Summary:Ben and Kori make a new friend in Jimmy Baxter while going for coffee Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Jimmy has had another full day at Doctor Yendez's office, but now it's time for freedom. During these summer months, the day extends and makes it feel earlier than it is, gives him the urge to head out and /do/ something rather than just heading home. And hey, he's decently on track with his homework, so…
He fixes up his tie as he enters Cafe Wha?. Perhaps he's a bit over-dressed for it, but he didn't want to head home and change. For the time being, he just lines up to make his order, while his gaze sweeps the room to see who else is here for an early-evening beverage.
Ben Grimm is out for an early evening with Koriandr. He is trying to dress discretely - which for him means a custom-made tan overcoat worn over his inhumanly propotioned frame, his trademark blue pants and thick black belt, and a wide-brimmed hat, which he has lain aside while he sits at a table with Koriandr. The generous mug from the place seems dwarfed, pinched lightly between his rocky forefinger and thumb. He is leaned forward, speaking quietly to Kori while a live music act sets up at a stage off to the side. The two large, orange people attract quite a bit of attention. Some pictures are being taken.
"Yeah… the shop lets people perform here to make it more of a place to be," he explains. "So people might come to listen to some music, get a coffee… it's good for the business, can be good for the musician looking for some publicity…"
"Oh yes, he is a minstrel," Kori says to Ben. Her chin wags. "My people have no such things, of course. For us, singing is reserved only for very formal affairs. It is consdiered…" She tries to find the word. "It is not 'taboo'. But it is only for very important ceremonies. Dancing, as well." Bare shoulders rise and fall. She's in a loose-fitting tunic-style top in deep sanguine. It alternately clings and flows, with cutout scoops on her shoulders and short sleeves. Plain khaki shorts expose a lot of leg, right down to a pair of well-loved Converse shoes in blue and white.
Everyone's drinking their coffee with both hands, so Kori does the same thing, trying to 'blend'. Fortunately, for once, she stands out marginally less than Ben does— even if anyone familiar with the modelling world would pick her face out of a crowd, thanks to a recent and successful ad campaign for Hawaiian Travel.
Well, Jimmy has found something to glance at. Yes, they're orange. They're also big, either one of them dwarfing Jimmy's six-foot height. And they're famous, particularly Big Rocky himself. That gets his attention, yes…
But he doesn't stare. He reaches the counter and makes his order, soon coming away with a cup of tea. (No, he doesn't care that it's called, on the surface, a 'coffee' shop.) As he stirs his sugar into it, he considers approaching, and… ah, why not?
He comes up to the table, a friendly smile on his face. "Excuse me?" Once he gets Ben's attention, he adds, "I just had to say… tan overcoat. Love the style." Ben gets plenty of reaction to other aspects of his appearance. And Jimmy, wearing one of his own, clearly approves of his fashion choices; so why not focus there? He gives Koriandr a smile of welcome as well, his eyes kept resolutely above chin level.
Ben Grimm has had the chance to process Koriandr's explanation and offer information in reply. "Yeah… minstrel," he confirms. "I mean, that's kind of an old-fashioned word. We'd usually just call 'em musicians." He lifts his mug to his rocky maw and takes a quick sip by tilting the mug back without scraping it against his lip. He considers the dancing comment before he offers a chuckle and lifts a shoulder in a lob-sided shrug. "For us, I mean, it's sometimes weird to just be singin' on the street, but it's not real… intimate. Dancin'… well, so long as there's music and it's the right kind of social -"
That's where Jimmy arrives. His greeting has Ben's stiff brow lifting slightly. His blue eyes move up to the friendly young man and it takes Ben a moment to process the greeting. He looks down at his coat and then to Jimmy's before his features ease into what passes for a welcoming smile on his features. Koriandr is on one seat and he's on two. There is a fourth at the four-top where they are drinking. A big orange mitt extends toward it. "Ha! Thanks man. Pull up a pew if you want. I'm Ben. This is Koriand'R."
|ROLL| Jimmy Baxter +rolls 1d100 for: 34
Kori's smile is set for Autopilot, and it's beamed at Jimmy the second he walks up to the table. Her foot continues to bob lazily in the air; she's sitting with her legs neatly crossed, because Susan told her that's how ladies sit.
Poor Ben had to sit through that increasingly consternating discussion.
"That is my family name," Kori clarifies. "My name is Kori Anderson. My friends call me Kori," she explains.
"I am from Malta," she adds, a beat later. Like that explains the gold-orange hue of her impossibly healthy skin, or the way her hair never quite holds still even while she's sitting.
Jimmy gives Ben a surprised look; he hadn't expected to be invited to the table. "Thank you." He sets his tea down first before settling in comfortably. "I'm Jimmy. Jimmy Baxter. Nice to meet you both, Ben and…" He considers the gold-orange model. "…Kori. I think I've seen you somewhere before, a… travel brochure, maybe?" He's not generally familiar, but he's been looking into the modelling world recently. For Reasons. "Ah, I don't mean to interrupt. You were talking about music?" Couldn't help but over hear while he was coming over. Motion distracts, and Jimmy occasionally glances up and past Kori to watch how her hair's moving.
"Oh," Ben answers, glancing back over to Kori. He's been reminded now, that some people maintain secret identities. He glances back toward Kori and then to Jimmy. "I was just explaining the coffee shop thing here. They don't… work the same in Malta, from what I know." Ben is not a great liar, and so he comes across as awkward, but maybe he's just awkward on account of taking a model out for some coffee!
Kori beams and bounces in her seat, both feet resting on the ground. "Oh! You saw my brochure! Oh, I am the happy!" she declares, and looks quite overwrought with joy. "It is my first 'big job' with the modelling agency," she explains. "They thought I would look good for Hawaii, and dressed me in a grass skirt and a flower necklace called a 'lei'. Then they took my picture!"
She looks around, then leans forward conspiratorially. "We were not /really/ in Hawai'i when we took those pictures. It was trickery!" she confesses, in a near-theatrical whisper.
Jimmy tilts his head at Ben, but… if he's feeling awkward, he won't poke at it. Jimmy has been on the receiving end of that /way/ too much. He smiles at Kori's exuberance. Hey, cheer is infectious, especially when you're Jimmy. "It was a good outfit, and the sunset pictures were brilliant. Definitely made me want to go see a Hawaiian sunset… though I'm guessing the lighting was 'trickery' too." He ponders. "So… what are coffee shops like in Malta, then? So I know what kind of differences you're showing her." Is he falling for it, or playing along?
Ben relaxes a little as his misstep is glossed over. He sits back a little, until the two chairs creak warningly at his weight. This makes his eyes widen as he gingerly makes his way back to a better-supported posture. He likewise offers what passes for a grin on his rocky features. He is content to fade into the background, at least unttil Jimmy brings him back around with inclusiveness. "Huh?" he asks, "Oh! I mean, I never been to Malta, but it's… you know, different." How? He doesn't get into that. So he opts for a subject change, "So what do you do, Jimmy? Since you know all about our jobs?"
"They are not much different than here," Kori assures Jimmy. "But they are called 'cafes', not coffeeshops, and they serve a more robust European type of coffee."
She plants her elbows on the table and balances her chin on the heels of her hand. It'd look mocking if it wasn't so sincerely interested. "Yes, indeed! Please tell us more of yourself, Friend Jimmy," she says. "I am much the interested to learn. And my handsome friend has been very patient with me and asking me many questions, and I am sure he is quite bored with my stories by now."
Jimmy nods to Ben. It makes sense; Ben's not the one from Malta. "Mmn, I'm more of a tea person, myself. It's almost unfortunate that they name the places /for coffee/." To demonstrate, he takes a sip of his milky leaf water. But hey, subject change. "Ah, I'm in an internship right now. Working to become a full-fledged mental health counsellor — and still studying medicine on the side too, so I can go into psychiatry. And just be more useful in general. Physical health tends to have more immediate emergencies than mental, you know?" He does flush a little at that deep, intense attention from Kori. And aw, she called him Friend. "S-So have you been modelling for long? You seem to still find it pretty exciting."
Ben grunts simply in response to Jimmy's hectic life. He bobs his head before he opts just to answer the latter part of what Jimmy has to say. He shakes his head and answers, "I dunno, I seen plenty of mental emergencies in my day." He opens his mouth to say more, but then he spies Jimmy's flushing and glances back and forth between the young man and the model. Ben favours sipping from his tea, listening more than speaking.
"No, I have only been at it a few months," Kori says, in that dulcent soprano. "In fairness to the medical professionals, bleeding heavily tends to be more immediately fatal than other injuries," she points out. It'd sound a little insulting if she weren't trying to be so obviously earnest in connecting with Jimmy's story.
"But I don't know much about H-American mental health. Friend Ben, is it a common ailment in this country for people to have unhealthiness of the brain?" she asks the hulking fellow across from her. "Is their lack of mental wellness due to parasites or just concussive damage to their delicate brains?"
Jimmy nods to Ben. "Oh, emergencies like those definitely /happen/. And they're no less lethal than the physical — and often lead /to/ physical emergencies. But I think that, for instance" He nods to Kori's point. "blood loss is more immediately treatable. It's easier to put stitches and bandages on a /cut/ than it is to put them on dark thoughts. Dark thoughts take… considerably more time and attention." He purses his lips as he looks at Kori. "That's a question with a big answer. The etiology of different illnesses is hotly debated. Though no, it's usually not parasites, and acquired brain injuries are a… minority of cases." He ducks his chin. "Ah, but I could talk about that stuff all night, long after your ears have all fallen off."
Ben bobs his head along with the discussion about the immediacy of medical issues. As the conversation takes a serious tack, he tilts his cup to pour the rest of his coffee into his maw. He sets the empty cup down on the table, grateful for the chance to not have to speak up on he subject of delicate brains. But finally, he ventures some explanation for Kori. "It's… usually an emotional dysfunction, or some pattern of behaviour that maybe was helpful in one situation but becomes harmful when someone's situation changes."
Kori reflexively covers her ears at the turn of phrase. "Please do not do that!" she says, with alarm. "My ears provide an aesthetic symmetry to my head, and I would not like to be without them."
As soon as she's convinced that he's not going to literally de-ear her, Kori lowers her hands and gives both men confused looks. "An emotional… dysfunction?" she inquires. "I am the confused. Why would emotions contibute to negative health of the brain?" she says. The notion clearly baffles her. "I thought you said you were helping people who have problems with how their brains work!"
Jimmy blinks at Kori. "Um. I just meant I could end up… talking your ear off, you know?" He brings his tea in closer to the table's edge for a few sips. "But Ben has the right of it. Since I'm just a counsellor intern and not a full-on psychiatrist, emotional dysfunction is a lot of what I deal with. And often, it's the other way around: negative health of the brain contributes to maladaptive emotions. Like clinical depression, for instance. Emotional response is reliant on chemicals in the brain, and activation of certain brain regions. Some people, their brains just naturally don't produce enough of the chemicals needed to sustain positive mood. Add in catalysts from life circumstances, and people can fall into deep sadness, or even just a sense of… of greyness, of struggling to feel anything at all." Jimmy gets a sober look on his face, and soon shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I'm bringing the whole table down."
Kori just stares at Jimmy, her expression unreadable. Without removing her gaze from him she leans sloooowly sideways across the table and half covers her mouth. "I did not understad any of that," she whispers at Ben. It's clearly meant to be for his ears only, but… then what's with the sotto voce tone she's using?
Just as slowly she sits back in her chair and affixes that Perfectly Pleasant model's smile in place again.
Ben cocks his head to the side slightly, leaning in a little nearer to Kori. His lips quirk slightly and he glances aside toward her. "We'll talk later," he assures her before he sits a bit straighter again, with corresponding creaking of the chairs he occupies. The rocky hero offers to Jimmy, "They gave us some basic mental health stuff in the Air Force. You know, stuff to watch for, in yourself and other pilots, some basic understanding. Pilots ain't dummies, but we were gettin' the dumbed-down version. Might help with the explanations," he offers with a good-natured wink. But then, as he's looking back toward Kori, his eyes linger on a clock. "Ah, crumbs," he grumbles. "I told Suzie I'd call Reed up. Lost track of time - 'scuse me a sec, huh?"
'We'll talk later'. Kori nods— code for 'you're missing the point, Kori'. "I should go as well," she concludes, and gets to her feet wit the others. She beams at Jimmy. "It was very good to meet you, friend Jimmy!" She steps into him with a hug. Kori is a hell of a hugger, and picks him up off the ground with the effusive embrace. "I am grateful for your education on mental health. I hope you find success in your field!" She sets him down on his feet with a radiant smile, then moves to catch up to Ben and loops an arm through his elbow like they're old friends.
"I don't think I understood anything he said," she confesses to Ben, once they're outside the cafe. "But he seemed to have good intentions. Thank you for translating," she says, and smile at Ben warmly before they head back to the Baxter Building.
Jimmy gets a sheepish look on his face when he hears that stage-whisper from Kori. Oh, he knows she didn't say it intentionally for him to hear — she's much too obviously earnest. But he still heard it nonetheless. He nods to Ben. "Y-Yeah, that sounds good. I'm fresh off a bachelor's, so I'm talking in senior terms when I should be talking in introductory. You'll do better at that." He nods to him, waving a hand. "Sure. Farew—"
And then comes the hug. And the /lift/. He manages not to spill his tea, but he does go otherwise limp with surprise. "N-Nice to meet you too. Uh, have a good night!" And then there he is, still with his tea.
Well those two are quite… something.