THE QUILL [OPEN]

[abster]

'Hey Sweetheart, I'm sorry if I woke you. I just haven't heard from you in a couple of days and I know college can be- HI ABBY!- Gabrielle sweetie let me just try and talk to your sister. It's just her answer phone, go put on Tangled again I know you like that.- FLYNN RIDER!- Listen, I'm just starting to worry about you. Silly, right? Okay, give me old mom a call when you have chance. Don't work too hard, I love you... I love you Princess.'

Swearing softly as she listened to her mom's message again. Listened to how tired she sounded, how exhausted she must've been and how happy Gabby sounded. Kicking her dumb car's interior, she counted the money in her wallet again. One hundred and seventy bucks and change, that was all she had left and she couldn't keep sleeping in her car forever. The cops probably wouldn't take too kindly to that here, small town and all. She knew exactly what that was like.

Climbing out the back seat of her car, she grabbed her laptop and headed towards the last place she'd seen her father but the only place she at least knew sold coffee here. She hadn't planned on sticking around, she certainly wasn't sticking around for him at least. At least she could get good coffee and free wifi, and maybe she could make the coffee last all day if needed. She was good at doing that and even better if they had re-fills and a bathroom.

Rubbing her eyes, she ran a hand through her hair and went to order muttering the word asshole over and over again. Her own private mantra to keep her going.

"Hey, you don't know if they've got a town paper or something here? You know the kind with cheap places to stay?" Abigail asked, rubbing the dark eye-liner into the corners of her eyes with her thumb as she yawned.

Comments

[needleandink]

Adrian turned with the coffee still in his hand and surveyed the owner of the question. She looked young, very young, and very rough around the edges. It was a look he recognized from what felt like a lifetime ago when he'd lit out of Chicago with nothing more than a need to put as much distance between himself and everything there.

"They do, and there are usually a few of them discarded on the tables or recycling bin," Adrian commented, indicating it with a glance. "New in town?"

[abster]

Abigail looked at the Old Guy appraisingly, taking in his awesome tats as she glanced towards where he'd indicated. Making a face, she paid for the coffee with the loose change she had stuffed in her pocket and took a paper.

"Yeah, something like that. Just passing through, I do not want to get stuck here. I'm not a big fan of-" Anything that reminds me of my asshole father. "- the sea." Abigail replied, thanking the server before taking her coffee from her. "Cool tats by the way."

[needleandink]

"Thanks," Adrian replied with a nod, still appraising the girl with a blank face that gave nothing away. "Been on the road long?"

He kept his distance from her, not wanting to seem like some lech who scoops up homeless girls, but he wasn't going to walk away from one, either. Especially not one this young.

[abster]

"Depends on what you classify as long," Abigail replied evasively before smiling tiredly. Too tiredly. It had been fun driving from her home town cross country to college, it had not been fun driving up to Maine. She'd kinda just run on anger, fumes and a lot of jerky. "And also, if you count gaps longer than a week between driving."

[needleandink]

"To my mind, the trip lasts from when you leave one place and settle in another," Adrian responded with an offhand shrug. "For me, it took years before I stayed in one place for longer than a few months. There's some fun involved in being a nomad for a while, but a lot of the time it sucks."

And Adrian had done it with a mostly liquid bank account and a trade that lended itself well to a nomad's life. Somehow he thought this girl didn't have that kind of situation.

[brigid_moran]

"Aye," Brigid responded without looking up from her own travel cup at first. When she did, her eyes went a little wider. The girl, or maybe very young woman, looked tired. She made a decision at once and picked one up, adding it to her order with a nod at the register and handing over the money.

"I was goin t'read mine over m'coffee, but yer welcome t'take a pass through it b'fore I do, if ye wish."

[abster]

Rolling her neck from side to side, trying to ease the kink from sleeping in her car overnight (again) Abigail rubbed a tight knot at the back of her neck. Looking at the, clearly hot, woman Abigail raised an eyebrow at her before smiling. Even if it did look a little grim on her right now. It was the first bit of luck she was having.

"Seriously? That would be awesome, I literally just need the rental sheets." Abigail replied, ordering a coffee and pushing her hand to pull out the loose change and lint. Yay, lint. Blowing it off the money, she offered the server the change before taking a refillable coffee. Thank god. "Thanks, seriously nicest thing that's happened all weekend. I'm Abigail, Abigail Flynn."

[brigid_moran]

"Come on then," Brigid smiled and indicated a table, watching the way she rotated her neck. She knew the action as she did it herself when she'd been too long over her wheel, but something told her this one hadn't been spending her night at pottery.

She stopped when they got to a table and looked back towards the register. "I was thinkin of gettin m'self a scone. Would ye like one as well? I can do that while ye get a look at the flats."

[abster]

Feeling the vibrate of her phone, she glanced at the screen -MOM CALLING- before pressing the ignore button. She couldn't lie to her, it was probably better if she just thought she was busy with school for a while. Hopefully her asshole father wouldn't think to call her mom and tell her she was hear. It wasn't like he'd done much of anything for her before.

"Uh, no I'm good. Thanks though, besides I hear this place does good brunch I'll probably just chill here for the day. Grab something to eat later," Abigail replied, pushing her phone in her pocket. If she asked them nice enough or bought a travelling cup, she could probably get them to do hot water in a cup for her then all she'd need to do was buy some ten cent noodles from one of the markets she'd seen. Perfect sleeping in your car food. "You're Irish? Like proper Irish and not American-Irish?"

[brigid_moran]

Brigid nodded and returned to the counter only long enough to buy two scones and return with them, keeping the plate between them and taking one for herself. "I'm not certain how proper I am, but I'm Irish right enough. Came here straight from m'hometown on th'west coast just a few months ago and settled in t'work here. It's a lovely place and I've been quite happy here. What brings ye t'town? If I'm not bein too forward in askin."

[bonniemcg]

To say Bonnie hasn’t been coping well is a bit of an understatement. After Grace was born she’d stayed in the hospital two nights before she was released. Following which Drew had taken her to the hotel they were staying in until Bonnie had somewhere more permanent to live. She couldn’t stay with the Tanners anyway; hearing baby cries in the night was torture she had already had to live through and that wasn’t even her own.

Most days she had stayed curled up under the duvet whilst Drew tried to talk her into going out. Somewhere, anywhere. But then he’d had to leave, (much to his own distress), his job was being threatened for the amount of vacation time he had taken and Bonnie couldn’t justify making him stay longer. After all, he’d played his part; they no longer owed each other anything.

Finally dragging herself out of the hotel, she had bundled herself in a large thick jumper. More to cover the remnants of her pregnancy bump than because of the state of the Siren Cove weather. The Quill was probably a bad call. But considering there was no food in the hotel room and she just wasn’t going to have the money to keep ordering room service, it was the best option she had. She turned toward the voice asking the question, hoping she didn’t look quite as awful as she felt. “Yeah, there’s a paper. Usually someone leaves a copy around here somewhere. Although I think there is a motel just on the edge of town that's not too unreasonable?”

[abster]

"Yeah?" Abigail asked, looking for the paper in question before ordering a coffee. She stared wide eyed at the list of pastries and various breakfast items and the cost of them before just sticking to the coffee. Well, this was the town that the Nation's Sweetheart lived in after all. "Is that normal people reasonable or you know I have several yachts reasonable?"

[bonniemcg]

Bonnie did briefly smile after the second remark, it was reasonable to ask after all. Considering all the huge houses that everyone seemed to call home and not notice anything surreal about. When Bonnie had moved into her step-Dad’s house, she’d considered it a mansion after the tiny little terrace house her Mum worked endlessly to keep them in. But compared to the houses of Siren Cove, it was merely a guest house. “Normal people reasonable. They keep it well hidden, but there are people here that don’t have 4 cars and a 6 bed guest house.”

[abster]

"Really? I thought everyone must have at least two McMansion's and a whole series of cars." Abigail replied with a wry smile. The wealth of the town is obvious but at least it hasn't filtered down to the coffee places yet. She's been able to afford some things here at least. "Or had a six figure movie deal and a whole string of fans following them around. Honestly I keep expecting to get papped."

[bonniemcg]

"I wouldn't be so quick to imagine you haven't been papped. Very active gossip columns in the magazine." Bonnie warned her, after all, she had been in one herself not too long ago. And Bonnie had never assumed herself to be someone who would ever be photographed for any kind of media. "But I can assure you as someone struggling to find a rental flat I can afford, no mansions here."

[davin]

"Ah, that old institution." Davin turns towards the girl, who he doesn't recognize, and waits for her to finish yawning before he continues. "We've got the Daily Siren. There's usually one around here - ah."

He snatches an abandoned, folded paper from a nearby table and hands it over. "You might be able to find something in there, but I'd try craigslist."

The girl looks a little rumpled, maybe a little exhausted, and Davin cocks his head, continuing in his soft Irish accent. "New in town?"

[abster]

"The Daily Siren, this place just loves Sirens. Cool, you know- ah, nevermind. Thanks." Abigail leaned over taking the paper off him and began flicking through until she reached the back. Smirking at the comment about Craigslist, she shook her head. "Most people on Craigslist are serial killers, creepers and cat ladies. I am not found of cats."

Ordering herself a coffee, she leaned against the side and nodded. "Just passing through really, just a little... stuck. My car is kind of a gas guzzler. That's the problem with owning a classic."

[davin]

"That we do, lass. Just mind yourself near the water's edge come nightfall." He winks and then laughs at her comment before ordering a coffee of his own. "A classic, you say? What kind, if yeh don't mind me askin'. I'm a mechanic, myself."

[abster]

"Jesus, you wouldn't catch me near the water if you paid me. I'm not... I don't... swim." Abigail replied, smiling as he winked at her. Which if he knew her would have been hilarious. A siren who couldn't swim? Amazing. "A 1970 Chevelle SS 454. Bought it as a junker, did it up. I'm good with my hands, electronics preferably but you know cars sometimes too."

[davin]

"She said, while lookin' for a place to live in a coastal town." He laughs warmly and it trails off when she talks about her car, eyes widening a bit. He holds up a finger and goes to grab his coffee before returning, dropping down into the seat next to her without waiting for an invitation. "Now you're speakin' my language. Aye, that's a damn fine car."

He smirks and nods, bringing his coffee up to his lips to take a sip. "Sounds like you're describin' me, just about. Mechanic with a special touch when it comes to electrics. Name's Davin, it's nice to meet you."

[astra_inclinant]

Mira looks up from where she's just picked up the dirtiest chai she can get and still tell there's tea in it.

The girl is maybe a little younger than her, rocking a kind of exhausted that Mira knows in her bones from trying to party while writing final papers.

"Daily Siren," she says, gesturing to a table where one's been abandoned. She flips practicedly to the classifieds. "I'm hunting housing too. You want page two and we can switch?" She holds the other side out, kicking out the other chair in invitation.

[abster]

"Sure but I'm not... house hunting. I don't plan to stick around long, just long enough." Abigail replied, paying for her coffee with the change in her pocket before dragging her bag to the table. Taking one page of the paper, she smiled before offering her hand. "Thanks, I'm Abigail. Abigail Flynn."

[astra_inclinant]

"Hmm. There're some hotels that might work. Or a sublet, if you can find it."

Mira sets down the chai to shake hands. "Mira Kazmi. Nice to meet you, Abigail." She doesn't miss the last name. Flynn's a pretty common name, but it seems like too much for coincidence that it belongs to one of Siren Cove's more notable. "So, what brings you to our little corner of the country?"

[abster]

"Yeah, hotels aren't in my budget. Think less Paris Hilton more Norman Bates," Abigail replied with a small grin. Shaking her hand firmly, she looked up to the heavens as if asking for mercy. "Family. My dad is apparently here in town, not sure why though. It doesn't really seem like his type of place. He's more of a... dirtbag kind of guy."

[astra_inclinant]

Mira grins. "Let's agree right now to both find something with slightly saner management than that." She raises an eyebrow at an ad that could be just a little poorly worded or might be someone looking to break into human experimentation and flips the page over.

"But tell us how you really feel," Mira jokes and takes a sip of chai. "So if he's a dirtbag, why are you hunting him down? I mean, if that's not too personal."