fair paris is burning after all

[wayaheadofyou]

So in the Agora, wandering around as people often do, is a young woman in a hat. (It's not a Raspberry Beret, though it may as well be.) She's all bundled up for winter, and apparently it was damp where she was, because she's using her mittens to brush drops off the wool at her shoulders, trying to keep it from soaking in

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[mayaflowered]

Nearby, there is a young blonde lady in cowboy boots, shorts, and a tank top covered in tiny sequins. This is roughly about as much clothing as she was wearing last time Jena saw her, which was not in fucking November, June. (She does have a beat-up leather jacket...somewhere. Somewhere!)

"Oh, I've got a bunch. The whole tying-a-cherry-stem-with-your-tongue thing is real cliched, I think, so once I got that one done I learned how to unwrap starbursts. Mm, and I can bend my elbow backward, I think it's a double-jointed thing? Freaks my brothers right the fuck out, which is worth it 'cause they always used to do that eyelid thing when I was a kid and I hate that."

She shrugs, and grins at Jena with the kind of casual laziness that accompanies girls who will go on this kind of spiel at the drop of a hat.

"What's yours?"

[wayaheadofyou]

"I've got a couple," Jena says, and she does that smile, the one that makes her look like she has just done something naughty, and implies that whatever it is she's not saying is maybe not said for a good reason. She is very good at it. "More importantly, look at you! Aren't you freezing?"

[mayaflowered]

"Naw, I'm basically naturally hot enough to really only need more cloth in dead winter." Sometimes June just...says things. It's hard to tell whether or not she's serious about this. (She's not.)

"I hope you get some answers from men who can do the splits. I always wanted to see that."

[wayaheadofyou]

"Stick around, we'll see what we can find."

Jena has a history of rooting out the interesting people. Or maybe it's one of her unsaid talents. If it is, does it say something about her apparent immediate friendship with June?

"I'm hoping to see somebody who can tap dance. Or do that German knee-slapping dance, with the lederhosen! Cracks me up."

[knightsdaughter]

"You haven't had a winter 'til you've had one with lake effect," Molly points out. She's tall, her blond hair is currently tipped with pink and blue, and today she's just wearing studs in her nose and her tongue and three earrings (at least, that's all that's visible).

"What kind of hidden talents are you looking for?"

[wayaheadofyou]

Jena gives Molly a once-over, visually. Then she smiles.

"I moved to Great Britain from Texas, anything under 70 is still freezing to me. It's been a few years, though." Jena neglects to mention where, on the entire island, she's living, but it's probably not necessary anyway. "I'm looking for the kind of thing people wouldn't think you were capable of, just by looking at you. Or just the kind of thing you wouldn't tell your parents about over Thanksgiving dinner."

[knightsdaughter]

"What my parents think I'm capable of and what strangers think I'm capable of are probably pretty different things. I mean, in the former case it's that I've gotten into clubs for free by knowing which bouncer to distract, and in the later it's that I read Latin, you know?" Molly grins. "What moved you from Texas across the pond?"

[wayaheadofyou]

"Opportunity." Artfully fielded, there, by the bundled-up woman with questions and, apparently, no real answers. "The Latin thing. Was that something you learned in school, or did you teach yourself for fun?"

Or for a reason. Jena has not discounted this possibility. She's just keeping quiet about it.

[theydidnothing]

Simon likes the agora. Usually he'll just listen to questions and answers, hoping to learn something new.

Today the question piques his curiosity and Simon stands up from his place on the steps and walks a bit forward. "I'm quite good at remaining hidden."

This is all being blatantly filmed on his cameraphone, as per usual.

[wayaheadofyou]

Jena's eyes flick briefly over to him, up, down, and then snap to his face. Her smile never changes. The entire thing happens in a heartbeat.

"And yet here you are!" She points a mittened hand at his phone. "For posterity, I suppose?"

She knows damn well it's not.

[theydidnothing]

"It would be difficult to answer your question if you couldn't find me." He isn't being sarcastic. Everything Simon says (ha) is nothing if not sincere.

When she mentions the camera he fidgets a little. "N-no. I just like to record things. Sometimes I make films."

[wayaheadofyou]

"For a hobby? Or is it art?"

Jena's smile, as ever, is unchanging. And somewhat disconcerting.

[someyoungpup]

"I'm pretty good at driving backward for way longer than I have to." Jeff shrugs and crosses his arms over his chest as he speaks. "Don't know how useful that is outside of long driveways. The Fast and the Furious stunt team hasn't come scouting yet."

[wayaheadofyou]

"Ah, now the real question is, how are you at parallel parking?"

Jena does not have a valid English driver's license yet, because Jena can't drive on the other side of the road yet. She has told herself that these things take time, but the reality is that she takes cabs or the underground or the bus everywhere anyway so it's not really necessary to have a car at all. And also that she's kind of a bad driver.

[someyoungpup]

"I'm fantastic at parallel parking. I teach driver's ed so I try to be responsible for as few curb destroying monsters as possible." He also happens to think that shitty drivers are hilarious as long as they don't hurt anybody. It's how he winds up with various road sign and mailbox souvenirs.

"I bet you're a parallel parking champ." He really has no idea, but it sounds good.

[wayaheadofyou]

"I'm alright," she smiles, eerily. Like she does. "I live in the city, so I don't drive much anymore, but in high school I had a nice car I tried to keep nice. You drive careful, when you're driving something you really love."

[thelivingend]

Fish looks like what would happen if a scenester mated with a Tim Burton film, short and soft-bellied, pale with dark eye sockets, skinny jeans and striped scarf. He should have brushed his hair before he left the house, probably.

"I can fall asleep basically anywhere," he announces. He's fully aware that this is a useless talent, but oh well.

[wayaheadofyou]

"A useful skill," she declares. And it is, if you spend a lot of time in places where you wouldn't otherwise be able to sleep. Since Jenavive spent some time living in a tiny apartment with several artists, none of whom were known for keeping the most rational of hours, it's a talent she appreciates.

"Do you have much occasion to use it? If I could do that, I might get some roommates." Not that she needs the help with the rent, but you know. It gets lonely.

[thelivingend]

"Nah. I don't sleep very much, but like... when I do, it hits me like a brick. This one time I fell asleep with my head totally wedged between my roommate's back and the back of the couch. He was playin' a video game, I forget which one. Maybe Butcher Bay or whatever. It was really weird. I slept okay, though. Anyway, uh... you're lookin' for roommates?"

Hamilton Fish: he says things sometimes.

[wayaheadofyou]

"Not really. I like living alone, it gives me space to breathe. And space to store canvases. I have a lot of canvases."

Jenavive paints things. Generally canvas. Sometimes wood. Roommates do things like smoke indoors and spill coffee, and lonely as it can be, living alone, sometimes it's just not worth it. People are hell, and Jena knows this all too well.