an accompanied dip her head. "Good evening," she answers the woman with her British-Asian-colored voice. After a smallish pause, she continues the conversation with the obvious, "You are a teacher?"

Cass clears her throat. She looks up to regard the other woman now, studying her, cool grey eyes scanning restlessly, then returning to her work. "A tutor," Cass replies, some pride evident in her voice with that statement. A pause as she draws a long red arrow across the text of some poor student's work. "Are you an anthropologist?"

Yi looks down at the bright red marking, eyes attuned to the movement and somewhat harsh statement made by the pen. When the woman returns with a question though, Yi has to blink. "Ah... n-no," she says with a small sip of her drink. But, the terminology is unfamiliar. And when things are unfamiliar, the Gnawer pipes up to ask, "What is an 'anthropologist'?"

Cass looks up from her books at Yi. Her expression is calm, impassive. "An anthropologist is someone who asks people they don't know questions... And anthropology is the study of people who are... different from anthropologists," she states flatly, and then adds with a smirk, "Who are mostly males of European descent."

Yi furrows her brow, giving the woman a quizzical glance as she explains to an extent, and somehow doesn't. "Ah," is the uttered reply to indicate a pseudo-understanding, though the ragabash adds to a short dip of her head and an apology. "I am sorry if I had interrupted your work." That done, she turns back to her drink, and picks at the latch on her bag before drawing out a fairly large looking book, plastic cover indicating it to be a dictionary of English to Chinese conversion. Flipping through it, Yi looks up- or attempts to look up- the word at hand. The unfortunate side being that she can't particularly spell in English, she thus appears to take a far longer time to look up the reference than usual.

"No need to apologize. I... welcome interruptions. Otherwise I wouldn't come to work at a bar," Cass says, giving Yi an amused, but geniune, smile. She begins to shuffle her papers, gathering them up in some semblance of order as she watches Yi attempt to look up the word. The woman offers no help or interference. "I'm Cass Copeland, by the way."

Yi glances up from her dictionary search. At least she's in the right section of ant-. Distracted, but not ignorant of the woman's introduction, she dips her head again. "Yi-Ling," she intros on her own, but catches a certain quirk about the woman and puts a couple of things together. "Cass... teacher..." she trails, then looks on the woman with a new light. "Do you, happen to know someone named Olga?"

Cass blinks once at Yi and almost drops her cigarrette, but then manages to force an odd smile and a slow nod. "I've met -an- Olga. The one I know is tough-looking, transient, and rather tall."

Yi smiles wider then, and a deal warmer. "The Olga I know sounds similar, and likes carrying around a large bag full of things. We aren't exactly sisters, but I treat her much like family." The ragabash meets the woman's eyes for a touch longer, and then clears her throat and goes back to her drink for another sip. "I... admit I was curious to why you were correcting papers in a place like this." She indicates with a look around to the grizzled vets of the pool tables, watching their miniature battles.

Cass lets out a little trill of laughter. "Then it sounds as if we're talking about the same Olga. How nice." She gives Yi a grin, and explains, "I absolutely -hate- sitting over a desk in a stuffy office. It makes me cranky and cross. I always grade in bars. The atmosphere adds levity to my work. And, the juxtapositioning of the two worlds amuses me."

Yi seems to be able to understand the woman well enough, up to the point she says that huge word of doom. The Gnawer part her lips slightly, and then attempts to echo what she's stuck on. "Jucks... Juck-sta-positioning?" Feeling a bit of flush creeping up, her eyes draws down to the open dictionary and fingers madly flip the pages in hunt for the J's.

Cass waves her hand, and looks as embarassed as Yi now. "I'm sorry. I meant, I like that it's odd. To prepare for my class in a bar." Her hand wavers in mid-air, her vague gesture giving away her uncertainty. Then, she reaches for her beer. "And how do you know Olga?"

Yi pauses in her search, glancing up once more. "I, ah, well we met under similar situation. She and I are, as I said, pretty much family." Lifting the glass up to her lips slowly. "Yes. Well, she had mentioned a friend named Cass who was a teacher as well."

Cass nods, stubbing her cigarrette out in an ashtray swimming among papers in the center of her table. "Ah. I think I understand. And I've met a Joey - is she your family also?"

Yi bobs her head, affirming the fact. "Yes, Joey is younger, but she did well and passed her test some time ago." The ragabash's eyes sweep down to the ashtray then back up. "You just recently moved here?"

Cass smiles faintly and shrugs. "I'm afraid she didn't like me, much. Is she one of those ones, born under the larger moons? And no, I've not been here very long. I moved here from Los Angeles - that's where I was completing my own education. I'm originally from West Virginia." And now that the woman mentions it, there is a faint twang in her speech, though the accent is vestigal and buried, eclipsed by her academic jargon.

Yi doesn't notice the accent, considering her own foreign tones. West Virginia as well, gets a bit of a puzzled turnover in thought as she tries to place geography in the back of her mind. "Ah, mm, Joey is the same as I, but maybe it was something else. She is actually quite nice," Yi replies, the puzzlement extending onwards to thinking about the other newmoon. "But... it is a bit fat, the moon." She nods slowly, pointedly taking a longer draught of her drink.

Cass frowns deeply and begins to rummage through her huge brown leather purse. "Indeed!" she blurts, though it seems she's not really agreeing with Yi, just making a noise to mask her discomfort. Finally, she produces a box of paperclips, and begins to "clip" things together hurriedly. "Well, Yi, it was very nice meeting you. I'm afraid I have to go now."

Yi seems to take note of the sudden burst of activity from the woman, and wets her lips slightly. "Ah, yes. A pleasure to meet you too, Cass." There's a small pause as she watches her pack up, then adds quickly, "If you need help, at all... just call on us."

Cass stuffs her papers into a manilla folder, and then tucks it under her arm. Cigarrettes are stowed quickly in a jacket pocket, ligher and pens whisked into her purse. "Yes, yes, and likewise. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other in the not distant future." Another faint smile is sent Yi's way, and then Cass walks briskly out the door, her heels clicking loudly on the wooden floor.

Yi just blinks after, nodding with the final notes and watching the kin hurry off like she has an urgent meeting that slipped her mind.

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