log - too tired for title whee - closed to B1 and A4, open to those likely to wander by

[conning]

Who: B1: Closed to Neal and residents; A4: open to B1 and those who wish to poke their heads in because socializing and open doors
When: Early September--on a Sunday and then the following Wednesday. Why the following Wednesday? Idk man I just picked something.
Where: B1 on Sunday, and A4 on Wednesday IG???
Summary: Meredith invited Neal to visit, and Neal suggested making it a mingle for both apartments. Then Malcolm invited Neal over and Neal decided to do a solo trial run or something like that.
Warnings: Not at the moment. except possibly meredith giving neal a shovel talk


B1 - SUNDAY

Okay, well, he meant to make it simple. But then he got carried away, because that's who he is as a person. So here is Neal managing two coolers, one slightly smaller than the other. He has to set one down in order to knock on the door.

The coolers themselves contain tiny servings of about a dozen different dishes, from tiny seasoned steak slices of varying doneness to little onigiri stuffed with lightly salted salmon. If it's stupidly elaborate, feel free to assume there is some dressed-down (read: locally available) version available in miniature.

The other cooler has small bottles of cheap wine and those little paper cups that barely hold a mouthful. He sets the wines with the foods that pair best.

Look this is who he is as a person, okay? At least he's dressed normally--turquoise sweater, close-cut jeans.

[ SUPPLY ACTIVITIES AS YOU WISH, both with Neal and each other. ]


B1/A4/Passerby - FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY

Okay, so the tiny food was a bit much. Only God can judge him.

At least this time it's a plain old cook-out with a grill on the patio of A4. Yes, the grill items include salmon, chicken, and... tofu in several marinades including citrus-chipotle.

Only God can judge him.

There's also a spread of perfectly ordinary salad-shaped objects and tiny pickles et cetera inside on the kitchen counter.

[ SUPPLY ACTIVITIES AS YOU WISH, both with Neal and each other. ]

Comments

look it’s better than being disappointed AFTERWARDS

[conning]

Neal catches that little dip in mood and decides to tap into his seemingly endless well of meaningless trivia. “You want some good action-adventure stuff from that year, you’ve got The Fifth Element, Dante’s Peak, Men in Black. I feel like you’d enjoy Austin Powers.”

Neal offers Jeff a hand politely, his OCD internally screaming at the what if of this kid actually giving someone a handjob for that movie. “Neal Caffrey, neighbor, not resident.”

He’ll just wash his hands when it’s polite to do so.

[cacophonish]

On the one hand, Jeff definitely didn't give some thrift store clerk a handjob in exchange for a DVD. On the other, Neal's wise not to trust the cleanliness of his hands anyway.

"Oh, um. I'll try to, uh... remember those..." Though he thinks Austin Powers sounds like a football movie. Pass. "I'm Jeff. I don't live here." A beat. "I mean, I live in town, I guess. Just not here." He waves a hand, still clutching the DVD. "I stay at Bonnie's."

[conning]

"Bonnie's? You wouldn't happen to know Kugrash?"

Neal blinks, takes in the strangeness of him asking after a rat-person, and sets that particular thought aside. Weirder has happened in the past two weeks.

[cacophonish]

"Oh yeah, we're friends." He smiles, looking a bit sunnier now. "He's fucking awesome. We met in a dumpster."

Yeah, he's just going to leave it at that.

[conning]

Neal raises his eyebrows, giving a tiny nod that says oh, that's interesting in slightly horrified upper-class non-vocalization. He takes a drink of wine to hide his expression.

"I'm not surprised he was in a dumpster, but why were you?"

Definitely washing his hands at the earliest opportunity.

[cacophonish]

"I fell asleep in it." Totally casual. But then he feels the need to clarify.

"Don't worry, it was a pretty clean one. For a dumpster, I mean. Grocery stores, you know? They throw away a ton of good food for no reason. Like even if it hasn't gone bad. It's fucking wasteful, man!" he explains, even though he's never really had particularly strong feelings on the principle of it before. Really, Jeff's just repeating what he's learned from activist friends back home, the ones who showed him the tips of the dumpster diving trade to begin with. "So I find the good stuff and bring it back to Bonnie's. Most of it's bagged or still in boxes."

[conning]

Okay, he can respect that. And Mozzie has gone dumpster diving for stranger reasons, though Neal would be equally horrified to know about it before the man cleaned himself off.

The thought of Mozzie hurts a little, as it always does, but none of that shows on his face. "I assume the local invisible orchestra helped you with the nap."

[cacophonish]

Jeff pulls a face, thinking on it for a moment. "Yeah? I guess so. I dunno, man, sometimes I just black out in weird places." This moment of Jeff being totally candid is brought to you by... well, the fact that he's been even more off-balance and fucked in the head than usual, lately.

There's a lot of factors at play. Haunted tunes, magic mirrors, hallucinations, possession, exhaustion, drugs, loneliness, existential crises. You name it.

"So, um. You're here for...?" Malcolm? Meredith? Tim?

[conning]

Well okay then. Mental note: keep an eye out for this kid in random alleys and prepare to call 911 as necessary.

"Dinner," he says innocently, sipping from his glass of terrible wine as though he's simply enjoying it.

[cacophonish]

"Cool," he nods, unfazed and rolling with Neal's evasion. "I like dinner, too."

[conning]

An internal sigh. There are so few people here who play the game.

"Meredith and Malcolm both invited me over, separately. I met Meredith and then I met Malcolm."

[cacophonish]

Games of clever wordplay and conversational cat-and-mouse are definitely best left to people who... aren't Jeff.

"Guess you're a popular guy."

It makes sense, the way Neal tells it. Meredith and Malcolm would probably get along with the well-dressed, smart, sophisticated type who looks like he's successfully held down at least one job.

And then here's Jeff, roving dumpster gremlin in secondhand clothes, barging in on their fancy dinner party with a stupid movie that's apparently not even worth a handjob.

(He might be experiencing a teeny tiny twinge of self consciousness now.)

"They're, um, good people. Good friends to have."

[conning]

He shrugs. "Or prone to happy accidents."

Neal might never have been as open of a disaster as Jeff, but he can't help the little twist of nostalgic affection at the awkwardness of that age. "They seem like it. Have you been here long?"

Small talk, yeah, but hopefully a gateway to something more interesting.

[cacophonish]

"Since the summer. Uh..." He thinks for a moment. "July. I remember 'cause it was, like, a month after my birthday, so when I got here and had to answer all the ADI's questions, I had to think for a sec on how old I was, you know? So they thought I was lying about being 21 and gave me an ID with the wrong fucking age on it."

Officially, according to his ADI-issued state ID, he's 19. Such bullshit.

Anyway. He's rambling. It's definitely awkwardness that has him doing it, fueled by that same weird burst of self consciousness Neal's bringing out in him just by, well, being.

"So. Uh. Long enough know my way around here, I guess."

[conning]

Neal coughs to hide a little laugh. "Well, if you ever need someone to pick you up anything from a liquor store, I'm available."

It's a kind of peace offering. As is what Neal says next.

"I'm still... pretty overwhelmed by it all, if I'm honest."

[cacophonish]

Jeff smiles at the offer, and just like that, all imagined slights are forgiven. "Next time I need a drink, I'll call you up."

And then he nods, and rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's... It'd be kind of fucked up if you weren't."

[conning]

"Fair point." That sobers Neal, but only for a moment. The last thing he needs is to bring things down when Jeff finally seems to be relaxing. He puts on an ironic smile. "I think one of the strangest things I've seen so far has to be the... projections they somehow provide to nonhuman residents."